Part 1: First Look

MSRP: $13.50 Distributed by Dragon Model USA, Web Site: www.dragonmodelsusa.com . Once again, every new Dragon small scale kit is an improvement upon the previous kit. Upon opening this kit, you'll find crisp detail on both the large and small styrene parts, good looking photo etch brass parts, Cartograf decals, and full color directions. Most of the parts are bagged separately as individual frets and sprues. The Sd. Kfz. 251/10 Ausf. D is the 10th variant of the 4th iteration (D version) of the great 251 halftrack. The /10 vehicle is a close support vehicle with limited anti-tank capability given by a 3.7cm Pak gun. The kit comes with 119 styrene parts, 10 brass parts, and 2 Dragon Styrene 100 (DS100) flexible styrene tracks. Many other styrene parts are included for other variants of the Sd. Kfz. 251 kits that Dragon produces. No flash or ejector pin marks were noted upon my initial review of the kit parts. The kit features a fully detailed crew compartment with armor windows that can be posed open or closed, a rear door that can be posed open or closed, and individual engine bay doors. Since no engine is provided with the kit, keep the engine bay doors closed unless you plan on doing some scratch building. The kit dashboard is "spot on" with the details, and the hull shape, stowage type, exterior fittings, and interior details are very accurate to the Sd. Kfz. 251 Ausf. D. The only error and I'm not sure that it is an error, is that the gun shield for the 3.7cm Pak is the early-type large shield. Later vehicles produced (like the D-model of the 251) had smaller gun shields, and the latest of the 251/10 halftracks had the shield only on the left side of the gun to protect the gunner. This may not be an error since many parts on German vehicles were swapped out as the war went on. Many of the later vehicles were fitted with what was available at the time of manufacture. The directions are 6 pages of full color information including a parts map, 1 marking scheme for an unknown unit, and paint instructions for G.S.I. and Model Master paint. The decals are made by Cartograf, and they include markings for the scheme in the directions plus generic markings. Every time I use the Cartograf decals, I am happy with the result. Rarely do they silver over a coat of gloss paint, and they react well to setting solution. I plan on building the kit out of box with all of the photo etch parts included in the build. My reference for the build, "SdKfz. 251 In Action" by Squadron/Signal Publications, has a photo of a Sd. Kfz. 251/10 on the eastern front with a white wash scheme. I plan on making this kit look like that halftrack … on my gun shield will be the large type gun shield. I'd like to thank Dragon and IPMS/USA for this beautiful review kit. Stay tuned for the final build in a few weeks.

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