Tom Cromwell provides an In-box review and partial assembly of Dragon’s new M7 Priest Mid-Production kit.
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REVIEW
DML M7 Priest mid-productionc5flies
California, United States
Joined: October 21, 2007
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Posted: Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 03:29 PM UTC
vonHengest
Texas, United States
Joined: June 29, 2010
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Joined: June 29, 2010
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Posted: Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 04:09 PM UTC
This is a really strong review of what looks to be a great kit. I'm looking forward to watching your build Tom, and I may even be shadowing your build with my own.
toadman1
Vendor
California, United States
Joined: July 20, 2004
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Joined: July 20, 2004
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Posted: Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 06:05 PM UTC
Nice review Tom.
In early production M7's, April/May 1942, 10 50 round drums of cal. .45 ammo were stored there. Later vehicles had cal. .45 clip boxes stored there.
Well, if you really want to know, it's this one: M7. It belongs to a friend of mine along with one other M7. Dragon USA is less than an hour from his museum and they spent a long time measuring and photographing his two M7's in 2008/09. They may have used some others as well.
Chris "toadman" Hughes
Toadman's Tank Pictures
Quoted Text
There is also a lot of empty space on the sponson next to the driver that I am sure should hold small-arms ammo and other stuff in boxes.
In early production M7's, April/May 1942, 10 50 round drums of cal. .45 ammo were stored there. Later vehicles had cal. .45 clip boxes stored there.
Quoted Text
– I wonder which incomplete museum exhibit they measured for the kit?
Well, if you really want to know, it's this one: M7. It belongs to a friend of mine along with one other M7. Dragon USA is less than an hour from his museum and they spent a long time measuring and photographing his two M7's in 2008/09. They may have used some others as well.
Chris "toadman" Hughes
Toadman's Tank Pictures
Posted: Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 11:03 PM UTC
Chris,
Thanks for the link! You wouldn't have a good picture of the missing small-arms stowage I could use to scratch-build the details, by any chance? I've been all over the net, but cannot find interior shots of in-service M7s, and all the preserved ones are either modified or simply stripped-out.
Jeremy, I hope to add the next instalment of the blog this weekend - I've been tackling the gun!
Tom
Thanks for the link! You wouldn't have a good picture of the missing small-arms stowage I could use to scratch-build the details, by any chance? I've been all over the net, but cannot find interior shots of in-service M7s, and all the preserved ones are either modified or simply stripped-out.
Jeremy, I hope to add the next instalment of the blog this weekend - I've been tackling the gun!
Tom
Hohenstaufen
England - South East, United Kingdom
Joined: December 13, 2004
KitMaker: 2,192 posts
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Joined: December 13, 2004
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Posted: Friday, August 27, 2010 - 02:04 AM UTC
I read Tom's review (although it's not my usual subject, I tend to read most reviews of new DML products as I make a fair few of their kits). Once again there is criticism of the instructions, in fact there seem to be mistakes in them that would seriously compromise the build for anyone who hadn't read this review. Now I know that Dragon sponsor this site, so presumably they also read the reviews. The fact is that their kit instructions are frequently criticised for errors and omissions and general difficulty of interpretation, moreover they appear to be getting worse! Isn't it about time something was done about it? After all no matter how good the moulding is, this doesn't help if you can't make the kit! While poor instructions are just about acceptable in a "cottage industry" kit or AM stuff, which by definition appeals to the more hard core modeller, they really aren't on in the mainstream LHS world where a lot of Dragon's kits are sold. How many DML kits don't get completed because an inexperienced modeller finds he has bitten off more than he can chew, and resolves not to buy another (expensive) DML kit again? Compare with the clarity of Tamiya instructions. Perhaps reviewers should be marking kits down for this - would this get the message across?
Sorry if this comes across as a rant, but surely it is in DMLs own interest to address this?
Sorry if this comes across as a rant, but surely it is in DMLs own interest to address this?
Posted: Friday, August 27, 2010 - 09:07 AM UTC
Steve,
You've got a point about those instructions, and frankly I'd have gone up as far as a 95% score if they hadn't been so poor. However, I don't know what we can do other than keep pointing out the shortfall. As long as the kits keep selling, Dragon doesn't have any motivation to take it seriously. And because it's such a great kit of an interesting subject I can't see many modellers boycotting it. I wish it weren't so, but I can't see what more the modelling community can do...
My own small contribution is my blog, in which I hope to show folks how to get it built right. If Dragon wants to buy it off me for use in future releases...
Tom
You've got a point about those instructions, and frankly I'd have gone up as far as a 95% score if they hadn't been so poor. However, I don't know what we can do other than keep pointing out the shortfall. As long as the kits keep selling, Dragon doesn't have any motivation to take it seriously. And because it's such a great kit of an interesting subject I can't see many modellers boycotting it. I wish it weren't so, but I can't see what more the modelling community can do...
My own small contribution is my blog, in which I hope to show folks how to get it built right. If Dragon wants to buy it off me for use in future releases...
Tom
GunTruck
California, United States
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Posted: Friday, August 27, 2010 - 09:20 AM UTC
Excellent review - you convinced me to pick one up.
wbill76
Texas, United States
Joined: May 02, 2006
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Posted: Friday, August 27, 2010 - 02:26 PM UTC
Steve,
Another factor to consider is that most of the Reviews done are In-Box which means that, unless it's followed by a build-log, the errors in the instructions don't come out right away in terms of the scoring. I've yet to build a single DML kit that didn't have at least 1 error in the instructions and whenever they use previous kits as the basis for new ones, the errors tend to get compounded due to re-use of the same instructions without checking or updating. Definitely is something that has to be taken into consideration with DML kits for sure...DML is aware of the problems in their instructions and, in some cases, has even gone so far as to correct some of those problems/errors in subsequent kits...but not always.
Another factor to consider is that most of the Reviews done are In-Box which means that, unless it's followed by a build-log, the errors in the instructions don't come out right away in terms of the scoring. I've yet to build a single DML kit that didn't have at least 1 error in the instructions and whenever they use previous kits as the basis for new ones, the errors tend to get compounded due to re-use of the same instructions without checking or updating. Definitely is something that has to be taken into consideration with DML kits for sure...DML is aware of the problems in their instructions and, in some cases, has even gone so far as to correct some of those problems/errors in subsequent kits...but not always.
Posted: Saturday, August 28, 2010 - 02:11 AM UTC
Great review Tom! Unfortunately I'm still waiting for my example. It must have literally gotten on a slow boat... I will also be closely watching your buildlog.
Cheers!
Stefan
Cheers!
Stefan
Iraqiwildman
Missouri, United States
Joined: November 24, 2008
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Joined: November 24, 2008
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Posted: Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 10:34 AM UTC
One correction on the decal info: There are no Companies in Field Artillery, they are called Batteries.
Posted: Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 11:33 AM UTC
Quoted Text
One correction on the decal info: There are no Companies in Field Artillery, they are called Batteries.
Indeed Batteries they are! (But sadly not on DML's instructions...)
Tom