Dragon 1/35 M7 Priest Early Production
By Joe Lotz
Item No.:6627
MSRP: $57.95
This is Dragon’s Smart kit release of the early Production M7 Priest.
Early in the war, US Army observers realized the need for an armored fully tracked self-propelled artillery vehicle to support armored operations. With the M3 entering production, the army had at a suitable chassis to support an effective howitzer. Two T32 Pilot models were built from M3 hulls and running gear and production began in April 1942 as the M7 HMC (Howitzer Motor Carriage). While the initial production vehicles had the running gear of the M3, it was later changed to the heavier one from the M4 Sherman. The machine gun position on the right side reminded the British crews of a church pulpit and this inspired the name “Priest” which was later officially adopted.
As main armament served the M1/M2 105mm howitzer with an initial ammunition storage of 24 rounds but which changed to 69 rounds after 1 month of production. To maintain a low silhouette the elevation of the gun was restricted to 35 degrees. This proved problematic with the vehicles deployed during the Korean War and was changed to 65 degrees to increase the effective range.
The Kit
The kit comes in the standard dragon box and contains about 270 parts on 10 light gray sprues. Also included in the kit is a small PE fret for the engine grilles, an aluminum barrel, a metal tow cable and a sprue of clear parts as well as a set of DS-tracks. The decal sheet is printed by Cartograph and provides markings for 6 different vehicles. As we got to expect from Dragon, the parts are very nicely detailed with no visible flash or ejector pin marks. The barrel for the .50 cal is slide-molded as is the recoil spring.
The assembly of this kit is made up of 11 steps. This kit includes the transmission and the driver station.
Conclusion
This is another nice offering from Dragon for any modeler with a few armor kits under their belt. It will make a nice addition to any artillery collection as well as any WW2 armor collection. And the different markings give great options to the diorama builder as well. I would like to thank Dragon USA for this review kit.
