Kit Review: Dragon Models Limited 1/35 Scale '39-'45 Series Kit No.
6433; 7.5 cm PaK 40 w/Heer Gun Crew - Premium Edition; 454 parts (411 in grey styrene, 25 etched brass, 12 turned brass, 4 black vinyl, 2 preformed etched brass): estimated retail price US $29.95Advantages: nice new crew for this popular weapon; many options provided in kit
Disadvantages: none obvious
Rating: Highly Recommended
Recommendation: for all German and artillery fans
Dragon has now released a "Premium" version of their PAK 40 kit, using the corrected and updated "Late" version of the kit with a nice new crew and five sprues of their generic German kit.
Surprisingly, especially as it is a "Premium" version, this kit now no longer includes the turned aluminum barrel or turned ammo rounds. It retains the four vinyl (I think; not sure if they are actually black DS plastic or not) tires, either new or "chewed up." The kit provides for options in regard to three different styles of wheels and three different styles of muzzle brakes (each formed of a casting and a face, with the casting being hollow molded.) Also, the modeler has optional positions for shields, trails, suspension arms, breech block, and gun servicing panels. The gun is fixed, however, so traverse must be set during assembly.
The gun shield is now offered as either two injection molded styrene sections or a pair of preformed brass ones with turned brass bolts for standoff (in a similar manner to the AFV Club 8.8 cm Pak 41 kit). Both use a brass gun mask between them. The plastic part edges are "feathered" to a knife edge, so the modeler winds up with a shield that looks thin but is actually quite sturdy and easy to attach.
The kit provides a very nice "Gen1" set of new DML figures with a five man crew provided. Each figure comes in six basic parts but only one set of arms, unlike the great option in the DML 15 cm gun crew set. The figures appear as designated closer to the Army styles of uniforms and are in standard uniforms, no fancy smocks or other variations. The now common GA and GB sprues are provided, and this set comes with a full issue set of Mauser rifles for use by the crew.
The Pak 40 sprues are provided complete with a few "tweaks" to the molds, and it provides eight AP rounds, two ammo crates and a number of shipping tubes and three expended cases. The latter two items have been "slide molded" with open ends for better definition and more options. Most of the Cartograf decals are primarily for these parts and provide the necessary stencils in both black and white. Since guns rarely bear any markings other than stray "serviced on" decals, there are none included.
Finishing options are for but two weapons, one in sand brown and one in grey.
Overall this is a nice upgrade to a well designed kit and again should prove popular in a diorama.
Thanks to Freddie Leung of DML for the review sample.
Cookie Sewell