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DML Sd.Kfz.251/16 Flammpanzerwagen

Stages 3, 4, 5 & 6

The wheels on all the Dragon 251 kits can present problems when aligning. The easiest way I have found to make sure that the wide wheels sit parallel to each other (parts E3 & E5) is to shave a tiny amount of the location key on the reverse of E5. (See figure). Without doing this I have found that they tend to wobble a little and therefore when the cement hardens they might not be parallel to each other which is important for the final assembly. I gave each wheel a quick wipe with a sanding pad to smooth out the sprue attachment points. There is a lot of these on the wheels, but remember they do save having to deal with knockout marks. Next comes the compressor assembly for the flamethrowers. This is beautifully represented, and extremely fragile. Very careful clean up of the parts, which are absolutely tiny in some cases, will pay dividends when it comes to the final finish. You will need fine tweezers for some of these, I certainly would not have attempted it without. I had to refer to the instructions constantly during this sequence since the proper orientation of all the pipe work is essential.

It is at this point that the instructions call out for the first use of the string supplied in the kit. String Y (white nylon) is used, and according to the instructions, 8 cm each is to be attached to both of the fuel pipes coming out of the assembly. I measured mine, and there is not any spare supplied, so mistakes can be costly. The way Dragon suggests they are attached is with a drop of superglue. It will fray when cut, so one way around this is to use a drop of some very high viscosity superglue, and allow it to soak into one end of the string. This will not affect the appearance, but will stop the end from fraying and allow it to be attached more easily to the pipe. I also found the whole procedure to be much easier with the use of accelerator.