Dragon

1/72 PzKpfw. IV Ausf.F1(F)

Kit Number: 7321

Reviewed by  Grant DeRue, IPMS# 42477

MSRP: $19.95 (per my LHS) Distributed by Dragon Model USA - Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Back in 1998, I was very excited to find out that Hasegawa came out with a new series of Panzer IV kits in 1/72 scale. When my local hobby shop finally received them, I bought all three of them (Ausf. F1, F2, and G models). These kits had adequate detail, and they did well in competition in my first attempts at IPMS competitions. In the past few years, I've built only Dragon Armor Pro kits for competition in 1/72 scale. These kits come with great detail, good parts fit, PE details, and great Cartograf decals. Pretty much, all you need is good paint with these kits to do well in competition. Dragon has brought forth many panzer IV based vehicles like Stug IVs, Jadgpanzers, and mobile artillery vehicles like Hummels, but up until now, there have been no turreted panzer IVs. It is safe to say that I'm very excited to build Dragon's first 1/72 scale turreted panzer IV. It happens to be the final 7.5cm KwK L/24 (short-barreled) panzer IV, the F1. Upon opening the box, you will find 165 parts (including 4 PE parts and 2 DS100 tracks) with very little or no flash or sink marks. Due to there being so many parts, it can be assumed that more panzer IV variants will be produced. The DS100 tracks are manufactured to be flexible and to allow the use of model cement for construction. I've used them before. They hold paint well, and they have nice molded in detail. Included in the kit parts are Dragon's unique wheel and tire system. Each two wheel set is one part with the steel portion of the wheel being a separate part. You can paint all of the wheels black, and then you can paint the steel portion gray/yellow. I love how easy these are to paint, and I hope that this type of wheel is included in future kits. Anyone who has built a panzer IV model knows how non-fun it is to paint each wheel (either by masking or by hand). While looking over the kit parts, I noticed an antenna. You don't see this very often in small scale kits. I usually use the old "stretched sprue over a candle" approach for making them. The antenna (part D38) appears to be in scale and is not too thick. The kit comes with 3-page double-sided full-color directions including a parts map, paint numbers for GSI and Model Master paint, and paint instructions for 7 different tanks. Cartograf decals have been provided for all 7 tanks. I built this kit as a 15th Panzer Division tank in Sidi Rezegh in 1941. It is the only African Campaign color scheme included in the 7 options with the remainder being from Europe (5 from the eastern front). As with most of the Dragon Armor Pro kits that I've built, this one was a joy to build. I had 3 problems with building this kit. Two of the problems were due to my own errors. With exception to track placement, I followed the steps in the directions. I started the kit by building the suspension components. I pained the road wheels with spray can matte black lacquer. After painting the centers to the road wheels panzer yellow, the wheel centers easily fit into the double-tired road wheels. I glued them with a spot of gap filling super glue. I think that any white glue would work here. The lower hull went together quickly and without problem. I then started to build the upper hull. I did have a few problems with the upper hull assembly. The driver and machine gunner hatches (parts B2 and B3) as well as the engine compartment doors (parts C1 and C2) all have large sprue attachment stubs that I had problems removing. If you take special care with removing these stubs, these hatches and doors will still look great. The engine intake louvers (parts D18 and D19) were both bent in my sample. These parts were easily persuaded back into their proper shape. I couldn't get the fenders (parts A1 and A2) to fit squarely onto the upper hull. Furthermore, the rear fender parts fit well, but the directions have you placing them before attaching the upper hull to the lower hull. If you add these parts too early, there will be a fit conflict with the rear hull plate (part D39). This was a kit problem that I don't attribute to my own brilliance. Dry fit the parts here and you'll be all right. To make the rear fenders fit per the direction steps, I had to remove portions of the rear hull plate. The remainder of the kit went together easily. I did break the antenna (part D38), but with a little glue and a sanding stick, the part looks like new. So how did my screw-ups occur? First, I waited until after painting to place the tracks onto the kit. It was difficult to do, but it eventually worked out. There are some tight tolerances between the fenders and the return rollers. Finally, I waited until weathering started to place the shovel (part D40). If you do this, there will be a conflict with the antenna holder and the spare track links. The shovel won't fit through the gap between these two items. The four photo-photo etched brass parts are nice, but they really don't stick out on the model like an engine screen or a gun sight would. These PE parts include engine intake doors and fender braces with lightening holes. My absolute favorite part of this kit is the fine details molded into the upper hull and turret. There are really nice weld bead details on the upper hull, and the rivet/bolt details all over the tank are the nicest that I've seen. Painting this kit was very simple. The base color is panzer yellow (or Tamiya Dark Yellow) that I placed in three different tones (one reddish, one out of the bottle, and one mixed with white). I used a raw sienna enamel wash and white mixed with yellow artist oils for the dry brushing. The paint was blended together using a diluted light coat of Tamiya Buff. The decals look great, and they snuggled down to the kit detail with the usual Microscale products. I liked the decals in this kit so much; I've since built another Panzer IV F1 from another manufacturer and added other decals from this kit. I've built 10 other Panzer IV variants in this scale from Dragon, Hasegawa, and Vac-U-Cast (a small resin kit builder) with two more kits under construction from Hasegawa and Dragon. For this review, I've also looked over the Revell and Mirage Panzer IV kits. This Panzer IV is the nicest kit of the lot. What makes it so good? Great fit, great decals, and beautiful fine detailed moldings. The day that I finished the kit, I brought it to Noreastcon (IPMS Region 1 Regional competition). It took a first in the Out-of-Box division against a good number of kits in small and large scales. It took me 14 hours to complete this kit. This is about average for me with a small scale kit with a lot of parts. I'd like to thank Dragon Models Ltd. and IPMS for providing me with the opportunity to review this great little kit.