Part 1: First Look

MSRP: $59.95 Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Leave it to the folks at Cyber Hobby to release this kit of a rather esoteric late war vehicle based on the venerable Czech 38t hull. The kit borrows several sprues from other Dragon 38t based kits but adds new sprues for the new configuration of the fighting compartment and of course the 3 cm gun and its platform. Unfortunately, there is precious little reference material on this particular vehicle available to complete your build. Nuts & Bolts # 22 has a great color plate but no line drawings and only one small, grainy photograph. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any detailed drawings or photographs of the interior of the fighting compartment. This is a spare part treasure-trove; you'll have almost as many parts left over as you had to build the kit. Sweet! Don't let that fool you though, this kit has a ton of parts. Here's how they break down: 624 styrene parts one bag of Magic Tracks three small and one rather large photo-etched brass frets two stamped etched brass parts the for spent round basket one piece of twisted metal wire for the tow cable water-slide decals instructions Rather than show sprue shots that really don't tell you much about the kit, I decided to build the major components of the kit as sub assemblies and photograph them in detail. These sub assemblies include; the engine, transmission, suspension, bogies, drive sprocket, idler, fighting compartment walls, and of course the 3cm gun and platform. Photos of these subassemblies follow. The parts are beautifully molded in Dragon's usual grey styrene with only minimal flash needing to be cleaned up. The size and level of detail on many of the parts are incredibly delicate, particularly the gun, its sighting mechanism, and the platform. Options are provide for some parts in the form of styrene or photo-etch, for example, the hand adjustment wheels for the gunner's seat assembly. The Dragon ten-page instructions have clear illustrations but the precise location of some of the parts is somewhat ambiguous, particularly in the fighting compartment, extra time is needed to really study the instructions as to how and where all the various boxes and the radio rack line up inside the box. Also, careful study of the instructions is crucial. Some parts are incorrectly numbered in the directions. Running gear. The lower hull is molded as a one-piece tub to which you all the bogie assemblies and leaf springs. The individual bogie arms can be assembled so that they function. This is very desirable if you choose to swap out the Magic Track for a set of Fruil track. The kit offers two sets of drive sprockets and idlers, with both solid and with lightening holes. Close study of the few reference photos published of the real 3cm GSW reveal the correct pattern drive sprocket/idler to the pair with the lightening holes. (see photo)

Gun: The 3cm gun is a gem, but is a fiddly beast to get together; some of these parts are tiny! It's worth noting at this point that the gun can only be assembled an a static mode. That means that we can't play with the gun after we get it assembled. Dragon provides multiple parts to assemble the gun a 0, 20, and 40 degrees elevation. All the parts are clearly marked by degree of elevation, but again it does call for careful study of the instructions.

Engine/Drive Train: Frequent dry-fitting is highly recommended particularly for bulkheads, engine, transmission and fan parts. I had a very tight fit of my engine within the engine compartment that required me to remove the forward location pin (female) on the bottom of the engine block. Once I did this, everything to fit well.

Fighting Compartment: Thanks to its slide molding technology, Dragon have again provided near scale-thickness walls for the fighting compartment. The inside walls are literally covered with various ammo, tool and general stowage boxes, as well as a three-tiered styrene and PE radio rack for it's transmitter, receiver, and transformers. In addition to all this stuff, the walls also get gas mask canisters and a nice PE storage rack for the Kar 98k rifles (not included). Track: As already mentioned the tracks are the now common, Magic Track, non-workable styrene type. There is virtually no clean up required with these tracks and they fit together beautifully. Fitting this type of track is best done using slow-cure cement. While the track runs are still curing, drape the track around the running gear to build in the proper sag or contour over ground surfaces. Your other alternative is to buy a set of aftermarket workable from either Fruilmodel or Model Kasten. Other stuff: Although no figures are provided in the kit it does includes a Gen2 sprue with the gas mask cylinders, knives, helmets, canteens and e-tools. The gas mask canisters also receive PE brackets that mount inside the fighting compartment walls. Overall this is a very impressive kit from Cyber-Hobby. It's loaded with details and will look great painted up. Since there are so few references on this vehicle, the paint scheme will be limited to the box art scheme. Regardless, the painting and weathering will be a fun and will no doubt bring the kit to life. Highly recommended! Thanks to Dragon for providing the Review sample.