DML 1/35TH Pz.Kpw. III Ausf. J Control Tank
&
Borgward IV Ausf. B Demolition Vehicle

By Ray Mehlberger

MSRP: $39.98
Greatmodels price: $30.98

I have little information about the Borgward. It was a vehicle that delivered a large demolition charge to an enemy position. I understand it was driven, by a driver in an open cockpit, to the area that it was to be used in, then sent the rest of the way to the target by remote control. The remote control unit was housed in the Pz.Kpw. III Ausf. J. Once on target the vehicle would drop it's nose piece, which was the demolition charge. Then, it would back up and the charge set off remotely. Beyond this little bit of information I can find no other things about the combination, so if you readers have more - please contact me - and I will include a better history with the build review later.

What is in the Box?

This is probably DML's first (and only) combination kits. It gives you a full kit of the Pz.Kpw. III Ausf. J and a full kit of the Borgward IV Ausf. B vehicle.

The first thing that is noticed is that the box is sturdier than the usual DML boxes. It also has a box art done by another artist than the usual Volstad. This box art is by an artist named Vincent Wai in 1998. Upon opening the box, you will notice that everything (other than the rubber band tracks for the Borgward) is in its own separate cello bag. I like this as it keeps stuff together nice and does not allow stuff to rub together and scratch and break off the trees.

There are 17 trees of parts in medium gray plastic enclosed. The turret top, hull bottom are loose.

There are no figures provided with this dual kit and markings are only for one set of vehicles for the same unit: the Pz.Kp. (FKL) 313, Spring 1943. Unfortunately, no area is given for this unit - where was it used?

Letter 'A' tree is the Pz.Kpw. III's hull top, combined with a second tree that is marked with letter 'B Pz. Kpw. III'.

Two Trees of letter 'B', followed by a bunch of Chinese characters, holds the drive sprockets & idler wheels on it. Although there are a total of 84 parts on these two trees, 62 are blued out on the instruction sheet as not to be used for this model.

A second letter 'B' , followed by the words Pz.Kpw. III, is included on the tree with letter 'A' tree, as previously mentioned. It holds the turret top & bottom, plus various panels for the Pz.Kpw. III. There are 32 parts on this tree, with 18 blued out on the instructions as not to be used. The turret top is loose in this cello bag with the tree of parts.

Letter 'C' is the hull bottom, by itself, with the road wheel axles molded integrally to it. I would have preferred it to have had the axles as separate parts so that it could be posed on rough terrain.

Two letter 'D' trees are the road wheels and return rollers. 40 parts total.

Letter 'E' tree is the turret cupula, vision port covers etc. 38 parts with nine blued out on the instructions to not be used.

Letter 'F' tree is not as shown on the parts drawing. It actually houses one set of letter 'H' parts in the center of it as molded. It has various tools, hatch covers, notek lamp etc. on it. There are 54 parts on the trees with nine blued out, not to be used.

There are three letter 'G' trees, which are the individual links for the Pz.Kpw. III tracks. 80 links per tree, for a grand total of 240. The plans do not show a spare link holder for the vehicle, so I doubt there are any extra links left over after you do the tread runs.

Next up are two letter 'H' trees. One is by itself, and the other one is sandwiched into the center of the letter 'F' tree as mentioned earlier. This tree holds the final transfer covers, gun barrel (you get two identical ones), various hatches etc. 44 parts per tree, for a grand total of 88 parts. 26 are blued out on the instructions as not to be used.

Logically, you would think that the next tree of parts would be letter 'I'. Instead, the kit is now into the parts for the Borgward. The first tree of part for this kit is letter 'V'. You get two of these trees and they contain the drive sprockets & idler wheels for the Borgward. 11 parts on each tree, for a total of 22 parts.

Letter 'W' Borgward parts are given as four trees. These are the road wheels etc. You get 13 parts per tree, for 52 parts total.

Letter 'X' is the two rubber band type tread runs for the Borgward. Here is where I am disappointed. I earlier bought DML's kitting of the Borgward alone and that kit has individual links. Why DML chose to substitute rubber band ones in this combination kit is beyond me - they also had a driver's figure in the Borgward solo kit too. They should have left both of these in this later combination kit.

Letter 'Y' tree is various panels for the Borgward. Nine parts total here.

Finally, letter 'Z' is the main hull parts for the Borgward. 38 parts total.

A large, gatefold instructions sheet offers parts tree drawings and 7 1/2 pages of assembly instructions. DML has not included any history on the instruction sheet about these vehicles. This usual omission, in what seems to be ALL of their armor kits, is one of my pet peeves. If a modeler does not have a good reference library you are left in the dark about a lot of DML's armor subjects. I wish they would begin to put some text about the tanks in their kits. Anybody agree with me on this?

Otherwise, this looks to be an excellent kit - with no flash apparent anywhere. My only complaint would be the molded on axles, and the rubber band treads for the Borgward. You sure get enough blued out parts to add to your spares bin for future Pz.Kpw. III projects - thatí' for sure!! I highly recommend it otherwise.

The subject matter of this combination is sure unusual and should really stand out on your display shelf. A built-up review will be done in the magazine soon on it.

I want to thanks Greatmodels for graciously supplying this review kit.