Dragon

1/35 PzKpfw.III Ausf. J Initial Production - Smart Kit

Kit Number: 6463

Reviewed by  Joachim Lotz, IPMS# 44170

MSRP: $45.95 Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com This is a new release from Dragon of the Pz.Kpfw III early J as a smart kit with the short barrel 50mm KwK 38 L/42 gun. History The Production of the Pz.III Ausf J started in March of 1941 and continued until July of 1942 with a total of over 2600 vehicles produced by several manufacturers. Changes incorporated included an increase in armor, change of driver's visor and a ball mount for the MG 34. A new access hatch in the front as well as new air intakes in the front were installed as well. The Kit The kit comes in a top opening box with a very nice box-art showing Pz# 631 of the 2. Pz.Div. This is my first smart kit so I wasn't for sure what to expect but once I opened the box I was just stunned. It was packed to the rim with sprues, P/E and other goodies. So after the shaking subsided I decided to take a closer look at the kits contents. And this is what is included in the box: 14 light gray sprues. 2 sprues with clear vision blocks. 1 P/E Fret. 2 bags of Magic Tracks (colored in different grays for right and left side). 1 decal sheet with marking for 3 different vehicles. 1 21-step instruction sheet. The total part count is in the range of 700 parts but not all of them will be used since the sprues are from 3 different kits. The detail of the parts is exceptionally crisp. There is no flash anywhere on the parts that I noticed as well as no really prominent mold parting lines and the ejector pin marks are small, and in places were they will not be seen after assembly. One thing that struck me with awe was that the fenders had detail even on the underside which is something I personally haven't seen before. But then my main preference lies in modern Armor. The Build The assembly starts in good old armor fashion with the lower hull and suspension. There were no surprises at all. The parts went together very well. I left the wheels off at this point. When I assemble a kit I don't usually follow the assembly process step by, but rather build up sub-assemblies in no particular order.

Next I started to build the turret assembly. This also was straightforward. At this point I decided to build the kit completely buttoned up and all hatches and vision ports closed. Even though the kit comes with a well-detailed gun breach and nice detail on the inside of the hatches no other internal parts are provided. There was one little hiccup in the turret assembly. In step 18 part D18 (internal fume exhaust fan) is to be inserted in the turret roof and then the mating part G6 attached from the outside in step 21. It should be the other way around since D18 centers on G6. A nice feature is the two-part turret lift hooks. The parts are very small so one needs to be careful. I decided to feed one of the hooks to the carpet monster but fortunately there were 2 spares on the sprue. Next I tackled the various sub assemblies for the upper hull. All parts went together very well and no complaints there. The bow machine gun is made up of 7 pieces and looks very nice. Even the muzzle was hollowed out a little. For the engine deck you have the choice of either attaching the complete one-piece tow cables or just attach the mounting brackets for the cables. Next I did the fenders. First a couple holes need to be drilled out in each fender. Then I attached everything that was not a tool. I tend to paint the tools separately before attaching them. On the fenders I had the choice of attaching rear fenders either with mud guards up or down. In this case the part numbers for the fender options on each side were switched. For the left rear fender part A39 is for the option with the mud flap and A41 for the option without mud flap. On the right side it is A40 and A38 respectively. After the fenders I went on and assembled the rear hull plate. No surprises there and everything went together well. One note on the side. The instructions call out to attach the idlers before the rear wall is attached. I did it the other way around. It takes a little force to attach the idler after the wall is installed but it was not a big problem at all. After I had all the subassemblies done I primed everything with Tamiya grey primer from the can. Next I painted everything with Tamiya XF-63 German Grey including the wheels that were still on their sprues. The rubber part on the wheels I painted in Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black by hand (I haven't found a satisfactory circular template yet) and then just stuck then on the axles so it would be easier to attach the tracks later. Now came my most dreaded task- single link tracks. I had model friends tell me before how fantastic those magic tracks are but I still had my reservations. The tracks come in 2 different colors to separate right and left side since they are slightly different. I started with the right side. I just started to snap together all the links and thought to myself- wow that is cool. I could assemble the whole track and lift it up completely without the parts being glued together. I was deeply impressed. Next I put the tracks on a strip of tape and applied liquid glue, waited about 30 minutes and wrapped the tracks around the wheels. That was easy, and so I started immediately with the left side and what a surprise. The links on the left side didn't have a tight fit like the right side at all. Instead there was quite some play from link to link. So I attached the links piece by piece on a strip of tape and then applied the glue. When the glue was set I again took the tracks with tape and started to wrap them around the wheels. And due to the loose fit the glue didn't bond the separate links very well and the track started to break into pieces. No matter how careful I was I ended up with about 7 pieces of different length of tracks and it took me quite a while to get the left side together. I painted the tracks with Tamiya Metal Grey and brushed some Rust color Bragdon Powder on before I attached the tracks completely. But finally I got it done and could move on to the final assembly. One thing I almost forgot is that the instructions call out for 99 links per side but only 93 are needed Finish After I got everything assembled and the tools attached I sprayed to model with a coat of future before I applied the decal, which are very nice printed and went on without any problems. Then I did a light oil pin wash of black mixed with burned sienna. Next I applied coat of Model Master flat acrylic. I then misted the whole model with a highly thinned coat of Tamiya dark yellow followed but I thinned coat of Tamiya dark earth around the lower part of the hull and running gear. I finished with a light coat of Bragdon powder Dust. Conclusion This is very highly detailed and accurate kit of the early Pz.III Ausf.J. Overall it was a fun build despite the 2 errors in the instructions and the problem with the tracks. Dragon did a very nice job. I highly recommend this kit not only to the WW2 German armor modeler but to any armor modeler. I would like to thank Dragon for providing this review kit.