WOW!!! There's a FREE PE bucket included?? Now, this is a must-get!!

would rather have Magic Tracks than a PE bucket

Be fair guys Dragon does produce accurate German WW2 armour and this will be made from sprues from various other kit options. You are correct in that I also miss the magic tracks, metal barrel and full photo etch. There is one thing that will keep me away from the model and that is price which I suspect will be high for what it is, but if it is offered at a good price I will pick it up.

Woohoo~! Dragon does it again! So creative and innovative (Sarcastically).

In a nutshell you guys have said everything that I had to say. Darned, no wind in my sails, as it were. I'll wait for it to hit the shelves before saying more. A build review would be nice.

I don't think anyone is doubting the quality of the kits so much as they are complaining about how Dragon's business model has shifted and they no longer seem to want to be an industry leader -- which is their choice, of course -- and the kits are no longer exciting like they used to be. They should consider going into the textbook business, which is another sector that likes to change a few things and resell an old product at a higher price.

It's interesting how everyone wants to say something about Dragon kits. In the meantime they just chug along fine. Everytime they announced another kit with DS tracks their FB page was flooded with negative comments and yet they are still selling them. The fact is this StuG is still the best in the market although with Darren's review the Academy was getting a little closer. There are all sorts of lament of what went wrong but people like me who missed the boat wouldn't mind this so much.