Dragon

1/35 Sd.Kfz.234/4 Panzerspahwagen

Kit Number: 6221

Reviewed by  Chad Richmond, IPMS# 10346

MSRP: $43.95 For the last thirty years the only kits of the 234 series of German armored cars were the excellent issues by Italeri. These kits were very detailed and quite accurate and gave the modeler a very nice representation of the prototype. Age and quality have always been a factor in the clamoring for new kits that modelers are famous for, and the 234 series of armored cars was no exception. Dragon Models came to everyone's rescue with the Sd.Kfz.234/4 Panzerspahwagen, which was soon followed by the 234/1. Once again, Dragon has set the bar high. When you first open the box, you are confronted with the typical Dragon dilemma. "How do I get all this stuff back in the box?" There are 17 sprues of gray plastic, one clear, one photoetch fret, an aluminum barrel and four brass clearance indicators. And, you end up using all but 11 of the 570 plastic parts included in the kit! 195 of those parts are used in building the suspension, which is a kit within itself. The kit is a little pricey, but there's a lot of stuff in that box, and it all fits. The instruction sheet is typical Dragon, being a ten page fold out sheet, with their excellent blow-up drawings for assembly. There are a couple of areas where the instruction sheet is a little vague on the placement of parts, but for the most part, they are easy to figure out. One glaring absence is the lack of any painting references. The only place on the instruction sheet that they appear is the painting of the spare ammunition and ammo boxes. This is where reference materials become indispensable. I was able to gather enough references together to at least make an intelligent guess at what color I would paint everything. Construction starts from the ground up, literally. The suspension comes first, and you soon find that this needs to be a paint-as-you-go project, because there are so many parts. It would be difficult to get good paint coverage if you wait until it's all assembled. I didn't run into any fit problems, except those that were self inflicted. I have a great tendency to snip all my parts off the sprues, clean them up, then assemble. That's great, except when two parts look exactly the same at first glance, but are "handed" parts. I found this out several times, so my usual "know-it-all, don't read the instruction sheet" attitude changed, somewhat. That still didn't keep me from messing up, however. That process also tends to lower the opportunity for the "Carpet Monster" and the "Invisible Part Swiper" to come in to your modeling area. I'm still looking for one of the steering arms. I had to scratch build a new one. The interior of the vehicle is another assembly within itself that requires some paint-as-you-go. The detailing is great, and what few ejector pin marks exist are generally covered by another part. This is one part of the assembly that I would have really liked to have a painting guide. Pretty much everything I did was guesswork, based on what I had previously done on similar type vehicles. You also get a great feeling of just how crowded it would be in this vehicle during combat operations. I can on imagine how hard it was to load and fire that gun. You are given the option on the upper hull of open or closed vision ports, and are provided with clear vision blocks for the ports. This was a nice touch. You are given the option of open or closed louvers on the engine compartment, but no screens are provided. They are available, however in a separate add-on kit. You are also given the option of plastic or photoetch for several parts, such as lift hooks, but I opted to use the plastic parts. Final assembly consists of mating the upper hull assembly and lower hull assembly, then the fenders. I obviously did something wrong in that process, because I couldn't get the fenders to mate with the upper hull. I had a gap almost the entire length. I think that was probably due to the wheel wells. If I had trimmed them just a little, the fenders would probably have fit like a glove. The Pak 40 L/60 gun is composed of 67 pieces, and they can become fiddly. The finished product, however, is a work of art that can be elevated and depressed or traversed. The fit in the carriage, however is rather sloppy, so I glued it in place, centered and elevated. You have the option here for a two piece plastic barrel or a turned aluminum one. The aluminum barrel is fantastic, but has no locator keys for the muzzle brake or the breech block. It took me several tries to find an adhesive that would secure my homemade keys to the barrel. Epoxy was what finally worked. I also had problems with paint adhesion, even though I had roughed up the barrel considerably. I still have some Imrey-Risley figure paints and their metal primer, so I gave it a shot with their primer. I coated the barrel with it first, followed by Mr. Color's 1000 primer, and the combo made for a great surface that proved to be very durable. You are also given eight rounds that can be displayed in or out of the two ammo boxes. The kit instruction sheet only gives you two marking options, Western Front, 1945 and Prague, 1945, but the selection of kit decals will allow you to build virtually any vehicle you want. You are given blank number plates and a zillion individual numbers, so you can make your own. One small sheet contains all of the markings for the Pak 40 ammo and ammo boxes. Since I didn't use any of them with the kit, I now have a valuable addition to my decal box, as well as the ammo and ammo boxes themselves. I opted for the brown and yellow Western Front vehicle and had fun with the masking. This was the first time I had ever used a Blue Tac type substance for masking, but it was kinda fun, and it worked really well. This was a great kit and a pleasure to build. If you're looking for something to complete on a weekend, this isn't it, but it will give you a model that you'll be proud to put on your shelf. I want to thank Dragon/USA for the review kit and John Noack for allowing me the pleasure of building this excellent kit.

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