The rivalry between Dragon and the other manufactures
continues apace. Just
as Dragon's 3-in-1 kits are finally discontinued, AFV Club capitalise on the
idea by a wonderful piece of one-upmanship. The 3-in-1 kit with 3 complete
kits in one box!
This is a great idea for the modellers who really want to get stuck into a
subject matter, and who knows where it might lead from here- 3 Shermans??!!
- 3 Tigers??!!! Gosh, the ideas are limitless.
The beauty of this kit is it's price (refer to the homepage).
For the cost
of 2 kits you get 3, which is great even allowing for less packaging and
therefore shipping costs. This review by the way, is only on the box
contents, as I haven't built them yet, but the basic halftracks are the best
on the market at present - nuff said.
OK, to the kit (or kits) itself. It reminds me of the days of the old Airfix
Dogfight Doubles (showing my age) - you open the box and there's this load
of parts all intended for different vehicles. The various bags contain 3
interiors, 3 lots of hulls, 3 suspensions, etc etc., with a new instruction
booklet. Each kit has some new brass frets, including lots of small details
just not available elsewhere.
The best bit though is the research in the actual box - printed inside the
base is a wonderful set of photos from various museums and their archives,
showing details of all 3 variants, including a prototype 251C Drilling,
which is the basis of the kit.
The basis for these kits is the AFV Club 251C and D, which as they are the
best around right now (in general dimensions and suspension at least) need
no introduction.
N.B. If you're not into the more esoteric versions such as the Drilling,
parts are even included for the seats not used on these versions, small arms
and MG34s plus their mounts, so if you want to make any of these as a
'basic' 251/1 Shutzenpanzerwagen there's enough to make up 2 out of the 3 as
this instead.
251/21 Ausf.C Drilling
This builds into a really obscure version of the 21 MIG151/20mm variant, the
version C, an early version/prototype, which is not interchangeable with the
new AFV Club 251D Drilling Kit - the brqss fret on this kit is for this
earlier version and has a different profile both for the gunshield proper
and the vehicle sideshields. The gunshield is a simpler profile then the
'production' shields seen on other kits, and the sideshields are deeper too.
This is borne out by the photos on the box, though if I nitpick the main
gunshield does seem a little shallow in height compared to the photos.
This leads me to the next point, the gun seems to be mounted a little low -
maybe 1-2mm - on the plans compared to the photo (strange when one considers
that the Dragon 'Drilling' kit is mounted too high, is there a connection?)
but I won't be sure until I build it. It looks like the base of the
gunshield should exactly coincide with the top of the sideshields, in
profile, not overlap.
The other point is, as a prototype/very early version (as opposed to a
field-fit) surely this would be a 15mm gunned version rather than the 20mm
(which came later)? To be honest, it's hard to tell just looking at the
photos (although the 20mm guns are shorter) without seeing them side by
side. You could of course transplant the Dragon Drilling's 15mm gun
arrangement in here, which would be (theoretically) more accurate, but who
knows? Any response would be gratefully received on this!
The guns themselves are the superb 20mm units from the Ausf.D Drilling kit,
with flexible vinyl ammo (necessary for the tortuous route it takes from the
ammo bins) - suffice to say no problems here. Resin pieces to simulate the
wooden early deck of the prototype, and the early roof, are even included,
which is excellent.
251/17 Ausf.D Sturmbrucke
A more 'mainstream' kit here, the assault bridges are only available from
AFV Club with the C version as a 'stand-alone' kit from AFV (which I have),
but I just think this version looks more handsome somehow. You'd have to buy
the bridges separately for this configuration from AFV up to now.
As a bonus you get the bridge supports in etched brass, which are a big
improvement over the plastic ones supplied, being way too thick in section.
Other than that the kit is the 251D with the Sturmbrucke bridge units, and
as both are 'industry-standard' right now there's nothing more to add.
251/1 'Stuka zu Fuss'
An overfamiliar variant, if anything, by now as it's been covered by Tamiya
since the 90s, Dragon and AFV more recently. The original AFV kit was based
on the 251C, and as such the launcher frames, crates and rockets are all the
same mouldings. This is a bit disappointing, as although a nice brass fret
(again, unique to the kit) is included to make nice thin 'working' angled
bases for the rocket frames, the main launcher frames and tubular supports
to me seem too thick and clumsy. Compare them with the much more delicate
ones in the Dragon kits - it's astonishing the different feel of these two
kits in this area given the research that must have gone into them! I'm
inclined to think the Dragon units a bit to too thin in reality, but they
just look more 'in-scale' somehow, plus the launcher crates are better as
well. Even Tamiya's frames are thinner than AFV's, and they are nearly 20
years old!
The big error in this (and almost all other Wurfrahmen) kits though is that
the modeler is urged to use 5 of the 28mm HE WK rockets with one of the 32mm
(supposedly Napalm) ones. Not true - these are all HE WK types and belong to
different variants - either all 28mm or all 32mm. (The only manufacturer
currently producing 1/35 plastic Napalm 30mm rockets to my knowledge is
Dragon/Cyberhobby with their limited edition 251 /1C which does include all
3 types). So don't mix them up!
To sum up - fantastic value, a great idea, a few niggles, but so what, the
box was such a pleasure to open. Next!
Ron Hayes 4.8.06
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