Barcode: 0 89195 86593 9
Case Pack: 20 kits
Box Size: 9.6" x 15" x 3.1"

Features:

• Newly designed gun sleeves
• One-piece barrel
• Gun breech and recoil guard fully replicated
• Recoil and recuperator cylinders are truly represented
• Slide-molded muzzle brake
• Travel lock with photo-etched chain for extra details
• Finely reproduced return rollers
• Detailed tow hook molded on hull rear plate
• Delicate MG34 for StuG.III Ausf G
• Hatches can be assembled open/closed
• Slide-molded fenders feature photo-etched parts w/upper and lower surface details
• Fender pattern accurately portrayed
• Photo-etched rack on engine deck for true-to-scale appearance
• Engine deck w/interlocking structure has realistic weld seams
• Delicate side-skirt hanger bracket
• Photo-etched air-intake grills
• Cooling air-intakes are slide molded
• Muliti-directional slide-molded superstructure w/bolt detail
• Realistically reproduced woof armor w. accurate weld seams
• Screw heads are accurately reproduced
• Radio set and seats are included
• Muliti-pieces upper hull easily assembled
• Commander's hatch w/interior details can be assembled open/closed
• One-piece slide-molded lower hull w/superb details
• Fully detailed hull bottom weld seams
• Floor treadplate pattern is correctly done
• Driver's vision port w/crystal clear parts
• One-piece driver vision port armor w/bolt detail
• Steering-brake inspection hatch can be molded open/closed
• Intricate OVM included
• Jack is produced w/multiple parts
• Air deflector truly represented
• Photo-etched is included
• Idler wheel w/photo-etched parts
• Detailed track tension adjuster
• Final-drive housing covers are separate parts for maximum detail
• Road wheels and sprocket w/accurate details
• Newly produced 40cm DS tracks

The StuG.III (Sd.Kfz.142) was based on the widely used Panzer III family of tanks, and it evolved into a very capable German tank destroyer during WWII. In fact, the StuG.III was Germany’s most widely manufactured armored fighting vehicle of the war. As enemy tanks improved their protection and armament, Germany responded by fitting the effective 7.5cm StuK 40 L/48 gun inside the vehicle’s casemate. This variant was known as the Ausf.G, of which 7,720 were produced from December 1942 through till April 1945. This made the Ausf.G the most common German tank destroyer variant by far. Dragon’s newest 1/35 scale StuG.III Smart Kit depicts a very specific Ausf.G model of the Late-Production in Dec 1944.

This is not just another StuG.III kit, as it has features unique to a late-war vehicle produced in December 1944. This has resulted in brand new parts such as a gun travel lock and rear tow hook being created. What’s more, this new kit of the popular StuG.III G receives brand new 40cm tracks made from DS to achieve incomparable detail definition and ease of assembly. Photo-etched components involve such elements as air intake grills and idler wheel rings, plus a brand new frame for stowing equipment on the engine deck. This is another fine 1/35 StuG.III Ausf.G kit from Dragon, and it allows modelers to reproduce exactly a vehicle built in December 1944.

REVIEW:

StuG.III Ausf.G Late Production Dec.1944
Manufacturer: Dragon Models
Scale: 1/35
Material: Styrene & Etched Brass
Serial Number: 6593
Price: TBA
Dragon:

The StuG.III (Sd.Kfz.142) was based on the widely used Panzer III family of tanks, and it evolved into a very capable German tank destroyer during WWII. In fact, the StuG.III was Germany's most widely manufactured armoured fighting vehicle of the war. As enemy tanks improved their protection and armament, Germany responded by fitting the effective 7.5cm StuK 40 L/48 gun inside the vehicle's casemate. This variant was known as the Ausf.G, of which 7,720 were produced from December 1942 through till April 1945. This made the Ausf.G the most common German tank destroyer variant by far. Dragon's newest 1/35 scale StuG.III Smart Kit depicts a very specific Ausf.G model of the Late-Production in Dec 1944.

The Kit Contents
The latest StuG.III from Dragon! Although I'm primarily...but not exclusively...and Axis modeller, to be truthful, this just looked like another StuG.III to me. Then again, I've never found the StuG to be a particularly attractive vehicle. I know lots of modellers do actually like them though...and there's no doubt that somebody out there will have been eagerly anticipating this specific version.

Inside the box we are presented with a large number of smaller grey sprues, together with two frets of etched brass, a pair of Dragon DS100 tan-coloured vinyl tracks, one clear sprue, wire tow cable, and a small decal sheet. The instruction leaflet runs to eight sides of their standard-size, and Dragon forego the usual 'card' for some reason in this one, the various etched frets etc, being supplied in loose ziploc bags. Nearly all of the sprues will have been released before in various incarnations of course, although there are some brand new parts supplied such as the 40 cm vinyl tracks, a new travel lock for the main gun, and a new stowage frame supplied for the engine deck.
Detail-wise, it contains everything you'd expect, and there are few surprises, especially if you've built an Ausf.G before. The version here representing a very specific late production model.
As mentioned, we're supplied with Vinyl tracks...you either lover them or hate them, and there are plenty of modellers either side of that fence, although my preference is always for individual links. The ones supplied in this kit are new 40cm ones as mentioned, and there are fully separate suspension swing arms, and torsion bars that fit through the slide-moulded lower hull of the kit. The final drive housings included in the kit are of two slightly differing types, and although the choice is indicated, there is no indication of their significance? The rear idler wheels are each supplied with two etched brass ring-shaped inserts to provide the correct detail, and each of the roadwheels has the tyre manufacturers logo on the tyre sidewall, although as usual it says 'Continentau' rather than Continental, so if it bothers you, you will have to scrape the last upright off the final 'U' to make it read correctly.
The fenders in the kit are supplied as separate parts, with both upper and lower surfaces moulded with a fine treadplate pattern. All the various on-vehicle tools are supplied with moulded clamps, with no etched option included.
The commander's cupola has transparent periscopes supplied, and of course, all hatches are supplied as separate parts with moulded detail on their inner surface where this would be visible of the hatch were to be modelled opened. The upper superstructure is provided as a separate slide-moulded part, onto which all the various details are affixed, and there's a separate roof for the fighting compartment, for the inside of which we're supplied with a full radio set up and gun breech...which is just enough detail to be seen through the open hatches. The barrel for the 7.5cm StuK 40 L/48 gun is supplied as one piece, with a separate three-part muzzle brake. Once the gun is assembled into the mantlet, it fits through the casemate onto the breech assembly, which is assembled onto a detailed floor structure for the fighting compartment, so providing additional detail to view through opened hatches if necessary.
On the engine deck there are separate ventilator covers, along with etched brass grills for the intakes, and a new etched brass stowage rack for the rear of the deck.

Conclusion
If you absolutely have to have every version of the StuG.III that was ever manufactured, then you'll definitely have to have this. On the other hand....it's not enormously different from other StuG.III Ausf.G's...so it really comes down to personal choice, although as usual, it's Dragon design and engineering at its absolute best.

-Vinnie Branigan-