Pz.sfl.Ia – 5cm Pak auf VK3.02

Published on
May 24, 2021
Review Author(s)
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$39.99
Product / Stock #
DW35017
Company: Das Werk Scale Models - Website: Visit Site
Provided by: MBK-Distribution - Website: Visit Site
Box Art

This 5cm anti-tank gun vehicle kit comes is a small, 7 inches by 11 inches, sturdy box. There are four tan color sprues individually wrapped in plastic and a separate hull. The small decal sheet has 14 decals on it. The instruction booklet is small too, 9 inches by 7 inches. It has an antique paper look with 14 steps on 12 pages. The front shows Das Werks and Amazing Hobbies logos, so that tell me this is a partnership between this two model companies. The assembly instructions are typical line drawings and easy to follow. There are four full color painting and marking guides on the last four pages with Ammo by Mig color information. There are no photo-etched or clear parts.

Construction starts with the hull floor and the fit is very good. The fenders need some extra attention to get them to stay perpendicular to the hull. There was slight flash on the road wheels and idler wheels along with other small parts. The suspension arms have a sloppy fit because there is no sturdy connection for them. I installed them and used a ruler to try and get them level with the hull and perpendicular so the road wheels will fit correctly. The road wheels needed their mounting holes drilled out a little bigger since the pins on the suspension arms a too big.

The headlight covers need to be cut out since they have a blackout drive cover on them. The side driver’s door fits very tight. I had to bevel the sides to get it to fit all the way in its door frame. There are a few knock out pin marks on the inside of the lower fighting compartment parts that will need to be leveled out before gluing the pieces together. I left off the hand grenades, canteens and periscope until after painting since these will be almost impossible to reach in the hull to paint later. I cut the mounting pins off these parts since they were too big and made it easier to glue after the model was done. I drilled out the small tail pipe off the muffler.

The instructions will have you install the rear spade after finishing the lower hull. I waited until the very end when I had the track installed to get the correct position so the spade would be touching the ground. The fire extinguisher was molded off center and is different then what the instruction shows.

When assembling the main fighting compartment, the knockout pin marks will need to be sanded down. The gun builds up good until putting on the front shield, part D31. The hole for the gun assembly to slide through is too small. I had to force the gun through, then bend the plastic back. Make sure to get the upper shields mounting rod, parts D5 and D6, property placed on the lower hull or the upper shield will not fit correctly. The gun assembly does not have a good fit onto the lower hull since the pin on the bottom was too small for the mounting hole. The gun sight mount is too short, so the sight does not line up with the opening on the gun shield. It is was missing an upturned mounting arm and I think it was a molding problem.

The tracks are the link and length type. There are four sprue connection points on each link that will need to be sanded down. They loosely fit together and will need to be glued for a few minutes before trying to fit them on the road wheels. I did find that they are about one link too short. I had to separate each link just a little to get the extra length I needed for them to connect. There are no spare links included.

The decals went down well over Tamiya paint and a Future gloss coat. I did trim the excess decal carrier film closer to the markings and needed about three application of setting solution to get all the edges to lay down.

This is a small vehicle when done and about the size of a Jeep. I build it alongside Das Werks munitions vehicle kit, and they share about 75% of the parts.

I would like to thank MBK-USA and IPMS for the opportunity to build and review this fun kit.

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