Dragon Models Ltd

1/35 10.5 cm K.Pz.Sfl.IVa "Dicker Max"

Kit Number: 6357

Reviewed by  Joe Koenig , IPMS# 31441

MSRP: $44.95 What an unusual kit subject the "Dicker Max" turned out to be! With only two vehicles produced, it's strange to me that this would appear. Not only that, but we have two models from two different manufacturers! I am not going to delve into a history lesson, other than to say that one was destroyed on the Eastern Front and the other sent back to Germany. They did well for themselves, but proved costly in comparison to the 88 and 75 mm SPGs. As you open the cover and gaze at a sea of gray plastic, you are greeted with over 1,000 parts, many of which will be consigned to the parts box. I don't have any of the other Dragon Panzer IV series, but I'm sure that many sprues are the same, and from all of the updates that have been done, I cannot begin to tell you what is from what kit. Needless to say, just dig in and get busy. In step One, you assemble the ammo, which I ended up not using. Steps Two through Four deal with assembly of the running gear and lower hull fittings. Step Five deals with the rear hull plate and fittings. I left the crew doors off to show them open when finished. Step Six finds you putting all of the running gear on the lower hull. I really like the individual road wheels and hubs. It makes for much easier painting later. I don't much care to paint all of the road wheels with my airbrush, so I got a wooden dowel, slid all of the wheels on, and used a rattle can - done in seconds! Steps Seven and Eight deal with assembly of the fighting compartment, which is easy. Nine and Ten deal with the fenders and tracks, along with a few more interior parts. I like to fit all of the running gear on and do my track runs separately, so I can paint and weather them off the model. I also paint all of the running gear off the models to make sure I get better coverage. I know that this sounds like an awful lot of work, but that's the way I do it. Once all is painted, I put it all together and do my weathering. By the way, all of my track runs are done before I add the fenders so I can add the track sag, and it just makes the tracks easier to deal with. The tracks are also right- and left-handed, with the darker gray one going on the left side. Step Eleven deals with the assembly of the front of the upper hull. All went well and fit beautifully. Steps twelve and thirteen find you doing all of the fender tools and fittings. Here is where you'll use much of the photoetch that come in this kit. The headlights are made of clear plastic with a photo etch front . . . strange, I thought, but once painted and the masks pulled off, they really look great! Steps Fourteen through Seventeen have you putting together the beautifully detailed gun. Lots of small parts here, so don't lose any because you may not find them! I lost one and found myself on the floor with the vacuum cleaner with a pair of the wife's hose over the end until I finally found it. It's better if you use an apron clamped to the table so if you drop a part it will land right in front of you rather than on the floor. You have a choice of two muzzle brakes and I chose the tulip-shaped one. I like the look better. You also get a turned-aluminum barrel which does not show up in the instruction sheet. Steps Eighteen and Nineteen deal with the assembly of the upper hull fighting compartment. Assembly is easy and the fit was precise. Again, I painted all of the interior parts and gun before final joining to help with weathering and coverage. Once that's all together, you are in the home stretch, with steps Twenty through Twenty five putting all of the interior ammo bores and other fittings in their final places. I chose to have the ammo bores closed, but now wish I'd showed them open to give a little busier look to the interior. Then you mask off the interior and start painting the outside. I added all of the running gear and did my final weathering. I used Model Master Flat Black as a base coat, then Tamiya Dark Gray. Then I lightened this with white for the center of various panels to give it a more worn look. When I do my final weathering, it's always an experiment and I keep playing with it till it looks right. Sometimes I get it right immediately and other times it takes forever, which was the case with this kit. In closing, this was a most enjoyable build. The fit of all parts was great and I didn't need to fill any unsightly seams or pin marks, just your usual molding seams, which cleaned up with a swipe or two of a #11 blade. Seeing that there is not much reference on this rascal, who's to tell you what should be what. I'd recommend this kit due to the "unusualness" of it, not to mention the great fit, and it really is cool when finished. Thanks go to IPMS and Dragon USA for the review sample.

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