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Roden 1/72 Sd.Kfz. 234/2 "Puma" |
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Kit Number 0705 |
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Reviewed By Phil Peterson, #8739 |
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MSRP: $7.95 USD I recently made the move back to 1/72nd scale military vehicles so that most of my collection is in the same scale (how big is a Sherman compared to a B-17, a PT-boat, or even a X-Wing) and I have noticed several changes in the kits available. There is a lot more variety, there are now full kits made in resin, and there are a lot more tiny parts (a detriment for these 44 year old fingers and eyes). Roden has been releasing several series in this scale and the Puma looks like the first in this new family. The parts have very good detail. There is a little flash and a few injection marks but these are placed so as not to be too visible. There were also a few sink marks on the Jerry cans, but I just turned them over. |
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| The instructions include a brief history of the vehicle and 2 marking options. These both represent vehicles from unknown units in France after D-Day. I found pictures of both of these vehicles on the internet and in my copy of “D-Day to Berlin”. The decals appear to be in register so let’s build a model. | |
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The instructions would have you start with the turret, but having read through them (you all still do this, right?) it looks like the undercarriage would cause the most problems so I decided to start there. Step 3 has you build each wheel unit separately to be attached to the lower body in Step 6. The attachment points for the springs to the axle units are very small and have no positive alignment. I did some test fitting and found out that I could glue the axle units directly to the lower hull first, and then add the springs. This seemed a lot easier to me and went together well. |
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| Step 7 has you add several extremely small parts to the axle units. (tie rods?) After the first two pieces decided to visit the carpet monster (and a 3rd one was rescued) I did a little reevaluation. “Nobody will notice if these aren’t installed.” (I love Braille scale, I love Braille scale). I will see if I change my mind and give these parts another try as I near the end. | |
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The kit includes a partial interior with floor, seats and steering wheels, but there are no open hatches on the kit so you would have to open them yourself to see the details. I understand that you will be able to see the interior on other versions of this kit. More fodder for the parts box. Step 8 starts with attaching the hull top. There are no alignment pins for any of the main pieces but the parts fit well and went together with no trouble. This is followed by the hull roof that holds the turret. Here I had a problem as the instructions don’t indicate which side should be up or towards the front. One side does have ejection marks so I put that on the inside and lined up the turret hole so it looked like the picture. Next I went back to Step 1 and the turret. The turret bottom leaves a gap around it that should be filled but is hard to see on the completed model (unless the turret is turned and you are using a dental mirror). I found the attachment of the gun to be very finicky. The barrel goes through the mantlet with no positive positioning, then through the turret front and ends up in a round locking part. The barrel is pretty fragile, making this operation even more fun. When I got it all together, my barrel was not aligned correctly. While fiddling with this, I pulled the mantlet off the turret (I love Braille scale, I love Braille scale). The only way to correct my mistake was to cut the barrel off of the mantlet, put it back with the correct alignment, and glue the mantlet back on the turret. Step 9 has you glue the Jerry cans, tools, antenna, etc to the fenders and then attach them to the hull in Step 10. There are no positive alignment points for any of these parts and the instructions are not clear on where they should go. A top view drawing of the completed kit would be very helpful here. I decided to glue the fenders to the hull first and then add the details using reference photos from the web. The fenders included 2 open lockers on each side with separate doors (no open hatches to see the interior but open lockers, go figure). The other 2 lockers on each side are molded closed and there are no walls for these under the fender. These will need to be added but I didn’t spend the time as this was an OOB project. The fenders fit pretty well with only a slight gap that I filled with liquid glue. You may notice the final model is missing a few parts, the smoke candles, machine gun and the spare tire. I lost more pieces on this build to the carpet monster than I have lost in a long time, 8 in all. Some of this I put to the small size of many of the missing pieces, the rest to my clumsiness. The MG-42 is very well done and it seemed a shame to just cut the barrel off for the kit, so I didn’t. |
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The decal instructions show the left profile and front but not the rear. I added the rest of the decals base on photos I found. Overall this kit was a combination of good and not so good. The instructions were lacking in several areas for placement of parts and decals. The fit of some of the parts could be better. The number of really small parts can add a lot to this model if you can manage to keep them away from that evil that lurks under the desk. With Hasegawa and Italeri releasing the same kit, and Revell re-releasing the 1/76th scale Matchbox kit, we suddenly have a plethora of Pumas. From what I have read, the Hasegawa is the best for detail and size, but until I get one, this kit will do. Based on the nice low price and detail, I can recommend this kit to modelers experienced with small parts. Now, where is that etched brass set I have lying around…I hear the monster growling. |
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