This is the fifth of the five separate barrel sets released by Voyager Models for vehicles armed with the 10.5cm StuH 42 L/28 Howitzer with this set designed for the Dragon 105mm Heuschrecke IVb "Grasshopper" (kit #6439).

The set uses the same gun parts as the other sets consisting of the turned aluminium barrel tube with hollowed out muzzle and fine rifling included plus 4 brass parts for the muzzle brake, a single brass 105mm shell and a short piece of brass tube for one charge casing plus 3 etched detail parts. Also included is the cast resin mantlet which is a single piece with just the large casting block to be removed. This is beveled in at the join to the part leaving just a very small seam on the bottom of the mantlet to be cleaned.

Barrel parts and etched detail parts

Resin mantlet

Brass and etched shell and charge casing.
Note, there is only one shell and one casing in each barrel set.

Dimensionally the barrel matches available plans and data perfectly with any discrepancies very minor and well within acceptable tolerances. It should be noted that some of the available 1:35 plans vary in barrel length making things tricky but the mantlet size matches all available plans perfectly.

The resin mantlet is superbly cast without any air holes, warping or other blemishes and has excellent surface details that include fine surface cast texturing with again the big advantage of the resin mantlet is you don't have to assembly anything as with the kit mantlet eliminiating any joins or other work.

The muzzle brake is in 4 main parts, the front and rear parts of the muzzle brake with separate inner baffle that comes with the raised detail already included and the rear muzzle brake/barrel collar which also has an additional etched ring between the muzzle brake and collar. No cleanup was required on any of the parts apart from the usual attachment burs on the etched ring but the fit of the collar over the barrel was extremely tight and a bit of force was needed to push this down into place. This was done by using a pair of tweezers to evenly push down the collar but take care here not to slip and damage the soft aluminium barrel.

Barrel rifling and brass collar.

Muzzle brake assembly

Assembling the muzzle brake is straightforward by adding the inner baffle to the front section of the muzzle brake and then slip the two muzzle brake halves together ensuring the side gas holes line up with each other, The resulting join seam is very small and almost invisible from some angles but running some solder around the join will eliminate this completely for a smooth finish.

The small muzzle brake retaining bolt is a single etched part where you fold the top bolt back over the lower bracket and then attach this to the muzzle brake with a small dab of cyanoacrylate with the assembled muzzle brake fitting perfectly to the barrel tip without any problems.

The assembled barrel/muzzle brakes then fit perfectly onto the recess at the front of the respective mantlets but the fit was a little loose so ensure the alignment is correct as the glue used (cyanoacrylate or epoxy) cures and you are ready to add these to the kit gun mounting.

The resin mantlet includes the gun mounting parts which eliminates the need for kit parts H3, H10 with the kit gun breech mounting plate (part H19) added to the back of the resin mantlet and the remainder of the kit gun assembled as per kit instructions.

Assembled barrel for Dragon kit #6439 with kit breech mounting plate added to the resin mantlet

As a bonus you get the single brass 105mm round and charge casing in each set with the casing having a separate etched base plate with fine data engraved, this also has an engraved locating ring for the ca sign making fitting together very easy and you can use these bonus parts any way you wish.

Another superbly done replacement barrel/mantlet for the 105mm Heuschrecke IVb "Grasshopper" with correct dimensions for the barrel/muzzle brakes and easy assembly of the muzzle brake and in fitting to the target kit without any alterations required.

The detail included on the resin mantlets is well done and saves a bit on kit assembly eliminating the need to fill seams etc. and also eliminates the kit gun mounting parts which should add appeal to the sets.

After assembly the metal muzzle brake offers a marked improvement in detail and appearance over the plastic kit parts for a very viable update.

Very highly recommended

Thanks to Voyager Models for the review set.