Lion Roar

1/35 Staghound AA Armored Car Accessories For the Bronco kit

Stock Number: LE35109

Reviewed By  Howie Belkin, IPMS# 16

MSRP: $44.95 Distributed by Dragon Models USA: www.dragonmodelsusa.com . Editor's Note: The full build of the Bronco kit using the Lion Roar accessory set is also on this website. Twin M2HB .50 cal. Machine gun barrels and Extra Exterior Attachments. Limited run - only 600 sets made of this version.

With over 1,000 T17E2 Anti Aircraft variants of the Staghound Armored Car built in WWII, they far outnumbered available Luftwaffe ground support aircraft in NW Europe during the last year of the war! Though Lion Roar states this is for the Bronco kit, it probably will fit the Italeri kit as well. This exterior detail set consists of 18 light cream colored, air hole free resin parts, two sets of perforated, air cooling gun barrel jackets and two metal hollowed machine gun barrels, and a photo etched fret of scale thin barbed wire. A simple instruction sheet shows that you replace the kit gun barrels and cooling jackets with the new metal ones. The jackets include the indentations found on the real M2 that many other brands miss. At your option, anneal metal parts under fire, coil the barbed wire making it easier to bend and twist it for a used look, and attach it to the front of the vehicle without getting snagged on the barbs!

Banged up fuel cans replace the kit's "newer" ones. Some criticism has stated this is overdone but I remind the modeler that the kit provides prominent, distinctive, easy release straps indicative that the fuel cans were often removed from the vehicle, rolled around as necessary, and banged up a bit more than you'd expect. Leave the fine weld seam along its length - the fuel cans were made out of rolled sheet metal just as were T-34 spare fuel tanks. Lion Roar uses the kit parts, especially kit photo etch, when there's no point replacing good ones. Lion Roar sells the m.g. barrels and jackets separately as set #LB3528 for about half this price if that's all you want. One expects to see the handle for removing overheated gun barrels, but none are supplied. This has been a complaint "on-line" but I started looking at photos and noticed that neither Staghound A.A. twin .50s nor M16 A.A. Halftracks Quad .50s seemed to have those handles attached. Perhaps there was a shortage of them and they'd lose time guessing in advance which barrel would burn out first. I know from talking to a .50 turret gunner that he could select as many or as few mg's in his quad turret as he chose. Whatever the reason, the photos suggest Bronco is quite right not providing those handles. If that's not good enough for you, then your spares box should provide a solution, or double check your references to confirm that the Staghound AA you're modeling had them or not. The Lion Roar resin stowage is well done, well thought out, had no air bubbles and adds a lot to the final finish. British hard helmets are properly included in the stowage as the vehicles were used by British and Commonwealth crews.

The resin knapsacks, bedrolls, sleeping bags and tarps have been shaped to fit the Bronco kit, and are easily removed from their pour stubs. Lion Roar and other manufacturers sell tie down belts and buckles if you want to make sure your resin stowage isn't going anywhere, though it has molded on straps and rope. One could argue that the molded on ropes and belts slide thru attachment points welded on the vehicle, underneath and hidden by the stowage. Some judges won't be convinced. There was minimal clean up necessary on the resin. The twin .50s are the center of attraction on this vehicle and Lion Roar's give them your best shot. I highly recommend this set for those of you who would rather spend the money rather than the time it would take to create the exterior stowage, and who want everything just as it was. Lion Roar makes it simple to make your model look lived in. Available at better hobby shops or direct from www.lionroarmodel.cn. Thanks to Lion Roar and distributor Dragon Models USA for the review sample.