DML Dragon 1/35 Pz.Kfz. 251/22 Ausf. D Kit no. 6242 MSRP: $36.00 By Ray Mehlberger

History:

There were, at least, as many as 23 variants of the 251 series of German half-tracks. The Sd.Kfz. 251/22 (subject of this new kit) was one of the last important versions. It was introduced in December of 1944. It mounted a 7.5cm Pak 40 anti-tank gun, complete with its shield. It had a crew of four or five and carried 22 rounds of ammo. The ammo could either be armor-piercing, hollow charge or high explosive type. The Pak 40 had an effective range of up to 3200 meters. However, the Pak 40 seriously overloaded the chassis and caused a lot of break downs. A rear-mounted MG42 machine gun was also mounted.

What's in the box?:

The kit comes in a large tray and lid type box. The box art shows a Sd.Kfz. 251/22 with infantrymen behind it and a village and mountains in the background. The side of the box shows illustrations of the special features and bonus items included in the kit.

The kit contains 14 trees of medium gray parts in 11 cello bags. The hull tub is in its own cello bag. A tree of vinyl folded uniform jackets is in another cello. A final cello holds: E-Z Track individual links (more about these later), clear parts, a brass PE fret, some turned brass ammo rounds, a turned aluminum gun barrel, four decal sheets and two self-adhesive silver stickers to use for the rear-view mirrors. All these items are attached to a stiff cardboard backing.

This new kit has common parts trees with DML's earlier 251 series versions that they released. These would be the infa-red equipped one and the command version. Trees letter A, B, C, D, E, H & W are all common to these other kits. Trees letter L & T are new. Also, lower-case letters b, c & d are new in this kit. The turned aluminum barrel, turned brass ammo rounds and the PE fret are new too. Silver stickers for the rear view mirrors and the driver figure are the same as the earlier kits.

Letter A parts tree holds: the early riveted version hull top piece, tools, front fenders, rear door frame, side lockers with two of their separate doors, the vehicle's fighting compartment floor, two machine pistols etc. (51 parts) One of these parts is excess, not used.

Letter B parts tree holds: chassis side panels, tow hooks, drivers vision plate, chassis nose piece, an axe, dashboard part, driver's compartment floorboard and fire-wall, crew compartment bench pieces, a MG etc. (43 parts). 16 of these parts are excess.

Letter C parts tree holds: fuel tank parts, transmission parts, steering wheel, shift lever, suspension parts etc. (57 parts) 28 of these parts are excess.

There are two identical letter D parts trees. These hold: suspension arms and a seat back cushion that we use. (42 parts per tree). 26 parts on each of these trees are excess.

There are two identical letter E parts trees. These hold: the individual track links, the road wheels, the idler wheels, drive sprockets and front wheels (75 parts per tree).

There are no letter F or G parts trees.

Letter H is the single hull tub part.

There are no letter I, J or K parts trees.

Letter L part tree holds: the late version riveted hull top piece, alternate arms and legs for the figures, Pak 40 mount parts etc. (25 parts).

MA is the PE fret (11 parts) I really haven't determined just what these parts are yet, except for a gun shield.sorry.

Lettering now jumps to letter W tree. It holds clear vision block lenses (8 parts).

Lower case letter b parts tree is more Pak 40 parts. You get a plastic gun barrel, in addition to the turned aluminum one and three different muzzle brakes to choose betweeen. (65 parts) One part is excess.

Lower case letter c tree holds ammo rounds and their wood cases and storage tubes. (31 parts).

Lower case letter d tree holds two gun shield parts.

Letter T tree holds four seat cushion parts.

DML has packed their figures from their earlier kit "German MG42 Heavy MG team" into this kit for the crew. There are many personal gear items included on this tree. (55 parts) 3 parts are excess.

Finally, there is the self-adhering silver stickers for the rear view mirrors and the drive figure.

There is a set of what is called E-Z Tracks (letter Y) in the kit. These are two part individual links that are all ready to go and do not have to be cut off a parts tree. So, if you use them you will have the ones on trees letter E as spares.

The large instruction sheet completes the kit's contents. This sheet accordian folds out into eight pages.

Page 1 begins with a black and white repeat of the box art followed by the parts tree drawings. Some of the parts on this drawing are over-shaded in blue, meaning that they are spares or excess and not needed to complete the kit.

Page 2 begins with some cautions in six different languages, followed by international assembly symbol explanations and a hobby paint color listing. The bottom of the page gives us the first two assembly steps.

Pages 3 through 8 gives us the balance of a total of 20 assembly steps for the vehicle.

The top of page 9 gives us assembly step number 21 which is for the four crew figures. The bottom of the page and page 10 give us four different camouflage schemes. However, although one of the four decal sheets has division markings on it, no divisions are called out for any of these four schemes. Conclusion

This is another great 251 series variant from DML Dragon. I eagerly look forward to their upcoming kits of the engineer version (which will include two small bridge sections) and their Zwilling (anti-aircraft ACK ACK) version.

Highly recommended.

I purchased my kit at my local hobby shop.