Kit Review: Dragon Models Limited 1/35 Scale '39-'45 Series Kit No.
6367; German Self-Propelled Gun Crew; 80 parts (72 in grey styrene, 8 etched brass); estimated price about $12-13Advantages: tailor-made for the DML Marder III kit; good choice of poses permits use in other vehicles and situations
Disadvantages: no seated gunner figure (see text)
Rating: Highly Recommended
Recommendation: for all fans of open-top German SP guns
DML still rules the roost when it comes to very useful figure sets, and have been producing an entire run of crew sets for their vehicles this year which are providing to be very popular. As this one is actually relatively generic, it should be towards the top of many German modelers' lists. It provides four figures which are optimized for the new Marder III kit on the Pzkw. 38(t) chassis - a seated driver, a standing gunner, a standing gun commander, and a kneeling loader. The figures come without much in the way of kit and are "old school" DML figures - head, arms, legs and torso - so a quick build. The driver and commander also come with headsets (hence the etched brass for the headbands) and all figures have sidecap type headgear.
The set also provides the "C" sprue from the PaK 40 with a total of eight different AP rounds, three spent casings, a two-round ammo chest, and eight single-round shipping tubes. This is also accompanied by a small sheet of Cartograf decals for the stenciling on the cases and rounds.
As the crew is in the standardized SP gun uniform, they can also be used as a change of pace for tank crews by simply changing the colors from field grey with red piping to black with pink piping.
This set should be very popular as it provides a fairly generic crew for most open German SP guns, to include the new DML "Dicker Max", their Marder II, and others as well as those from other manufacturers. The sculpting is first rate, and the only part that may disappoint some is that the gunner is standing and not seated. (The driver could be converted, but his head is turned around to look to the rear.) Also the kneeling loader limits the use he may have as he seems to call for a small vehicle with a back deck where the loader would more likely be found in combat. But this still permits them to be used on a wide number of models and as such should be a good seller for DML.
Thanks to Freddie Leung for the review sample.
Cookie Sewell