Kit Review: Dragon Models Limited 1/35 Scale '39-'45 Series Kit No.
6428; Sd.Kfz. 171 Panther D w/Zimmerit; 578 parts (383 in grey styrene, 159 etched brass, 14 clear styrene, 12 etched nickel, 4 cast metal, 2 turned brass, 2 DS plastic tracks, 1 length of copper chain, 1 turned aluminum barrel); estimated retail price US $46.99 (via Mission Models)Advantages: "Premium" kit receives zimmerit treatment; many modelers will appreciate the DS plastic tracks
Disadvantages: another amortization of older molds
Rating: Highly Recommended
Recommendation: for all German modelers
F I R S T L O O K
DML has just redone its Panther Ausf. D kit with the new zimmerit treatment they have been using in a high acceptable manner and which many modelers have appreciated. This kit is the recent "Premium" kit with the addition of the parts needed to display zimmerit - a total of
14 parts replaced from the other kit (No. 6299, released in July 2006.) As such, the zimmerit parts are as with the other new kits very nicely done, and will look great with a bit of weathering and dry- brushing.As noted, other than those parts this kit is a verbatim re-release of the earlier kit. Most of the sprues are from their A and D kits and so labeled, with only three new items (sprues F, M and P) new to the kit. One of the "K" tool/OVM sprues is included as well as the MG-34 from German weapon set WC.
The etched brass covers a wealth of extra detail, from the normally expected (in this day at least) grille covers for the engine deck through the skirt brackets, but installation of all of these metal parts is shown in rather busy drawings next to color photos of the model components after assembly. This is not the best way to do it, as while color photos are fine, it would be better to leave them unpainted so the modeler could see exactly where the parts are supposed to go and not have to guess which are plastic and which are metal from the photo.
The model comes with the choice of wheel hubs for the drivers and eight specially molded track links with separate guide teeth, but in the case of this kit it does not provide any single link track and instead two full DS plastic runs in tan. Details are very well done (the guide teeth are hollow, but the purist may want to enlarge the holes in the teeth) and the tracks are packed in a cardboard rack to prevent bending the teeth or kinking the track.
The travel lock - a chain affair - comes with two sets of five etched brass parts each for either open or closed, as does the turned aluminum barrel and the three-piece muzzle brake for it specifically (an old-fashioned two-piece "Flex-i-File" special is also included on the parts trees.)
Only two different finishing options are included: "Unidentified Unit
1943" in two-tone green and sand camouflage with thin brown overspray, and "Unidentified Unit 1943" in thre-tone camouflage (green, red-brown and sand). Only generic markings are provided by Cartograf.The project as with most recent ones was supervised by Hirohisa Takada and technical drawings by Minoru Igarashi. Technical help was provided by Steven Van Beveren, Tom Cockle and Gary Edmundson.
Overall, the pre-zimmerited kits have proven quite popular and this kit should be no different.
Thanks to Freddie Leung for the review sample.
Cookie Sewell