DML Dragon 1/35 Sd.Kfz. 181 Panzerkampfwagen VI (P)
Kit no. 6210
MSRP: $36.00
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History:
In 1941, Hitler ordered German tank manufacturers to design a heavy
tank that could dominate the battlefield. The order was dated 26 May 1941
and the first vehicle had to be ready for Hitler to inspect on 20 April
1942. This left less than a year to get anything ready. Both Henschel
and Porsche built prototypes. Porsche's was the VK4501(P) and Henschel's
was the VK4501(H). The turrets, on both these tanks, were identical and
produced by Rheinmetall.
On 19 April 1942, both prototypes arrived by railcars at 11 km (7 miles)
from the test ground or viewing area. On the short drive to this area
both tanks had numerous mechanical breakdowns. Neither was really ready
for any review by Hitler and Nazi big wigs.
On speed trials the Porsche entry proved faster, but far less maneuverable
than Henschel's tank. Henschel got the order for series production then.
However, as a hedge against any delays by Henschel, Porsche produced 90
of their chassis.. which were put into storage for a while. These chassis
were later pulled out and Alkett built enclosed superstructures onto them
making the Ferdinand self-propelled anti-tank vehicles. These were put
into action at Kursk and their mechanical problems (with its complicated
electric drive) plus lack of close up defense resulted in a very poor
performance in battle. Later the Ferdinands that were left were fitted
with a bow machine gun and a commander's cupola and renamed as the Elephant.
One Porsche tank, with the original turret, did wind up on the Russian
Front as a Befehlswagen (command vehicle) with the Spz.Jg. Abt. 653 in
the early summer of 1944.
This is the subject of this new DML kit. This tank received a coating
of zimmerit, as is evident in the few remaining pictures of that vehicle.
The markings for that tank is the only ones on the decal in this kit.
What's in the box?:
The kit comes in a large tray and lid type box. The box art depicts
the one, and ONLY, Porsche Tiger sitting in a railroad yard with a locomotive,
Flak mounted German half-track and a water tower in the background. This
is a painting of the vehicle that was used by sPzjg. Abt. 653 (as mentioned
above). The box's side panels have photos of the decal sheet, PE fret
and flexible vinyl tracks. Ten color photos there show a finished model.
There are seven cello bags, holding eight medium gray colored parts
trees in the box. These are all large parts trees. A further cello bag
holds two brass PE frets, the small decal sheet, a length of wire (tow
cables), and light tan colored vinyl flexible tracks. All these items
are attached to a stiff cardboard backing. I must say, here, that I hope
that DML is not thinking of deleting their individual tracks in upcoming
kits. Although the detail on these vinyl ones is good, I prefer the individual
links and think that this inclusion in this kit is a giant step backwards
for DML. Don't do it.
The box is jam-packed. I found that the contents would only fit back
into the box IF you put them back in EXACTLY in the order that they were
removed. Otherwise, the lid would bulge.
The final item in the kit is the instruction sheet, which accordian
folds out into eight pages.
This new kit shares common trees with DML's earlier Elephant kit (no.
6126) and their Ferdinand kit (no. 6133). These are: the tub hull piece
and sprues B, E & F. The new sprues are A, C, H, K & L. 61 parts in this
new kit can be relegated to the spares bin as not needed to complete the
model.
Large letter A parts tree holds: the hull roof, the hull's bolted nose
plate, the bolted driver's vision plate, tow cables (you can opt for these
plastic ones or make ones from the wire included in the kit), engine deck
hatch & its hinges, angled hull side plates, parts of the jack, rear tow
pintle, head light bases, fender braces, turret roof ventilator base,
copula hatch, six spare track links etc. (49 parts)
Large letter B parts tree has 30 parts on it. However, all but 11 of
these parts are blued out on the parts tree drawings as being excess/not
used. The parts that are used are: drive sprocket mud scrapers, drive
sprocket bases, some more jack parts, glacis plate etc.
Letter C parts tree holds turret and main gun parts (39 parts) 6 of
these parts are excess/spares and not needed to complete the model.
There is no letter D parts tree.
There are two identical letter E parts trees. These hold the drive
sprockets, tow rings etc. (35 parts per tree) 29 parts per tree are excess.
There are also two identical letter F parts trees. These hold the road
wheels and their support arm parts. (18 parts per tree)
Letter G is the single hull tub part.
Letter H tree and letter K tree are co-joined together. H holds the
fenders, rear sloped side panels, front and rear tow points etc. (12 parts).
K holds the rear hull panel, tow rings etc. (9 parts).
There are no letter I or J parts trees.
Letter L parts tree holds: rear turret bin parts, engine intake housings
and louvers, tail light, engine access door handles, interior hull wall
sections etc. (32 parts).
MA and MB are the two brass PE frets. MA holds the engine air intake
screens (2 parts). MB holds parts that are tow cable mounting clamps.
Letter N is two lengths of metal tow cable wire.
Letter O is the two lengths of tan colored vinyl tracks.
Sadly, there are no tank crew figures provided in this kit as shown
on the box art.
The instructions consist of a large sheet that accordian folds out
into eight pages.
Page one begins with a repeat of the box art in black and white. This
is followed by the parts tree drawings. Some of the parts illustrated
are shaded in blue. This indicates that they are excess/spares and not
needed to complete the kit.
Page 2 begins with cautions about the kit in six different languages.
This is followed by international assembly symbol translations and a list
of Gunze Sangyo or Italeri paint colors to use and the first two assembly
steps.
Pages 3 through 7 give us a total of 19 assembly steps.
In assembly step 12 you can opt for using the injection molded tow
cables or fabricate them with the wire tow cables and PE clamps provided
in the kit.
Page 8 is the four-view drawing and markings for the ONLY one of these
tanks ever fielded with Spz.Jg. Abt. 653, Eastern Front, Early summer
1944. The bottom of the page gives decal application instructions in six
languages.
Conclusion
This vehicle was previously molded also by Italeri (their kit no. 6278).
However, that was years ago and DML's is far superior. If you want to
do an accurate model of the one that the decal sheet is for you will have
to get the putty can out and add zimmerit to it. I would then highly recommend
Archer Fine Dry transfer sheet AR35158, which is the same markings for
this vehicle. They will go over a zimmerit coat a lot EASIER than the
water-slide decals in the kit.
Except for my preference for individual links, and the lack of crew
figures in the kit, I highly recommend this kit to Tiger buffs. Heck,
everybody should have a kit of the grand-daddy of the Tiger on their shelf
- right?
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