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First Look Review
135
Neubau-Fahrzeug
Neubau-Fahrzeug - Rheinmetall-Fahrgestelle und Krupp-Turm Geaenderte MG-Turm
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by: Ted Hayward [ TED_HAYWARD ]

Introduction

A very unique release for lovers of odd German tanks, this is presently the only styrene kit of its kind on the market. Fear not if you can’t afford the Cyber-hobby price tag; Trumpeter has just listed one in their upcoming list of future releases.

Contents

Although the box contains over 600 parts (569 in gray styrene, 44 clear, and 14 photo-etched brass), most of those are the individual track links. That’s right, if you wanted Dragon’s Magic Tracks, or “DS” tracks, I'm afraid you’re out of luck.

Construction

Construction of these indy tracks will make for a very tedious job, each one needing to be painstakingly-removed from its sprue (and there are seven sprues of these!). I’m never one to be good at following directions. Not familiar with Dragon products, I did find the 15-step instruction sheet to be somewhat vague in areas, especially for such an un-complicated tank. Careful examination, prior to building, will be in order.

I found it odd that so much rivet detail (careful…not all) needs removing…by Step 2! It is, as some tanks go, of quite simple construction –with a suspension similar to the Churchill or Char B. There are no moving suspension parts, or even rotating wheels. As the entire slide-moulded upper-hull/ panniers is a single part, assembly is further simplified. It's a very unconventional build: once the suspension bogies are assembled and placed, the belly pan is simply fitted to the bottom of the one-piece hull. The few parts that I did dry-fit together mated well.

Decals

The tiny sheet of decals seem to be of the same good quality we have come to expect from Dragon. No unit markings are provided. The instructions include a painting guide for two vehicles: one for Norway (1940), and for Germany (1935).

Parting Shots

It’s difficult to fault a kit when it’s the sole choice of a desirable subject. Yes, this will no doubt build into an impressive model, I just don’t feel that the extremely-high sticker price reflects what is in the box, however. It contains the bare minimum of photo-etch, and no interior parts at all –the many turret hatches and visors will need to be assembled shut.

Yes, the overall quality of moulding is crisp and the detail is excellent. The weld beads and rivet heads look great. Yes, a clear sprue for all the many vision blocks is included, but that is nothing unique. If I could just find somebody to remove, clean, and assemble all those fiddly individual track-links together, this would be a nice week-end project. This is a limited-edition kit, so one needs to hurry, if one can afford it.






SUMMARY
Highs: A long-awaited and desirable kit of a very unique vehicle. Good exterior detail and fit.
Lows: No interior parts. Tedious indy track-links with no alternative.
Verdict: A very nice model of an unusual subject, for those who can afford the price.
  Scale: 1:35
  Mfg. ID: 6666
  Suggested Retail: $79.99 US
  Related Link: DragonUSA Item Page
  PUBLISHED: Jul 02, 2011
  NATIONALITY: Germany
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 92.73%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 87.43%

Our Thanks to Dragon USA!
This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.

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About Ted Hayward (ted_hayward)
FROM: TAIPEI, TAIWAN / 台灣

From B.C., Canada. Living in Taiwan for past several years. I've been building kits for as long as memory serves -armor, aircraft, cars. Big fan of 1/16th scale armor kits. Currently serving as poster boy for working with CA adhesives in a well-ventilated area. My first kit was the positively awful ...

Copyright ©2021 text by Ted Hayward [ TED_HAYWARD ]. All rights reserved.



Comments

Great review, Ted. But tell me, how does the future Dragon release and this one differ from each other?
JUL 09, 2011 - 10:31 PM
Given that this review is supposed to be a "First Look", or Preview, I'd have expected to see many more photos of the sprues, and definitely more close-ups of the parts. Even if the majority of the 600 parts are the track links, so many more parts have gone unrepresented in this review. Sorry, but I expected more from this review of this pricey, limited edition kit (the fact that DML has since released the kit at half the price is irrelevant).
JUL 12, 2011 - 12:40 AM
Rudi, I don't think you can criticise the review given the price you paid to read it..
JUL 14, 2011 - 03:48 PM
Warren, Consider this from another angle: would you as the supplier of this review sample be satisfied with the review? Has the product been sufficiently and fairly represented to allow for a consumer to make a purchasing decision? Now for the rant bit of this reply: I have certain expectations when reading reviews (free or not) on this Network, and I've contributed a few reviews as well. Similarly when reading reviews by Terry Ashley, Vinnie Brannigan, Saul Garcia or a number of other reviewers I follow I have certain expectations. Unfortunately the quality of this review, and several others recently I'm afraid, have not met my expectations nor the standards I expected when I was a staff member. How do reviewers expect to improve upon their quality if critique isn't given? How does Kitmaker Network expect to maintain a certain quality of review if a baseline of standards are not set or enforced? I see a lot of b*tching about readers not commenting on reviews (and I've done my fair share of ranting behind closed doors about this too) , yet lately it appears only "attaboys" are desired. I can speak only for myself, but as a reviewer I actually want to hear if people think my reviews are false, misleading or don't meet their expectations. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and this is merely mine. If anyone wishes to debate this further, in the interests of not letting this thread go too off-topc, feel free to take this offline via email or start a new thread about review standards and quality. Rudi
JUL 14, 2011 - 04:52 PM
   
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