DML Dragon 1/35
German 7.5cm Pak 40
w/ Gun Crew
Kit No. 6249
MSRP: $21.00
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History:
In 1940, anticipating bigger tanks in the future, the German Army placed
contracts with Krupp and Rheinmetall for a heavy anti-tank gun. The 75mm
(2.95in) Pak 40 was the Rheinmetall design and it was little more than
the 5cm (1.99in) Pak 39 scaled up. It had a similar split-trail carriage
and double-skinned shield. It was first issued in 1941 and became the
standard anti-tank gun for the remainder of the war.
If the crew kept their nerve and let a tank get close enough they could
destroy any Allied tank they came up against. A large number were taken
over at the end of the war and put into service by several European armies
who were trying to re-equip. The only defect was its weight, which led
to several being abandoned in retreats in the Russian winter when they
became so bogged down in mud that the eight-man crews could not move them.
How often, as armor modelers these days, do we find ourselves buying after-market
accessories? Wouldn't it be great if some of these items already came
in the box with the basic kit? Well, rejoice, because DML has answered
our call with this new artillery piece kit.
What's in the box?:
The kit comes in a tray and lid type box. The box art is not by DML's
resident artist Valstad. It is signed by some dude named MATAKE - or at
least that's what his scribbled signature looks closely like. It shows
two Pak 40s set up in front of a shell pocked building and a white picket
fence. One Pak 40 is panzer gray and the other is earth yellow. The two
weapons also differ in the types of muzzle brakes and road wheel rim patterns.
These differences are supplied in the kit (more on this later).
Side panels of the box have illustrations of the special features contained
in the kit. These are: three alternate muzzle brakes, three different
road wheel rim patterns (pressed steel or two different spoked types),
two types of vinyl tires (new or worn tread), double layer shields (bragging
about the bolt pattern on them - but I thought the bolts looked rather
soft in detail), the four man gun-crew dressed in winter great coats,
the ammo storage tubes and crates, the small brass PE fret, the turned
aluminum gun barrel and four brass ammo rounds. Wow - what a lot of extra
stuff!!
There are six trees of medium gray colored parts, each tree being individually
cello bagged and then these bags further bagged into another cello. An
additional cello bag holds the turned aluminum gun barrel, the four brass
ammo rounds, a small fret of brass PE, the four vinyl tires, the decal
sheet and a length of steel rod. These are all mounted on a stiffener
sheet of cardboard.
Nice packaging DML!
The single sheet of instructions, that accordian folds out into six
pages completes the contents of the kit.
The first page of the instructions begins with a repeat of the box
art in black and white. There is no history of the Pak 40 given. This
is always one of my pet peeves with the majority of DML kits. They NEVER
provide histories 95% of the time. The bottom of this page holds the parts
tree drawings.
Page 2 begins with cautions, in six languages, followed by international
assembly symbol explanations, a color chart and the first two assembly
steps.
Pages 3 through the top of page 5 give us the balance of a total of
nine assembly steps for the Pak 40. The bottom of the page gives us assembly
step number 10, which is for assembly of the figures and the ammo cases.
Page 6 has two four-view illustrations of Pak 40 in either over-all
RLM sandy brown or field gray. Colors are also given for the ammo storage
tubes and crates and the ammo rounds. There are decaling instructions
here too to apply the stencil marking decals to the storage tubes and
crates.
Tree letter A is one of the largest parts trees. It holds the Pak 40’s
split trail pieces, the swivel base plate, front lower shield pieces,
some tools and numerous other small parts (53 parts)
The second large tree, letter B, holds the balance of parts for the
Pak 40. This tree holds an alternate plastic gun barrel (if you opt not
to use the terrific turned aluminum one) and three different muzzle brakes
in addition to many small parts (65 parts)
Small letter C tree holds ammo rounds and their storage tubes and wood
crates (31 parts)
Small letter D tree holds the three different types of wheel rims plus
some tie down lug rings that go on the wheel hubs of two of these types
(10 parts)
A second letter D tree holds the two gun shield parts. A final large
tree holds the parts of the four man gun-crew. They are divided into separate
heads, torsos, arms and legs. They are all dressed in winter great coats.
The bottoms of these coats are molded as separate pieces (nice touch DML).
Steel helmets, ammo pouches, bayonets in scabards, bread bags, mess kits,
folding shovels in carrying cases, canteens and a pair of binoculars are
also provided on this tree. Detail is very nice, flash free, and crisply
molded (76 parts)
The final items in the kit, as already mentioned, are the decals (which
are stencil markings for the ammo containers), four brass ammo rounds,
the small PE fret, the turned aluminum gun barrel and the length of steel
rod.
I highly recommend this kit, but only to those armor modelers that
have a few armor kits already under their belts. This weapon has a lot
of parts and will take very careful assembly to get it together right.
I just love all the alternate parts and special accessories in this
kit. Keep these type of kits coming DML!!!
I purchased my kit at my local hobby shop.
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