Dragon

1/35 T19 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage Smart Kit

Kit Number: DRA-6496

Reviewed by  Scott Staudt, IPMS# 46953

MSRP: $45.95 Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com I would like to thank Dragon and IPMS for the opportunity to review this kit. Background The T19 was an interim 105mm self-propelled artillery platform used in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. It was stopgap measure that allowed the Army to field self-propelled artillery until the M7 Priest was available in sufficient numbers. 324 were produced and it was never standardized and given an "M" designation. It is probably most famous for its role in the opening scenes of the movie "Kelly's Heroes". The Kit When you pop the top off, you are greeted with a box crammed full of sprues. There are 10 gray sprues that show no flash and an abundance of attachment points. With the advances in molding technology, it is amazing to see the detail in all of the parts. I am assuming that because of the detail that can be achieved, even on the smallest parts, there are attachment points to support the piece during molding, that need to be clipped off and cleaned. There is also one clear sprue, 1 photo-etch fret, one metal barrel and 4 sprockets that are loose in a bag. The directions are will laid out with a large drawing that shows every part involved. On the back of the directions, there are sketches of the 5 marking options that are included in the Cartograf decals. Assembly The assembly is laid out in 4 sub-assemblies: cab, chassis, howitzer, and crew compartment. Steps 1-7 deal with assembly of the chassis. A well detailed engine is included along with the drive line and track assembly. The tracks come as two halves that are designed to fit with no seam showing. The chassis fits together well with any sink marks placed in such a way as not to show once assembled. Steps 8 and 9 deal with the cab. Here be sure to get the correct cab sides and windshield as the sides and windshield for the parent kit, the M3, are different than the T19's parts. Once again, no major trouble, just some care needed when fitting the cab sides and hood together to get a nice, clean joint. The next 3 steps are the howitzer assembly. These parts come from Dragon's new M2 howitzer kit minus the carriage pieces. The howitzer was the most fiddly assembly. Some of the gun sight pieces attach with not a whole lot to hold then on. The metal barrel is a nice add on. The last sub-assembly is the crew compartment. The compartment is nicely detailed with good floor texture. The last 2 steps is where the whole thing comes together. All 4 sub-assemblies come together with a few other parts thrown in. This is where you have to decide if you want to use the photo-etch louvers to model the grill in an open position, or you can choose the styrene part to model it closed. All in all, this kit went together very well with the only problems due to operator error.

Any color, as long as its OD OD. This is the only color option that the directions give you. Now, there are plenty of sources that show halftracks in North Africa with improvised mud camouflage, but I decided to go OD. I decided this was a good opportunity to use a version of color modulation. After priming with Tamiya gray primer, I gave the model several light coats of Tamiya XF-61 Dark Green, thinned with lacquer thinner to about a 40:60 ratio. If you use this method, be sure to stay about 3 in from the model when spraying, or else the paint will dry before contact with the model and you will end up with an orange peel finish on your model. The next painting steps involved XF-62 Olive Drab with increasing amounts of XF-21 Sky and XF-49 Khaki added to lighten the color. When the color was where I wanted it, I placed the decals and sprayed a coat of Future Floor Wax followed by a coat of Testor's Dullcote. Of course allow plenty of drying time between coats. The final step was weathering, where my preferred method is the use Bragdon powders. Conclusion This is a great kit of a little used artillery subject. I would highly recommend this kit for all halftrack aficionados. Dragon's approach to these new subject matters builds up a detailed and well engineered model, and being a Dragon kit, you have plenty of extra parts left over for use somewhere else.