IPMS/USA Kit Review: Dragon 1/35 15cm s.IG.33 (Sf) auf Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf. B

Dragon

1/35 15cm s.IG.33 (Sf) auf Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf. B

Kit Number: 6259

Reviewed by Andrew Birkbeck, IPMS# 27087

MSRP: $59.95
Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com

15cm s.IG.33 (Sf) auf Pz.Kpw.I Ausf. B, indeed! Apparently, the vehicle behind this long name turns out to be Germany’s first self-propelled artillery piece. It utilized a surplus Panzer I Ausf. B chassis and a 150mm s.IG 33 wheeled artillery piece (with one on top of the other) partially enclosed in a rudimentary steel plate "box." Like the original vehicle, DML’s new kit consists of parts from their Pz.Kpfw. 1 Ausf. B kit, #6186, together with many of the parts from the Cyber-hobby Models’ s.IG 33 #CHC 6473 (Cyber-hobby Models is a DML sister brand).

Upon opening the box, the modeler is greeted by a great assortment of injection molded sprues for the tank chassis and gun, the new upper superstructure, a bag of "Magic Track" individual link tracks, photo-etched detail parts, a turned-aluminum gun barrel for the howitzer and a lovely, albeit small, sheet of Cartograf (of Italy) decals. Despite the fact that only 38 of these vehicles were ever produced, DML manages to provide the modeler with five different paint schemes, two from France 1940, one from the Balkans (1941) and two from Russia (1941-42 and 1943).

The parts, as we have come to expect from DML, are extremely well molded, with no ejection pin marks visible on any of the parts once assembled. Detail is extremely crisp, and the fit of the parts is excellent in all areas. Construction begins with the Panzer 1 lower chassis, including all the road wheels. It is here that one finds the one major fault with this kit: the instructions. First, there are parts that are mislabeled and second, there are parts that suddenly appear on the instruction drawings without showing you what they are or how they were installed. They just appear, poof!

Starting in Section 1, note that sub-section "A" lists the road wheel as L1, when it is, in fact, L2. The large nut that is listed in this sub-section as J6 is, in fact, J8. Section 1, sub-section "C" lists the road wheels as L2, when they should be L1. In Section 3, I would advise the modeler not to install the front and rear fender parts B24/25 and D17/18 until after the tracks have been installed. Note that it is in Section 3 that parts mysteriously appear in the drawings: check the rear end of the lower hull, and you will see that something has appeared attached to the cross piece A10, which was installed in Section 2. The mystery parts then disappear in the drawings that show the rear lower hull in Section 4!? Section 5, 6 and 7 has the modeler assembling and installing the driver’s area, including a nicely-detailed transmission unit. This area will need painting and weathering prior to moving on in the assembly sequence, otherwise it will be impossible to do later.

Section 9, and the modeler needs to decide which of the two "versions" of the armored "box" they wish to install. The drawings in this section indicate the difference between parts N1 and N2, although they are so subtle as to almost be indistinguishable. Note, however, that whichever of the two parts you do decide to use, you will then need to install the correct parts from among N4/5/6 and N7. Note also in Section 11, assembly of the jack, that the part listed as B32 should be part B31.

Moving right along, we progress to the assembly of the s.IG 33 field howitzer, wheels and all! Things move along nicely for the most part, but it is CRITICAL to carefully study the drawings. Section 21, check BOTH drawings for the proper placement of part A42, and in Section 20, make sure you don’t get part A66 upside down. Section 22, make sure you know exactly how parts A20/22/19/31 fit together and where they are to be attached to the two wheel units "G" and "H".

The instructions call for attaching the tracks in Section 26, at the end of all the construction sequences. Personally, I think this is a big mistake, as the model is very unwieldy by that time, with lots of parts that can easily be knocked off as you maneuver the model to install the tracks. I installed my tracks way back in Section 3, once the road wheel units were installed. The model is very compact at that point, with very few fragile parts installed that could be knocked off during handling. The tracks are very easy to glue together, and fit near perfectly. Once installed, they are firmly in place and painting them on the vehicle is easy.

I painted my model with using Gunze Sangyo’s Mr. Color acrylic lacquer paint, thinned with Mr. Color "self-leveling" lacquer thinner. The results were superb, as the paint flowed extremely well out of my Iwata airbrush, and per the thinner’s promise, self leveled beautifully for a superbly smooth finish. My one regret is that I didn’t lighten up the Panzer Gray with more white, as I feel my model is a tad on the "dark" side.

This is a first-rate model, that with the exception of the instructions, makes for a trouble-free build. It is highly detailed, utilizing state-of-the-art injection-molded parts together with a small number of PE parts and a turned-aluminum barrel. It comes highly recommended to any modeler with moderate modeling skills. My sincere thanks to Dragon Models USA for providing IPMS USA with the review kit.