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Dragon Armoured Jeep Build Review

Welcome back to Andy Renshaw who gave us an in-box review of Dragon’s Armoured Jeep (aka Armored 1/4 Ton 4 x 4 Truck) last year and now returns with Part 2 to finish things off.

Building the Kit

I won’t go into an exhaustive, step by step “in stage 6 glue part B6 to A13” type build review, but instead give you some overall impressions and thoughts as I assembled and finished the model. I will also point out any modifications and corrections made beyond what is provided in the kit.

Chassis

Kit construction starts with the wheels and chassis. The wheels are an easy affair, and assemble much like the Tamiya ones, but with the added detail of a brake drum. The chassis goes together fairly easily, and I didn’t run into any of the fit or alignment issues that seemed to plague the first Cyber-hobby release. I guess Dragon cleaned up and modified the molds for a better fit. The springs and axles assemble in a more realistic fashion (the axles rest on the springs) than the Tamiya kit (axles are pegged to the frame). The old Italeri kit was the same way, so just be sure to have a solid join between the axles and springs so that the axles don’t pop off under the weight of the model, or, later on during construction. The emergency brake drum is the correct WW2-era type, while the one offered in the Tamiya kit is of the later post-war type that’s found on most restorations. With these improvements, building the Dragon chassis takes much longer due to the smaller details and higher parts count. There are also some nasty mold seams on the front bumper which should be removed.

One modification needed is to shorten the rear axle ends by about 1mm or so. If this is not done, the rear wheels will stick out a bit too far. Once you shorten the axle, you can extend the keyed notch on the axle so that the wheel will slide back enough, otherwise you could just make the corresponding hole in the wheel circular.

The engine is a little jewel, and as mentioned in the original review, it would only need to have the generator added. I ignored that omission, and didn’t add any other extra details this time around as I planned on building it with the bonnet secured down.

Body

The body has a similar parts breakdown to the Tamiya kit, and assembles in much the same way. Before going too far, I pulled out the cylindrical grinding bit for the Dremel, and removed that offending additional bracing that runs along the floor and outer sidewalls on both the passenger and driver side. Still not sure what Dragon was thinking there! If you choose to ignore it, it’s not too bad for this release as the armored shields keep you from seeing too much. While you are cleaning up the parts, don’t forget to fill the various mounting holes that are left overs from the SAS jeep, and remove the locating guides for the tilt and the others that are on the tool box lids. If you plan on building an earlier Jeep without a radio (such as the SAS version that uses the same mold), you should remove the four bolts that are on the outer side of the body, passenger side. These were the mounting bolts for a power terminal box for Jeeps equipped with a radio. The box would sit under the seat along the body side, and was added to MB’s starting with serial number 217543 around March 1943.

I did modify the seats. As mentioned in the in-box review, the braces behind the passenger and driver seats are greatly oversized. Luckily the seat cushions are separate from the frame, so before adding the upper cushions, I cut out the offending braces. Once the cushions are glued in place, I then replaced the braces with appropriately sized copper wire glued in place with ACC. A very simple fix that greatly improves the look of the seat backs!

Another detail omitted in the kit is the body bracing directly under the dash board, on both the passenger and driver side. These are included in most aftermarket PE sets, so if you have some spares, add them if you wish, or make them up from scrap plastic. Of course, this can only be done IF you remove the molded square bracing mentioned above! While you are working in this area, add a fire extinguisher if you have one in the spares box (a Tamiya part maybe) on the driver’s side, directly in front of the body bracing, and a decom bottle behind the passenger seat (a Tamiya part again).

Enjoyable positives include the injected plastic straps for the shovel and ax, and the overall treatment of the instrument panel. Both of these items are up to the standards I would expect from a Dragon kit.

A quick note on the steering wheel: the “neutral” (wheels forward) steering position could have the steering wheel mounted with a spoke centered either in the bottom half or the top half. I have seen period photos of the steering wheel in both positions!

