Dragon – Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.J Mid Production (August-September 1944) - Smart Kit

Kit No: 6556

Scale : 1/35

Part count: 1,089 parts

717 grey styrene +288 Magic Track links + 58 etched brass + 15 clear styrene, 10 etched nickel + twisted steel  wire

Vehicles represented :  4

Experience level : 14 and over  (Advanced modellers will get the best out of this kit)

RRP: $49.95 USD

Dragon of China have just released a new kit - the Pkzw. IV Ausf - more commonly known to most people as the  Panzer Mk.IV. This kit depicts a mid war production  Panzer  IV J variant. It comes complete with 4 different choices of markings and several  neat features which I will  summarise quickly but go into more detail individually later.  I wouldn't normally just list them like this but it's a lot of great information here .... (The red text denotes new features)

Features:
- Side-skirt armour plates can be installed separately
- Side-skirt armour produced in metal for scale thickness
- One-piece 3-directional slide-moulded turret for Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.J
- Mantlet guard can be removed and gun unloaded as on real vehicle
- Detailed gun muzzle brake
- Complete gun assembly w/full detail
- Finely detailed 7.5cm Kw.K. 40 L/48 gun
- Gun sleeve w/delicate weld and bolt detail made from 3-directional slide moulds
- New turret roof rendered w/turret-skirt armour brackets
- Turret-skirt and side-skirt armour plates can be installed separately
- Rear antenna included
- Newly tooled exhaust pipe on the hull rear
- Includes hollowed-out undercut on turret bottom
- Incorporates toothed turret ring inside turret
- Two types of driver's and radio operator's hatch w/splash guard
- Hatches w/internal detail
- Spare-wheel rack w/spare wheels on upper hull side
- Two types of side-skirt armour plate w/bolt detail
- Brackets for side-skirt armour realistically detailed
- Turret-skirt door can be positioned open/closed
- Optional turret-side door can be positioned open/closed
- Side fenders w/pattern detail on both top and bottom surfaces
- Injection-moulded fenders made to thinnest possible dimensions
- Two types of ventilation cover w/great detail
- Newly tooled storage mesh on turret side
- Commander's cupola recreates structural details
- Cupola vision blocks can be assembled open/closed
- One-piece lower hull made from slide moulds
- Hull bottom fully detailed
- One-piece upper hull 2-side slide-moulded w/new engine-deck design
- MG34 in Gen2 standard w/gun mount
- Photo-etched part for engine-deck ventilation grill
- Two types of engine hatches can be assembled open/closed
- Spare-track bracket on lower hull front
- Spare-tracks on armour side
- New OVM arrangement on fenders
- 40cm Magic Tracks in both side detail
- Spare-track bracket on glacis plate w/photo-etched and plastic option
- Final-drive housing w/details on both sides
- Separate armoured cover for final-drive housing
- Sprocket wheels w/breathtaking detail and multiple delicate parts
- Newly tooled fuel filler flap
- Extendable jack w/separate parts
- Accurately detailed idler adjuster mountings
- Detailed towing-eye brackets w/separate parts
- Road wheels and suspension w/multiple components exhibit crisp detail
- Idler wheels have detailed parts
- Air-intake covers have option of injection or photo-etched parts
- Realistic double-layered air intake
- Injection-moulded OVM w/clasps

The First thing that struck me when i held the box is the weight, it's quite a heavy box for a medium design, and much more so than my older Tamiya Panzer IV J.(which it beats hands down in most departments in many many ways) -  But that is to be expected as this kit has evolved from many kits and Dragon have used technology well to create a stable of ever increasing numbers of kits which just seem to include more and more detail.

The second thing that got my attention after i opened the box was  the etched nickel “Schuertzen” armour plating which was used in the earlier Mk. IV and Mk. III  panzer and their offspring like the Sturmpanzer. This can be installed separately for access to the turret and to simulate a battle damaged or removed plate. I would assume that in the future DML will release a version of the J model  with Zimmerit paste or maybe with the later version with the Thoma-type wire-mesh “schurtzen” attached - as the Cyber-hobby  Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.J Early/Initial Production  has already cover the earlier J type. The Skirting on this kit is very thin and very accurately represents the scale thickness of the standoff plates. Again this is far ahead of my  old tamiya kit it will dis-hearten me almost to "have" to make my old Tamiya kit L - well not really!

The slide moulded hull impressed me, as the bottom is finely  detailed with large bolts and plates that accurately depict the bottom of the tank. Many times I have wanted to do a damaged or tipped over  tank but always been not tempted enough to do so because the lack of detail on the bottom of the hull. I am sure that not many modellers are thinking this way but it's the first thing i thought about -  to try to achieve something "different" that we all strive for at modelling shows and in our display cases. The hull itself includes some very fine injected fenders with top and bottom detail. The air intake covers can be moulded  or PE parts depending on your preference. All Hull and turret hatches have interior detail but alas detail inside is lacking, only the internal firewall and a full internal gun assembly (more later) really exists. So it's your choice to fill it with crew (none supplied in this kit) or close  them up. ( I like to leave them just slightly open) There are spare tracks for the front AND the sides of the tank as well as spare wheels and two different types of drivers and radio operators hatches complete with splashguards. There are also several tools and a very good looking towing chain made from twisted wire which when all added will "beef up" the look of your Mk.IV .

The turret itself is a very well detailed but fairly complicated affair. Good things here include the cannon which is a 7.5cm Kw.K. 40 L/48 model, this can be fitted and removed in a similar way as the original gun did. Also included is an anti aircraft second generation MG34 machine gun. (essential in mid production Panzer IV's due to the then air superiority of allied fighter bombers) The commander's cupola which can be constructed open or closed. The standoff plates around the turret are moulded in very fine plastic and nicely can be posed open or closed which gives again more options to the diorama maker in us all. Incorporated into the schurtzen in the turret through the use of  PE is some mesh space on either side of the back turret. There is nice detail in the turret ring as well, in the J model they used a simplified hand turret rotation system and deleted the auxiliary generator  to try and make production faster. This had the offshoot of the ability to add an extra 200-litre fuel tank in July 1944. This increased the fuel capacity to 680 litres, improving the combat range to over 300km. The turret is actually one place you could unbutton the hatches as the gun is represented in full.

The road wheels are very finely detailed  - the final drives being nicely detailed inside and out, and the idler wheels also include the use of photo etched parts for extra scale thinness. The tracks are made of 40 individual pieces in the "magic track" design, I don't mind these - and again they beat my Tamiya's treads any day -  but they are fiddly and you must not mix up either side. I personally would prefer other sets like the new DS tracks to be included, but i don't think they exist for this particular kit yet. (Well not to my knowledge)

The four markings included are:

The four decal choices are very interesting, printed by Cartograf they all depict western front aircraft, the real difference here one of them s of a Mk.IV the "tri-colour, “Ile de France”. that's not something you see every day, and again i am glad dragon are thinking out of the box here.

So what do we think?

I wish the gun had a metal barrel, i wish the tracks were different, i would love more internal and engine detail and the kit does need a lot of pre kit making reading in the form of a little to squeezed together instruction sheet.

You must think i don't like it

But you are wrong - I love the thin PE schurtzen, the detailed hull and stacked body with lots of different options for "loading" it up, the fine wheel and bolt detail - the decal choices and general attention to detail Dragon is doing to try and make the experience of modelling better not just more profitable (PE sheet and Schurtzen sheets cost  £15 at least on line on eBay - but are art of the kit here)

No its great.

Overall 9/10

Adam

Many thanks to Lucky Model for the review sample, the kit is available here currently retailing for around £37.