This will be a blog of the new Dragon Stug IV Last production kit number 6647. Now I had taken sprue shots before starting but I didn't check and came out dark and blurry so I'll pass on those just to say that there are 23 different sprues of grey plastic parts ,one clear , 2 metal sprues for the new sideskirts, one sheet of photoetched metal parts and DS tracks in the box .. As you can imagine much of this kit has already been released in their other Stug IV kits and only the new sideskirts and their holders seem to be new plastic and the PE sheet is different from those I've seen before.
This is a typical Dragon kit with no flash or sink holes worth mentioning ..Crisp details are the norm that we are used to from this company ..So no problems there .
I have noticed some mistakes in the instructions that I will mention so you don't have to make the same mistakes I did or at least noticed before I made them...
So let's get started .. The construction begins with the wheels and lower hull , and this is where the first mistake in the instructions begins .. Do not add parts B2 and B3 to the Idler supports .. I found out the hard way that in step 3 parts B18 and B19 are added to the hull sides and are replacement parts for B2 and B3 .. when I went to add the rear to the hull sides nothing fit and I had to sand them away . (Not being in the same stage things had dried solid.) I did not add the exhaust at this time as I want to paint them separately.
Also in step 1 we have the usual clean up and preparation of the road wheels sprockets and idlers .. I used the cast type idlers and here Dragon have gone and changed their simple circle PE piece to 3 pieces per side making for 12 pieces of PE with at least three attachement points per piece to be cleaned up and attached .. on top of that the pieces overlap.. (I think they have made one piece that will be used in both their panzer III and IV kits ) I suppose this won't be noticeable in the end but I don't see any improvement by using these pieces instead of the older PE ... Even the instructions show the older parts which I went looking for until I noticed the instructions say x3 .
I always scuff up my roadwheels to show some wear and tear so this was done during clean up.
Next comes the build up of the lower hull . This kit is based on the late J kit and has the three return rollers and the hull extentions towing points.. These are some of the differences in the earlier kits of the stug IV .. In step IV be careful and follow the instructions . Add parts D13 and D15 as shown and don't listen to the instructions in step 5 that tell you to use A38 and A39. D13 and 15 are the right parts to use!
Of course I don't add the wheels till after painting .
Next in Step 4 is the transmission cover and the hatches.. I used N8 grab handles as I personally have never seen T6 in pictures or in my references but I'm not saying this not right ,I've just never seen them .. I was also thinking of how easy it would be to break them off during the build .
Also during this stage they have you add the spare track holders and even tell you to open up holes from under part B6...DON'T !! They don't give you any spare tracks to go in the holder... come on Dragon!! Anyway I think it looks bare without some spare tracks and I stole some from another kit to fill in the holders.. I added some stretched sprue to the tracks where the pins would show .
Next up the engine deck ... Nothing spectacular but for some reason they no longer give you the PE for the doors ..I never really noticed the PE under them but I'll check before I glue everything in place to see if I need to paint the engine room black as not to see grey plastic.. I'll let you know when I get there ..
I have no idea what the differences are between parts H44 and H48 as compared to H36 and H40 for the air intakes if anyone knows if these were factory specific or early verses late options I would really like to know . Not that it really shows much but I'm interested to know.
I haven't added the tow rope hangers yet since they are so fragile I'll wait or might just decide to use wire to replace the flimsy plastic parts.. Hey I just noticed they don't give you tow ropes in this kit ... darn!!
Also missing in this kit are the plastic parts for the intake covers on the fenders .. you only get the PE type which are fine but the less PE I use the better and I found some plastic ones in my spare parts box ... Are they better ? No .. Worse? with a little sanding with a file they look great and line up straight without any cyano glue in sight .. I'm happy ! Also if you look on the H sprue you get all kinds of wing nuts and half wing nuts on the sprue just begging to be used and not mentioned in the instructions.. go for it guys ..
I skipped ahead a bit and built up the gun and mantlet just to change from the PanzerIV hull parts .. I added three hookes to the back side of the mantlet .. This was simply done by flattening some stretched sprue and bending them to shape.. There were a few punch marks on the backside of the mantlet but they won't be seen in the end ..I filled them just because they were there ..
The interior gun and radios were built up but nothing will be seen as I plan on doing this one buttoned up ...At least you know they are there ..lol
And that folks is where I'm at so far ... Things are starting to shape up and I can't wait to get to the painting section ..
I want to thank Craig Ellis for pointing out a mistake on the sideskirts that I'll try and fix , and if you are interested in the late Stug IV , Mike Roof aka SdAufKla did an awesome blog on what he did to make a late from the early kit .. I think anyone wanting to build this kit should take a while and read his blog ..
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/170904&ord=&page=2
Rick
