Brief History

The Sturmgeschütz IV (StuG IV) (Sd.Kfz. 167), was a World War II German assault gun variant of the Panzer IV used in the latter part of the war. It was identical in role and concept to the highly successful StuG III assault gun variant of the Panzer III. Both StuG models were given an exclusively tank destroyer role in German formations and tactical planning in the last two years of the war, greatly augmenting the capability of the dwindling tank force available to the German army on the Eastern and Western fronts.

From December 1943 to May 1945, Krupp built 1,108 StuG IVs and converted an additional 31 from battle-damaged Panzer IV hulls. While the number is smaller than the 10,000+ StuG III, the StuG IV supplemented and fought along with StuG III during 1944–45, when they were most needed.

In November, 1950, “volunteer” forces of the Chinese Army crossed the Yalu River and swept the advancing UN forces out of North Korea and back below the 38th Parallel. By the following February, Allied forces had halted the Chinese and stabilized the front, pushing them back into North Korea with limited counterattacks. By April, with an infusion of fresh divisions, the Chinese were once again on the offensive, pressing the UN line in another attempt to capture the South Korean capital, Seoul.

Master Box Ltd, out of the Ukraine, has been a leader in 1/35 figures for a while. They expanded into 1/24 female and fantasy figures in 2016, starting with their first series of six female figures representing the World War II era. This current series, Truckers, is ideal for modern Class-8 truck vignettes and dioramas. Mike (Beach Boy) Barrington is part of the first six kits in this series with more on their way.

The kit comes in a standard end opening box. Pulling out the parts, you will first see that the box is probably three times too large, but in return you get a nice painting on the cover by V. Petelin, and instructions on the back with color callouts in Vallejo, Lifecolor, Tamiya, and Mr. Color. I will note that the plastic figure sculpted by A. Gagarin is not identical to the cover paining, but it is very close. Figure represents a truck driver with his hands on the wheel. Packaging of the eleven parts are protected within a re-sealable bag.

The Spitfire, never has there been such an iconic fighter for a country than the British thoroughbred. Not to be overlooked Fündekals has done up a new sheet on this fighter that covers no less than TWELVE Spitfires from the Mk.I to the Mk.XVIe.

The decals come in a large ziplock type bag. They are on two decal sheets. One is the individual aircraft and fuselage markings and the other has the wing roundels. They are printed by Cartograf. The decals are world class with perfect register, good color saturation, thin and a joy to work with.

Bottom Line: Brass barrels in 1/700 scale for all WW2 Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) warships mounting 14cm (5.5in)/50cal guns, for mountings without (-058) or with (-059) blast bags.

What You Get

A 2 ¾ by 5 1/8 inch 2-piece cardboard card wrapped in clear plastic containing a small Ziploc bag with Instructions and another card with a small plastic bag holding 20 barrels taped to the card (Figure 1). For no blast bag mounts (-058), each barrel is 7mm long with a 1mm tab at the end. For mounts with blast bags, each barrel is 4.5mm long with a 1mm tab at the end (Figure 2). The tip has a fine hole that is difficult to see, but it’s there.