Armored shields and final details

I found the PE brass armored shields to fit beautifully with minimal fuss. Some have commented that the front shield is a tad long, but this just depends on which photos you look at. There seem to me to be some variations on the size of that shield, so I left it alone.

Speaking of variations, at this point I had to decide how I was going to finish this Jeep. I wanted to avoid the popular “winter” version, as that would require finding some chained wheels (maybe a future Cyber-hobby release?) so during a Google session I ran across a grainy photo of a line of these armored Jeeps lined up near some gliders during Operation Market Garden. Could this have been the 82nd’s first use of the armored Jeeps? The photo was a rear quarter view and shows some interesting details including a double jerry can mount, radio, and an antenna mount centered between the jerry can and spare wheel. I thought this was an interesting but simple variant, so set about adding the necessary details.

The radio and antenna mount are from Verlinden, with the radio mounted on a scratchbuilt platform from scrap plastic sheet. To replicate the canvas cover on the radio, I used a tea bag cut to size and glued it on with white glue. An extra jerry can from Italeri was strapped to the existing can using painters’ tape. A piece of piano wire made up the aerial, while some fine solder was used to wire the radio into the Jeep using a description from a technical manual as a guide.

Painting and Weathering

Being over all olive-drab, I started with a pre-shade of very dark black-green in all the crevasses and over any PE parts. The underbody also received a full coat. This was followed by Model Master Green Drab, followed by a dusting coat of Model Master Olive Drab to add some tonal variation. After a coat of Future (aka Pledge w/Future Shine) I applied the decals, sourcing an extra star for the front armor shield from my spare decals. The decals went on fine, with just a few areas silvering and needing correction. Once the decals were dry, I misted on another very light coat of Olive Drab to tone down the stark white decals. On a side note, some additional markings should be provided for the bumper codes, but Dragon failed to do this. I may add them at some point in the future, but for now I moved on. Weathering was done using the standard dark brown and black washes, subtle dry-brushing with oils, and followed with a light overspray of Floquil Foundation on the underside and wheels. Once dry, I then gave the tire treads a wash of Vallejo sand followed by a dry-brushing of weathered black on the tire surfaces. To finish up the painting, the finer details were picked out, such as the reflectors and insulators on the radio mount.

The very last item was to install the headlight glass. Dragon chose to mold some pretty heavy pattern into the glass. Although the pattern is there on the real deal, in reality it looks nowhere near as heavy, and from any distance the glass would appear virtually clear. However the Dragon part is so heavy with texture that all you see is a hatch pattern. It does at least cover up the fact that there is zero detail inside the lamp body, and it’s nothing more than a flat surface with a slight bulge in the middle, but overall, I am not too impressed. I secured the lenses with white glue, and I may find myself later covering them over with some canvas covers made of masking tape… in fact, as I type this I am deciding that this is exactly what I am going to do!

Conclusions

Overall, I enjoyed this build, although it had its fair share of quirks. In the end, it looks like a Jeep and will sit well in my collection. It’s interesting that with almost 15 years between the Tamiya kit and the Dragon version, many of the same details omitted in the Tamiya kit are also missing from the Dragon one! Though there are several refinements, including the engine, terminal box bolts, and other smaller bits, Dragon dropped the ball on adding other details that were missing from their old competitor. Ignoring the Bronco kit for the moment, between the Dragon and Tamiya versions, my heart is still with the Tamiya. However, Dragon’s does build into a nice looking Jeep, and if you have one in your stash, don’t hesitate to get it together!

details

• Dragon Models 1/35 ‘39-‘45 Series, Kit No. 6714
• Armored 1/4 Ton 4 x 4 Truck w/.50 caliber Machine Gun - Smart Kit
• Scale: 1/35
• Media and Contents: 165 parts (136 in grey styrene, 31 etched brass, 4 clear styrene)
• Price: US$31.95