Cyber Hobby

1/35 Beutepanzer M4A2 75

Kit Number: 6529

Reviewed by  Jeff Leiby, IPMS# 30249

MSRP: $49.95 Website: www.cyber-hobby.com The Kit This is the Cyber Hobby Kit of the Beutepanzer M4A2 75mm. This kit represents an M4A2 (75mm) captured from the Soviet Army on the Eastern Front. The box contains the following parts. 11 light grey sprues. 1 sprue with clear parts. 1 P/E Fret. 1 small decal sheet. 2 DS T49 tracks. 1 Metal cable. 11 step instruction sheet with painting guide for a single vehicle. The kit contains almost 500 parts of which just over half are used. Many parts remain for the parts stash. The detail of the parts is exceptional with only a little flash on a few parts and no exposed ejection marks. The kit parts include three different types of road wheels, all with separate backs; two types of wheel bogies with either level or raised support arms; clear head lights and tail lights and a medal tow rope with separate ends. The instructions are on one large sheet of three fold paper. On one side are the parts map, painting guide, safety warnings, color chart in six languages with no only one paint type, and the first construction step. The other side has the other ten steps. Carefully review the instructions as you have to make several choices of part types or patterns and in some cases between injected parts or photo-etch parts. Locations for many parts are vague so I used the painting guide and my references to ensure proper locations. The Build I started my build by constructing the six suspension bogies, making sure I had all six with same type of support roller bracket. There are two extra bogie frames of both types, so make sure you have three each, left and right sides. I didn’t realize there were extra frames and at first had four right side and only two left side! Luckily it was an easy fix. The bogie sets, idler wheels and drive sprocket were then attached to the lower hull. The kit gives you two options for the sprocket – solid or open lace. I used the open lace style and found it difficult to get a good bond. I ended up using tube glue to ensure the sprockets wouldn’t be pulled off when the tracks were installed. The one piece transmission cover and the rear plate were then added to the lower hull. The last part for the lower hull was the air exhaust outlet that is located under the rear engine compartment overhang. This part required trimming, per the instructions, and linked to the sponson bottoms that are molded to the lower hull. Some filler was required to hide the resulting joint on the sponson bottoms. Because of the camouflage pattern applied to the prototype vehicle, I decided to paint the lower and upper hulls first before attaching together. While the glue on the lower hull set, I started the upper hull. The instructions have you add the three supplemental armor plates to the hull sides in step 5, but the PE fender rails are not added until step 11. I lined up the armor plates based on the box top and painting guide as the instructions are vague as to positions. This resulted in insufficient space along the bottom of the right hull below the rear armor plate for the fender rail. I removed part of the rail to fit the rest of the rail on the right side…it is now battle damage. I left off the pioneer tools and spare track racks until after painting. The turret was last and went together easily with exception of a gaps under the turret bustle. This was filled and sanded smooth. I tacked the hatches closed with white for painting, for possible future option of adding a crew. I also left off the commander’s and gunner’s periscopes. I did the same thing for the drivers’ hatches. After painting I attached the upper hull to the lower hull. Contact and fit here is very solid. I had attached the PE front fenders to the underside of the upper hull per the instructions, but I found they conflicted with the sponson bottoms on the lower hull. I had shaped and glued the fenders into shape and will reinstall them later. I added the pioneer tools, spare track racks and other small parts that would have been knocked off during painting. The tracks and turret were last parts I added. I used thick super glue to secure the ends of the DS track…which worked great. PE parts were attached with either super glue or Gator Glue, depending on location and required strength. Painting and weathering I painted the lower hull below the sponsons and the suspension Tamiya Khaki Drab, XF-51, to represent the original American or Soviet paint. It didn’t make much sense for the Germans to paint the sides below the fenders as they quickly became covered in dirt and mud. The remainder of the exterior was first painted with Model Master Panzer Dunklegeld 1943. After that had cured, I used handy tack to form the camouflage pattern with masking tape to cover rest. This was a two step system worked great on the front of the lower hull and the turret. I had problems on the upper hull due to all the protrusions on the upper hull, resulting in some touch up painting. I used Tamiya NATO Green, TS-61 and Tamiya Red Brown, TS-1 for the other two colors. The tracks were first painted with Tamiya Gun Metal, X-10, for the metals parts and Model Master Acryl Flat Black for the rubber portions. This was followed with a graphite stick to show wear on the end connectors and the bars on the traction surface of the track. A mixture of rust colored pastels was used to weather the metal surface. I weathered the rubber surface by scrubbing in grey pastel and then dragged my finger down the center of the track to represent the path of the road wheels. The graphite stick and a silver pencil were used to weather the sprocket teeth, and other suspension parts. Decals The decals are very opaque and have no clear edge; however, they are very thick. I found they did not like to stick to the surface, even though the paint had a semi-gloss surface. I had to use some white glue to keep one of the divisional markings in place. The German cross on the rear plate would not lie down over the rivets even after the liberal use of Microset. It will require more attention. There is only one decal option for a captured M4A2 75mm assigned to a self propelled artillery battery in the 14th Panzer Division. Conclusion The detail on the parts of this kit is outstanding. To achieve this detail required more parts and more complicated engineering. With the exception of the PE front fenders, this was not a problem. I selected to use the pioneer tools as molded. The builder has the option to remove the molded "straps" and replace with PE straps and tie downs. The PE straps appear to me to be over scale. They also added greatly to complexity of the build. The kit has the parts to build as a Marine Corps M4A2 in the Pacific, an M4A2 in the Soviet Army, or as a captured M4A2 in German service on the Eastern front. For other than the German scheme you will have to provide your own references and decals. I highly recommend this kit to any Shermanholic with a few armor kits worth of building experience. It will stand out in either a collection of Shermans with its four color camouflage, or in a collection of German armor. I would like to thank Cyber Hobby and IPMS/USA for this review kit.