Robert Blokker takes a look at the StuG III F/8 Early Production, Italy 1943, which is a recent release from Dragon Models.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Excellent review. I think it wins the prize for the most sprue shots ever.

@Bill
Hehehehe.... So much details That the world must see.

Thanks Darren for putting it online

Well depends to what you compare the kit to, not so many new parts IMVHO, mostly a different armour configuration for the front hull and front of fighting compartment. This is compared to Dragon's earlier kit n° 6644 : StuG III Ausf. F8 Late Production w/Winterketten.

Otherwise a great review thanks!

Cheers,

Christophe

Ola Cristophe

Thanks for the compliments. And the problem here is that that might indeed be not much if you compare it to kit# 6644 but if you want to make that comparison right you should have access to kit# 6644 which I don't.

Gents, the discussion about how much a kit differs from other kits is interesting, of course, but we should never lose sight of the fact that most members here are looking to find fun kits that stand on their own, or else for building a particular vehicle, one from a particular scenario, etc. or perhaps to recreate a photo, all of which call for a specific kit.

But to get too geeky about the differences between various kits can, IMHO, make for very esoteric discussions.

After all, even the Germans were a bit casual about what constituted a particular Ausfuehrung and when one had passed over the previous version into a new one. For example, distinctions like the Ausf. H (early) vs. (late) involve only a small portion of visible differences.

The big changes between the two kits under discussion that will likely matter to someone NOT building a particular vehicle are the mantlet (here the squared-off one instead of the Topfblende or sow's head one), the additional armor and the crew compartment changes.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying that truly ground-breaking releases in the Pz.III/StuG III family will be quite rare, and we should rejoice that DML has given us the option of building a particular version without the need for expensive resin conversions as with many other vehicles.

We're talking about the two Dragon StuG III Ausf F8 smartkits right? Then not really... But I'm a StuG fanatic, hence a certified geek...

Cheers,

Christophe

Christophe, why don't you set down for us the important differences? Not things like different engines, for example, but visible details that would make one kit stand out from another? Thanks in advance.

Hi, was rearing the comments, here is what I have found to be the differences in the kits. The 6620 early F8 features the correct one piece maintenance access hatches in the front and has the welded on extra armor plates. The early kit should not be built with the loaders MG shield, these were only introduced in the last production batch in Nov. 1942. The later production vehicle kit 6644 goes back to the two piece doors for the maintenance access and features bolted add on armor plates , this one would be correct to use the loaders MG shield with. Those are the main visual differences for the two vehicles / kits. The early kit could also be built with a single baffle muzzle brake for the gun as a number of these were thus equipped due to material shortages.