Dragon Models, Ltd

1/35 SdKfz.164 Bergepanzerwagen IV

Kit Number: 6438

Reviewed by  Tom Moon, IPMS# 43192

MSRP: $53.95 Review Sample provided by Dragon Models USA: www.dragonmodelsusa.com This kit is listed as a Smart kit that has a good balance of multimedia parts. There are two lengths of brass chain. These will have to be painted or blackened to look right. There is one fret of photo etched brass, a length of braided metal wire for the tow cables, a small set of decals and an 8 page set of instructions. And there are 680 styrene parts including 16 clear. However, the usable number of parts is 549. Step 1 Here you will need to make your first two decisions. First, which type of idler wheel will you use? Either the welded tube type, which comes in two pieces that are glued together, or the cast design, which comes in halves that require the photo etched faces to be added before gluing the halves together. When I glued the two pieces of the welded type together the ribs between the two pieces did not mate and left a gap. I then tried the cast type with the PE rings on the inner face. Well, the rings were undersized and left a lip on the inner face. I plan to leave the idler wheel and drive sprocket off until I am ready to add the tracks. Then, I will use the idler wheels as they were designed, to adjust the tension of the track to get the right sag in the tracks. The second decision will be which type of all steel return rollers to install. I used the set that has the reinforcing brace. The wheels have a pronounced seam around the middle which will take some effort to remove for a smooth face. Step 5 The idler wheel adjustment housings will require a decision and in my opinion it would be hard to detect the difference between the two once the model is finished. However, if you are making a very specific model, check your references for which one to use. I delayed the installation of the idler wheel adjustment handles H46 & H50 until the very end as to not break them off during the rest of the build. Step 6 The bogies do not articulate, but are easier to assemble. They are engineered so that the parts will only go on one way and will be properly aligned for a flat surface. The bogies can't be articulated for an uneven surface without major modification. The hull detail is quite good. Using slide molding, all the rivets, panels, bolts, hatches and weld beads are well done. In fact some of the weld beads are so finely detailed that they are hardly noticeable unless you get out the Optivisor to see them. There are more rivets molded on the bottom than I care to count. There are six injection gates along the top side of the hull that need to be removed even though the instructions make no statement about them. Step 7 The fenders are a highlight of this kit. Both sides are rendered in great detail, with no ejector pin marks anywhere on the parts. There are some locating holes that, if you replace the molded on clamps with some aftermarket photo etched clamps, will need to be filled. This will take some finesse as the surface detail is quite good, and any sanding or grinding will remove that detail. My sets of fenders were slightly warped. To remedy this I used a fast acting glue to attach the center section to the hull. I let that dry and then glued one end to the hull, let it set, then glued the other end and let it set. Then, I repeated the steps for the other side. Here is where I ran into the first set of ejector pin marks on the underside of the side of parts H52, H53, P17 & P18 (the end pieces of the fender). Since there is a lip around the underside of these pieces it is a little difficult to fill and sand off the excess to get them flat. Superstructure Steps 8 & 9 The details here are again well done. The only real decisions to make here concern whether to use Photo Etched parts instead of plastic for the rear deck louvers. I dry fitted both styles and since you can't really see the parts after you install them I went with the plastic. If you want to show the hatch open you may want to consider the PE piece. The next choice is which of the three styles of convoy lights to use. My choice was the Part K4. There is a Gen 2 MG34 machine gun with the predrilled muzzle. This went together well, but I would not bother painting the part inside the hull as you can't see it. The only error I found in the instructions for this step is the identification of Parts P5 and P6 (engine ventilation louvers) should be reversed. You should take great care in assuring a snug tight fit of these parts to Part P18 & P19 as this will make the fitting of the superstructure to the hull easier. Tools on the Fender Step 10 The pioneer tools are done so that you can paint them off the vehicle and, with careful gluing, add them to the model after you have done most of the painting and weathering. This saves the headache of broken parts and items lost in the carpet. If you leave off the barrel cleaning rod, you will need to fill the locating holes. The PE fender braces MA17 and MA 10 are incorrectly called out. The numbers should be reversed. Otherwise the bolt pattern will be facing the hull wall instead of facing out where they can be seen. Step 11 The PE part MA15 (axe holder) is incorrectly listed, it should be MA 16. When mounting the axe the instructions point to the incorrect locating hole. Dry fit, Dry fit, Dry fit! You can use the overhead view to get the correct location of the axe. The PE front brace in this step is referred to using two different part numbers. It is referred to as MA12 in the 3D drawing and MA9 in the overhead view. MA 12 is the correct part number. If you use the PE part you will need to shave off the bolt detail from the hull and fenders as it is not referred to in the instructions. I used the plastic parts. Step 13 This kit has a two piece unditching beam. The wood grain is well done on all 4 sides. I glued it together and left it off for ease of painting. There are two jacks to build and place, along with two sets of stored pulleys. These pulleys appear to be usable with a winch, which the vehicle did not have. I put them together but left them off the vehicle until I had put the base coat of paint on the hull. Step 14 The wooden lid to cover the hole left by the removal of the turret has as good wood grain pattern. The hatch is molded in the closed position. I guess because there are no interior parts in this kit. Due to the problems of building the crane in the erected position I left the wood lid off. As I was going to use the large towing pintle I left part S27 & S28 unmodified. When gluing part S24 (crane mounting socket) to the hull check to see if there is a taper that will allow the top face to be horizontal. If you don't do this you will have to sand or shave the top face so that the crane mounting foot will sit flat on the socket. Step 15 & 16 You can build the crane either in the erected mode or disassembled and stored, but not both at the same time. I built the crane in the erected position, and care must be taken, as there are missing instructions for extra pieces required to attach the crane to the wooden lid and hull. There are no locating points on the wooden lid for it to fit into the superstructure and if you get this just a little off, the crane will not fit properly. I suggest that you mount the crane to the lid, then the lid to the superstructure. To mount the crane to the wooden lid, add these steps: Glue parts S7 and S25 to the wood lid (part S22), letting the glue set before proceeding. Dry fit the crane part with these two pieces. Make sure you are happy with the alignment before gluing. Glue part S27 to S25 making sure that you trap the part S21 or N29 between the two pieces. If you are careful the mounting will be moveable and help with the mounting on the vehicle. Glue the crane legs into parts S7 and S25. I set the wooden lid in place and adjusted the crane until it set correctly. Let the glue set up before proceeding. Glue the wood lid with the crane onto the superstructure and adjust as necessary to get it aligned. The pulleys and the come along device are pretty straight forward, but you will need to paint and weather the items prior to including the chains. The chains will need to be blackened or painted separately, then mounted on the erected crane, and then add the pulleys, hooks, and lifts. I used the product called "Blacken It" This is a onetime use solution that blackens most brass/copper/iron based metals for a realistic finish. Tracks Step 17 The 40cm tracks of the solid horn with ice grip chevrons on the face. The kit has the Magic Tracks that are "handed". The left side is molded in dark grey and the right side molded in light grey. Since these are Magic Tracks there is no cleanup unless you want to remove the ejector pin marks on the inner face. These appear to be the proud type that will clean up with a swipe of the sanding stick or the sharp blade. These are not workable tracks so you will need to glue them together. The method I use to glue the tracks together is as follows: I use a track jig that is adjustable. I place it on the work surface and put a strip of yellow Tamiya tape down with the sticky side up. If you don't have a jig, you can use a ruler; just tape ii down and use it as a guide to keep the tracks straight. Then I "assemble" the track using the jig and tape to hold all the parts in place. When the vehicle is ready for the tracks, I prepared one side at a time, using Tamiya thin glue with a dab at each joint. I let this set for about 3 to 5 minutes. This will allow the glue to set enough to hold the tracks together but still be flexible enough to put sag into the tracks. With the drive sprocket and idler wheel in place, but not glued, mount the tracks with the ends meeting on the bottle flat side. Adjust the sag and the idler wheel so there is no gap in the ends. Let them dry. Remove the tracks. Paint and weather them off the vehicle. Remount them, along with the drive sprocket and idler wheels. When you are happy with the look, glue the drive sprocket and idler wheel into their permanent position. Make sure that these two pieces are correctly aligned, as the biggest mistake armor modelers make is, tracks that are toed in or out caused by improper alignment of drive sprockets and/or idler wheels. Molding As I have stated earlier the molding is very good. There are few ejector pin marks; mold seams are faint and easily removed, and flash is not to be found. Slide molding techniques have ensured that rivets, weld beads, hatches, recessed screws, etc all look very good. There are some molded butterfly wing nuts that are just gorgeous. Instructions As with most Dragon instructions read them several times carefully and take notes. For instance in step 12 you are instructed to drill out 4 holes located on the underside of the superstructure. The only problem is that you glued all that together in step 9 and can no longer get access to those holes from the underside. Another conflict is between the page 1 instructions that show the sprue layouts and it shows the Magic Tracks each side times 72 whereas the step 17 shows each side times 99, the number I used was 99. Again read and reread the instructions. Look ahead to see what is coming up to see if a different order of build would be easier. I also looked at the ease of painting. Sometimes it is easier if you leave certain items off and paint them separately before adding them to the model. Last, but not least, instructions are missing for mounting the crane in the working position. Refer to other instruction hints in the above text. Painting and decals Since there are no known photos of this variant, any painting scheme is just an educated guess. I went with a late war dark yellow scheme with no camouflage; remember that this is a recovery vehicle, not a front line combat vehicle. The balkencruz decals are done by Cartograf of Italy and are in good registration. There are no other markings included.

