DML Dragon 1/35 German 7.5cm Pak 40 w/ Gun Crew Kit No. 6249 MSRP: $21.00 By Ray Mehlberger

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.