Sd.Kfz.251 Ausf.C
Part 1
1/35th set No 370
Review by Terry Ashley
This first set #370 is the most comprehensive and has parts to correct one of the main shortcomings of the kits as well as many update and detail parts.
The set has 80 resin pieces and two frets of etched metal, one 0.4mm thick and the other .06mm thick plus two lengths of wire. The resin parts are in a light grey/green resin and are cleanly cast with just the usual casting blocks to be removed but due to many smaller parts care is needed when cleaning up the parts while the etched parts are to a high standard.
The main resin parts are the new drive sprockets with the correct offset of the drive teeth as well as the rollers missing from the Dragon drive sprockets. As mentioned care is needed when removing the casting blocks so as not to damage the teeth which partially overhand the inner side of the sprocket and can easily be broken off when handling the parts.
While the new drive sprockets have the offest drive teeth this presents another problem in that the drive tooth rollers are slightly too wide to fit the Dragon individual link track and to fix this you will have to reduce the width of the teeth by trimming approx .5mm from the inside of each tooth (see image below). Make sure the two halves of the teeth are firmly glued together before trimming to ensure they don't come adrift, the AFV Club individual link track will also fit the RM sprockets after this adjustment if you wanted to use this track?
Other resin parts include new front and rear crew seats with five cushion
attachment points and very nice rear spring detail on the front seats with
the rear seats having leather cushion and underside frame details included.
There is a new radio with etched support frame which greatly improves the kit
items as well as many smaller detail parts both internally and externally such
as rear towing pintle and securing pin with etched chain, NOTEK light, aerial
mounting and MG34 ammo pouches and magazines with etched mounting frames.
Etched parts are provided to build the four hull vision ports as workable similar to the two workable ports included in kit #6246 /1 Riveted version and also include a template to cut out the actual port opening for the two side wall visors which are solid in the kit. These visor assemblies are very intricate and combine the etched parts and wire provided to build the visors as well as resin vision blocks for the inside of the visors and add greatly to the detail definition even if glued solid in the desired position.
On the instrument panel bulkhead are etched parts for the foot pedals and fittings as well as a new steering wheel mounting which is far more detailed than the rudimentary part in the kit and new etched centre spokes for the steering wheel itself.
Other interior parts include etched side bulkhead fillets in two parts with
separate bolt heads for good definition and new multi-part rifle racks in etched
metal with resin rifle butt holders which form the backs of the upper seat
backs and again are far more detailed than the kit parts and there are also
etched rifle slings for the kit supplied weapons.
The hand grad rails on the upper seats and upper hull wall lip are built from
the wire supplied with etched attachment points and on the rear hull doors
there is a new latch mechanism from wire and etched parts plus etched attachments
for the large door hinge parts.
All the tool clips are in etched metal as well as the side storage box latches, front machine gun shield and the four tilt frames if you want to add these over the rear compartment as well as many smaller fitting all of which add to the over all detail definition of the kit such as four part rear tail light, jerry can racks and rear mud flaps.
The instructions are on three ‘letter’ sized pages with exploded view drawings showing the placement of the parts which are fairly easy to follow and indicate which are etched or resin parts and any kit parts that are replaced or altered. The diagram for the intricate visors is also an exploded view drawing and while well laid out careful study and dry fitting will alleviate any major problems; this also applies to other areas with multiple parts.
Conclusion:
This comprehensive set that not only provides replacements for incorrect kit
parts such as the drive sprockets but includes considerable extra details
to really add good definition to the kit parts as well as extra details and
you can choose to use all or part of the extra parts provided depending on
your want.
Highly recommended
Thanks to Bill from CMD for the review set, the full Royal Model range is available in the US and worldwide from Chesapeake Model Design.
Page created 17 October 2004
Updated 18 October 2004