Dragon Models Ltd

1/35 SdKfz 165 Hummel Late Production

Kit Number: 6321

Reviewed by  Mark Aldrich, IPMS# 39295

MSRP: $56.99 Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Dragon still knows how to fill a box. This baby has eleven large grey styrene sprues, nine smaller ones, a transparent parts sprue, the lower hull, an aluminum barrel, three small brass etched frets, two small brass tubes, one steel cable, one nylon cable, two bags of magic track (one for the left side and one for the right side), a small decal sheet, and a four page fold out instruction manual/painting guide.

This kit has nothing in comparison to its three predecessors, other than the fact that it is a Hummel. It is a hodge-podge of earlier panzer IV releases, the Sf18 Howitzer, sprues from "Gen 2" personal kit, and some from the Nashorn. One thing I truly miss is the history lessons that used to accompany the first page of instructions. Whether they were correct or not, I always enjoyed reading about the actual vehicle before I started building the kit.

The decal sheet and painting guide gives you options to decorate seven different vehicles. All The Hummels are from the Eastern Front between 1944 and 1945. As I am going to build and paint mine as a Syrian Hummel this is not that important to me but the decals do look extremely nice.

This looks to be an incredible build and the mix of brass and plastic should be enough for the die hard model builder to be happy. My only first look issue would be that part F20 (the charge box). It is designed to hold 15 casings but Dragon built it already holding 5 casings. The other ten are separate parts. I am sure it was designed to show a "rounds fired" look but I would have preferred all empty so you could do it your way. Besides, I already bought a Voyager set to help fill this area. Should not be too much of a hassle to file the casings down and drill new holes to fit the casings in. Special thanks to Dragon for making this excellent late model "Bumble Bee" and IPMS/USA and it appears, the IPMS Journal, for allowing me to build it and have a place to show it off. Editor's Note: The build of this kit will be featured in a future issue of The IPMS Journal.

Voyager 1/35 Ammunition For Hummel/sFH18 Howitzer Pattern 1 Item# PEA114 MSRP: $56.99 Website: www.voyagermodel.com When I was told I would be getting the Dragon late model Hummel to review I started checking for accessories available to make it a better model. I was looking for Friulmodel track as I have never had any luck with Dragon's link track. I can never get the correct sag to it. As I am an avid EBAYer, that was where my search started. Numerous Hummel accessories exist and this is one of them. Also, it is one of the cheaper accessories available. These rounds can be used with any Dragon Hummel kit, the Dragon sFH18 Howitzer, or the Trumpeter sFH18 howitzer as well. This is a nicely done and quick detail set designed to compliment these kits.

You get eight brass rounds, eight brass shell cases, and eight firing caps. The etched caps are actually notched on the reverse to fit into corresponding raised nubs on the bottom of the cases. This little touch allows for easy centering of the caps. There is a small instruction sheet that shows how to assemble these rounds but really isn't quite right. The rounds and cases were not joined until they were in the gun breech for firing (as I understand it). The only downside to the whole kit is that there is no painting guidance or marking options for these rounds. These are an easy addition to any of the kits mentioned above and are almost mandatory for anyone considering doing a "firing" position diorama. I would like to thank Voyager Models for releasing this set and for IPMS/USA for a place for others to view it