Kit Review: Dragon Models Limited 1/35 scale ?39-?45 Series Kit No. 672
3; Rommel & Staff North Africa 1942; 118 parts (117 in grey styrene, 1 pape r map); pre-order price US$16.95 via Dragon USA OnlineAdvantages: nice new figures of Rommel and three German general officers
Disadvantages: other officers not identified!
Rating: Highly Recommended
Recommendation: for all German Afrika Korps fans
As it likely that the forthcoming AFV Club kit of an AEC Dorchester comman d and control van will most frequently find itself finished as ?Moritz? , the captured vehicle used by Field Marshal Rommel, it is a nice touch (an d good anticipation!) that DML is now releasing a new set of figures of Rom mel and three other German general officers in North Africa. The set includ es Rommel in a leather greatcoat pointing, a figure that I assume to be Fri tz Beyerlin reading a map with glasses on, another figure that appears to b e von Thoma, and a third general peering through binoculars that I cannot i dentify. As DML claims these are based on photos of Rommel and his key offi cers, it is a shame they do not identify exactly who they are supposed to b e!
Each figure has a base structure of six parts (head, torso, legs and arms) but Rommel has a three-piece greatcoat with separate collar, the unidentif ied general has a three-piece cloth greatcoat with separate collar, and the other two figures are simply base parts. Details include all medals and ba dges (the Knight?s Cross stands out nicely) as do the ?pips? of the g eneralleutnant figures. Rommel?s famous goggles are included but here are a solid grey stryene part (clear would have been more appropriate).
The map is backwards (!) and oddly appears to be of central Africa (the Be lgian Congo is prominent) rather than the Maghreb area where the Germans we re in combat!
The box art is unimpressive and appears to be ?Photoshopped? into a ba ckground of ?Moritz? and ?Greif? vehicles. As usual the directions are the ?stick here and paint following the box art? variety which is n ot of great help.
Overall, this is a well-timed set and should find itself next to a number of the new AFV Club kits.
Thanks to Freddie Leung for the review sample.
Cookie Sewell