Conclusion This is a well done kit. It has a nice mix of Photo etch to plastic and even some of the plastic parts are pushing the envelope on how small and thin plastic get can. Having done a Pz III BergePanzer conversion using resin and photo etch, the ease of this build should be appreciated by the modeling community. Thanks to Dragon for the review sample and IPMS/USA for the review space. This model can be found at most hobby shops, online hobby shops and at www.dragonusaonline.com. References for this variant included the following: Panzer IV and Its Variants; Spielberger Series Vol.IV, Schiffer, by W.J. Spielberger. Sturmgeshütz and Its Variants; Spielberger Series Vol.II, Schiffer, by W.J. Spielberger. Encyclopedia of German Tanks of WW2, Revised Edition; Arms and Armour Press, by P. Chamberlain, H. Doyle & T. Jentz. Panzerkampfwagen IV, Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV; Panzer Tracts No.4, by T. Jentz & H. Doyle. Bergepanzerwagen, Bergepanzer 38 to Bergepanther: Panzer Tracts No.16, by T. Jentz & H. Doyle. Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.G, H and J 1942-45, Osprey New Vanguard 39, by T. Jentz, H. Doyle & T. Bryan. Panzerkampfwagen IV; Achtung Panzer No.3. Sd.Kfz.161, Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G/H/J; Trojca, by W. Trojca & F14. Panzerkampfwagen III and IV, 1939-45; Concord 7065, by T. Cockle & D. Jameson.