Preliminary
notes:
- Historians are still debating whether this vehicle was really a
recovery vehicle.
- I decided to let my imagination run loose on this kit and build
it as a what-if. I therefore didn't focus too much on the accuracy
of the kit. My comments will mostly relate to the ease of construction.
Some
random findings
- The
instructions show parts "blued out". Normally that means
that they are included but not to be used; some are not included
however. That means this kit cannot be build as a gun tank, which
I had hoped to do based on the parts diagram. Conversely, some parts
are not blued out but not to be used either.
- The
parts diagram doesn't correspond for the full 100% with the sprues.
To add insult to injury, some of the part numbers called during
construction don't correspond either (e.g. B17 should be A17, etc.).
- The
cog for the winch is oval, which I find suspect.
- The
louvers in the engine deck will allow you to see inside the (empty)
hull.
- The
metal exhaust shrouds interfere with the hatch that is in the center
of the rear hull
- The
slit in the headlight is portrayed as a raised line.
- There
is a nicely rendered line on the extreme tip of the glacis which
I haven't seen on real Tigers.
- To
make the upper and lower hull fit some trimming of the parts will
be necessary.
- There
are no recesses in the tracks for the teeth of the drive sprocket.
Cutting off some teeth seems like the only reasonable solution.
- For
the orientation of the tracks refer to the boxcover, not the paint
diagram. Not all Tigers had chevroned tracks, by the way.
- The
tracks are the original DRB (dreaded rubber band) type of the pre-DS
era. While well detailed, they hold paint and glue badly and are
a tad overstretched. Even if you firmly secure the drive sprocket
and idler the tension will make the tracks cave in between the two
disks of the drive sprocket. If I had caught this earlier I would
have given them some support in that area. Now mud will have to
come to the rescue.
Apart
from this, the kit is actually a breeze to build, mostly due to the
rather low parts count. The roadwheels come as two parts on each side,
limiting construction to almost nothing and ensuring perfect alignment.
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Kit
purchased by author.
Dragon
kits can be purchased from
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