Tamiya

1/35th Scale Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer, Middle Production

Kit Number: 35285

Reviewed by  Chad Richmond, IPMS# 10346

MSRP: $48.00 http://tamiyausa.com/ Up until this time we have had two offerings from Dragon and three from Eduard for this unique German fighting vehicle. All of them were nice kits, but a modeler’s ears always perk up when you hear that Tamiya has a new kit coming out. The Hetzer release, though priced as if it were made of something more precious than plastic, is a fantastic kit. It’s the best fitting German armor kit I have seen since their Panzer III L. One thing unique about this model is that Tamiya gives you the choice of link-and-length tracks or their glue able one-piece vinyl tracks. Since there are small schurtzen on each side, I opted to use the vinyl tracks. No sag (or lack of) will be seen, so I used them instead. There are four bags that contain five Panzer yellow sprues of very crisply molded parts, two separate trees of poly caps, two runs of glue able tracks and a small decal sheet. The marking sheet is in full color with front, rear, overhead and left side views of each of the four vehicles. A very nice standing crew figure is included. For those who judge a model by the number of parts, this one has 190, 52 of which are the link and run track parts.

The fit of this kit is fantastic, which helps a little with the sticker shock. I did not use any filler or any shims anywhere in the construction of this kit. Markings are provided for four vehicles, three of which were used in Czechoslovakia in 1945, and one in France during 1944. If I could ever figure out an easy way of doing the "Mickey Mouse" camouflage pattern, I’d go for it in a heartbeat. Instead, I opted for the 2./Pz.Jg.Abt 744 scheme from Czechoslovakia, Summer 1945. Construction starts with the lower hull and running gear. There is a little bit of play with the suspension, but you are give two alignment jigs to keep everything straight. I couldn’t get them to work right, so I made my own jig. The detail of the drive sprockets, return rollers and road wheels is fantastic. The detail really comes out later after dry brushing. The rear panel fits perfect, but the tow cable is best replaced with a home-made cable. The kit’s is cast as one piece, so it’s pretty hard to show a lot of detail. Even with careful painting and dry brushing, it is still hard to make the cable look right. The rear plate on the upper hull is made up of four pieces, and there are the three hatch pieces, which end up leaving a little bit of a gap at the upper seam. It was more than I would have liked, but it was close enough that I didn’t do anything with it. The cannon and mantlet assembly go together extremely well and just slide in to the opening in the upper hull. All of the tools and jack are very nicely cast and can be put on at any time during the assembly. The remote control MG34 is very nice, as well. You can’t tell by the length of time that it took me to do this review that the kit goes together quickly, but it does. This is truly one armor kit that can be built in a three day weekend. The decals lay down very nicely if you use hot water and a little MicroSol or MicroSet. I highly recommend this kit for any level of modeling experience, and it would be a great one for someone suffering from AMS. My thanks to IPMS/USA and Tamiya USA for the review sample.

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