S
u m m a r y
|
| Stock Number,
Media, Contents and Price: |
DML 1-72 Armor Series Kit No. 7246;
Sd. Kfz. 182 King Tiger (Henschel Turret); 152 parts (144 in grey
styrene, 4 etched brass, 2 metal screws, 2 in black vinyl); price $8.95 |
| Scale: |
1/72 |
| Review Type: |
First Look |
| Advantages: |
new kit of a very popular subject;
all styrene kit |
| Disadvantages: |
some parts may be confused due to
use of the same sprues with other kits |
| Recommendation: |
Highly Recommended for beginning
modelers and small-scale German armor fans |
Reviewed by
Cookie Sewell
HyperScale is proudly supported by Squadron.com
I am getting a scary feeling that DML might have been reading my reviews and
reacting to them, for this is the second kit in as many months that has shown up
with corrections made to the original that make it more modeler-friendly.
DML produced some nice kits of small-scale armor last year, but as they were
converted directly from their small-scale radio-controlled kits they had diecast
metal hulls, which makes it very tough for the serious modeler to change or
modify. This kit has now been released, and as such has a new all styrene hull
(held together by screws) that replaces the diecast parts. The screws mount
through the bow gunner/radio operator's hatch and left rear side of the engine
deck under the deck.) As such, all axles are cast as part of the belly and are
not adjustable.
The rest of the parts include nicely done hangers on the turret for the extra
track link sections. A very shallow engine bay is also included (recall it must
clear the screw mounts) as well as solid plastic screens for the front intakes
on the engine deck. The turret has two optional position crew hatches and the
rear gun removal hatch. A breech is included for the 88mm gun but no other
turret interior.
The wheels appear to be nicely done, and all injection pin marks are hidden when
the suspension is in place. The tracks are very soft but well detailed in this
scale.
Four finishes are offered: one for s.Pz.Abt. 505 in Normandy (the "Charging
Knight" scheme, with provisions to build all the tanks from this unit based on
all of the numbers being included in a "number jungle"), a three color scheme
from s.Pz.Abt. 501 in the Ardennes 1944, and another with whitewash, and one
from s.Pz.Abt. 506 in Germany 1945.
Overall, this corrects the one observation that I made on the original kits, and
now means that the kit is quite useful to the mainstream modeling community. But
as they are inexpensive and do not require a great deal of engineer prowess (and
are inexpensive by today's standards!) as before I recommend them to
younger modelers as they are a great place to start.
Highly Recommended
Thanks to Freddie Leung for the review sample.
Review Text Copyright © 2004 by Cookie
Sewell
Page Created 13 June, 2004
Last updated 14 June, 2004
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