Barcode: 0 89195 86774 2
Case pack: 20 Pieces per carton
Box Size: 9.6" x 15" x 2.4"

Features:

• Optional firing or transport modes can be selected
• Authentically detailed circular gun platform
• Includes tool boxes on gun trails
• Newly designed side plates molded on field gun
• Newly tooled gun barrel with hollow muzzle
• Brand new 25-pdr field gun with limber
• Optionally detailed tow hooks
• Detailed limber doors can be assembled open/closed with provision for opened ammo trays
• Gun cradle and hand wheels with well-defined details
• Name plates molded on side of gun trail
• Beautifully detailed slide-molded gun trails
• Crisp rivet details
• Components allow gun to elevate
• Moveable breech mechanism
• Gun can be set in full/partial recoil position
• Optional gun mountings included
• Nuts sharply represented on road wheels
• Tires made from DS
• Separate tools are fully reproduced
• Gun shield molded with rivet detail

Dragon earlier released a kit of the famous 25-pdr Field Gun (Item No.6675) and it was an instant hit. Now the British wave rolls on with a second kit showing a different variant of the ubiquitous artillery piece. Known officially as the ‘Ordnance QF 25 pounder', it was the workhorse of British and Commonwealth field artillery units during WWII. The name came from the fact that the weapon fired a 25-pound shell, and "QF" stood for Quick Firing. The 25-pdr entered service in 1940, and many consider it the best towed field gun of the war owing to its high rate of fire, lethal shell and good mobility. A total of 13,000 guns were built worldwide, with the Mark II being the most common variant in WWII. For transport, the 1,633kg howitzer was usually hitched to an ammunition limber (known as the "Trailer, Artillery, No 27") containing 32 rounds.

Dragon is offering another fantastic 1/35 scale plastic kit of the famous 25-pdr Mark II Field Gun. Specific modifications introduced on Item No. 6774 are a brand new cradle and shield mounts. These components are embossed with accurately rendered rivet detail. The 1/35 scale miniature replica was carefully researched using original guns as references, thus giving the model unparalleled levels of accuracy. Not only is the gun precisely dimensioned and detailed, but as a Smart Kit it offers an excellent balance of easy assembly. Wherever possible, components are separated into as few pieces as possible via the widespread employment of slide-mold technology. Furthermore, the gun comes with its associated ammunition limber, which features two doors that open to reveal the interior ammo storage trays. The limber storage area is faithfully reproduced and extremely easy to assemble.

Review :

British 25-Pdr. Field Gun Mk.II w/Limber

Manufacturer: Dragon Models

Scale: 1/35

Known officially as the ‘Ordnance QF 25 pounder’, this gun was the workhorse of British and Commonwealth field artillery units during WWII. The name came from the fact that the weapon fired a 25-pound shell, and ‘QF’ stood for Quick Firing. The 25-pdr entered service in 1940, and many consider it the best towed field gun of the war owing to its high rate of fire, lethal shell and good mobility. A total of 13,000 guns were built worldwide, with the Mark II being the most common variant in WWII. For transport, the 1,633kg howitzer was usually hitched to an ammunition limber (known as the 'Trailer, Artillery, No 27') containing 32 rounds.

The Kit Contents

In a similar way to the first release by Dragon of this gun, upon opening the box your first impulse may well be to go through the parts map on the first page of the instructions to ensure everything's there! It will be. The kit is supplied in one of Dragon's standard sized boxes, but the completed model is actually tiny. No hull, no tracks, no turret. Just the gun and trailer. The contents are supplied on a number of grey styrene sprues, together with a small photo-etched brass fret and four DS-100 tan-coloured vinyl tyres.

Of course, the contents are very similar to the first version of this gun released, although we're now supplied with a new cradle and shield mounts specific to this version. Construction is of course similar to the other version too, beginning with the assembly of the trailer itself, including the two wheels fro the gun, constructed from those vinyl tyres, that are each fitted with an injection moulded hub. The trailer legs are moulded as one piece each, with fine rivet detail on both inner and outer surfaces. At the towing end, there are various facing pieces fitted to the legs to construct the towing assembly itself and maintain the rivet detail on various surfaces.

The gun itself is constructed from a two-piece slide, thankfully the join between the halves being invisible on the finished model though. The breech itself is also in two halves though, and will require a little work to completely disguise this. As will the main barrel, the bottom half of which is supplied in two halves, whilst the outer length is in one part moulded to half of the bottom length. The large characteristic muzzle brake on this version is also supplied in two halves, and although this offers a hollow muzzle brake, the large holes may make the join on the inside surface a little too visible, although I believe there are aftermarket alternatives.

The main shield on the gun is supplied as one part....at least as far as its width is concerned, although of course the various tools, brackets, and bottom flaps are all provided as separate parts. The shield had extremely fine rivet detail etc., on both inner and outer surfaces, and there are absolutely no ejector pin marks or anything else to mar its surface. A choice has to be made between building the gun in firing or towing mode, since different parts are supplied to complete the towing assembly.

The ammunition limber supplied in the kit is the same one as in kit number 6675, essentially a box made from a number of flat sections to represent walls, floor and lid which fits onto a cross-member that connects two fenders. On to the front of the box is fixed the towing arm, a wheel either side, and then to the rear of the limber. Here we're offered either closed or open doors. If you decide to go with the open doors, then you have a one-piece fascia with ammunition drawer detail moulded in place, but with two drawers omitted. These two drawers are provided as separate parts, which can be detailed with photo-etched parts and then either closed to resemble the rest of the fascia or left open for added detail. The supplied photo-etched drawer fronts are slightly differently detailed than their plastic counterparts though, which means they really should be left opened, otherwise they'll stand out slightly from the other surrounding drawers.

Conclusion

A small, very nicely engineered kit! I really do wish they'd have changed that limber for a set of separate drawers though? As far as I can see it's still the only thing I really don't like about this kit. Small thing though, and still a great kit!

-Vinnie Branigan-