MSRP: $11.98 USD
I first saw this kit in July 2005 in Atlanta at the
Dragon Expo held in conjunction with the IPMS National Convention. My
buddy and I ooohed and aaahhed at the well done micro detail and sharp
molding.
When I finally got this honey in my hands, Dragon
did not disappoint. This is not a scaled down version of the 1/35 kit.
This thing is engineered from the ground up for small scale.
The 251 was the workhorse armored personnel carrier
for the Wehrmacht and SS throughout WW2. The “D” was the last –
simplified – version of the halftrack series. As such, the marking and
variant possibilities are nearly endless.
The kit contains about 110 parts molded in Dragon’s
trademark gray styrene along with a fret of photo-etch, a very complete
decal sheet and a piece of fine steel wire for the radio antenna. Again
we get full color instructions that include a dozen color and marking
options – SWEET!
Assembly begins with the running gear and if you’re
a ham-hand such as myself, you will love this. At Atlanta, my buddy and
I both speculated that assembling the very detailed running gear would
require an electron microscope and nerves of steel – we were wrong.
Dragon has taken a running gear that features 14
road wheels per side and simplified them into five pieces per side – and
preserved oodles of detail. This may ultimately limit any articulation
of the suspension, but I liked it a lot. Essentially, the each inside
set of road wheels has been molded as a single unit. The middle unit
features a set of bridges across the axles and between the road wheels.
The only individual road wheels are the three that are outermost. The
suspension looks killer when assembled.
The lower hull was also very well detailed. The
interior is nicely done with lots of detail and a suitable number of
small parts. Your tweezers will need oiling after working on this kit.
A word of caution regarding the fighting
compartment floor - there is no real positive lock when placing the
floor. When gluing, make sure it is level. It can tend to slope down
towards the rear of the fighting compartment. It will be noticeable when
details are added. Don’t ask how I know this.
The driver’s compartment is well detailed, but
unfortunately that will become all but invisible once the upper hull is
attached. I completed and painted the interior prior to attaching the
upper hull. Watch the fit here, as the rear wall of the lower hull is a
little warped and wants to leave a gap.
I chose to close the rear doors because they are
thick. Once the upper hull was attached, I added the sponson lockers and
exterior details. I used the photo-etch machine gun shield because it
looked very in scale as opposed to the styrene part.
The very nice Dragon styrene treads fit like a
glove and attached nicely. Viola!
Painting consisted of a black primer and
increasingly opaque mistings of Dunkelgeld.
This is a very nice effort from Dragon and will
compliment any builder who takes the time to detail and paint. It’s
simply a very nice kit that pays a lot of dividends when assembled and
painted.
Thanks to Dragon Models for the sample copy. |