This little figure set from Dragon Models Ltd. contains 41 parts to build up four figures for your halftrack. The box art, by Ronald Volstad, depicts the driver, radioman, machine gunner and the commander, who is holding a pair of binoculars. The crewmen are all wearing typical Wehrmacht field blouses.
contents
The box contains one sprue of parts moulded in light grey plastic along with one small fret of PE. The plastic parts are cleanly molded with a slight amount of flash and with some mould-lines along the sides. All the parts are numbered for easier assembly. Each figure consists of seven parts, with separate arms, legs, torso, head and headgear. The small PE fret includes parts for the headset.
No separate instructions are provided. On the back side of the box, there are coloured pictures of each figure. Each figure in the picture is numbered, so it would be easier to assemble them. Also, colour codes for Model Master, GSI Creos Corp. Aqueous Hobby Colour and GSI Creos Corp. Mr. Hobby paints are included in the pictures.
In detail
Heads:
The faces don't have any significant facial expressions. One of the faces has an opened mouth, which appears a bit awkward. Other than that, the details on the faces are nice, although a bit soft. One of the downsides with the heads is that they have a very prominent mould-line running along the sides of them.
Hands:
The hands will need some careful cleanup to get rid of the flash and seam lines. Also, the outlining of the fingers could be sharper and better defined.
Legs:
The legs are moulded in two halves with nice details which will require some careful work to eliminate the seam lines. The driver and radioman are posed in a seated position, while the machine gunner and commander are both standing.
Torsos:
The torsos look fairly good, although like the other parts of the figures, they will also require some cleanup to get rid of the mould-lines and flash. The details such as the pockets, belt buckles and buttons, tend to be a bit too soft around the edges.
Equipment:
The only parts of equipment that are included in this set are a pair of binoculars, an MG34 and a pair of headsets. The binoculars are moulded nicely and should look the part when finished. The MG34 has some mould-lines that should be easy to scrape off with a hobby knife. It doesn't have grips on the handle and the details on it are a bit soft. Other than that, the MG is still fairly well done and usable. The headset is assembled with both styrene and PE parts, which you will need to add your own wiring if so desired.
Headgear:
Three field caps and one overseas cap are included in this kit. The caps are nicely moulded with good details on them.
conclusion
This figure set from Dragon is nicely done and the figures are well suited for your Sd.Kfz. 251/250/253. They can also be used, not just in halftracks, but in other vehicles, for example the driver could be used in an Opel Blitz, or the machine gunner in a diorama shooting from a pillbox. The figures are not the greatest, but they are still usable and they are inexpensive. Recommended.
SUMMARY
Highs: Inexpensive and many possibilities for you to use them.Lows: Some soft details, flash and mould-lines to clean up. The facial expressions could be improved on.Verdict: Nice little figure set with many areas for you to use them in. Recommended.
I was thinking the same. The seats in a 251 are very low, the two sitting figures look like they are sitting high in they're seats. Has anyone made this figure set? It is quite an old set. Do the driver and radio guy fit into the seats of a 251 ? do you need to do a bit of mods to the legs of them I liked the way Chaz Young used the MG man in his "Point ler Hoc" Dio he done a while ago. Dragon Figures are great I've always loved them. Nice Review. Cheers Geraint
Thanks to all for your comments!
To panamadan and Geraint - I have to be honest, I haven't build these figures yet, so I can't say for sure, that they are going to fit Sd.Kfz.251. But I think, that if these figures are made for Dragon's halftrack, then they should fit into a Dragon's halftrack.
Karel
I've built those figs, and.....
.... they do not fit in DML 251 (at least in the first "C")
Driver's must be cutted nearly half centimeter to get inside, the radio operator is impossible to fit in its place, and one must r-arrange the foot of the two standing figures to get inside the half-track between the two seats
I've to try them in AFV's 251 but not done yet
Thanks for the info! I looked at the driver and he looks like he would be happy're driving an Opel Blitz truck. Ive got a 3 in 1, 251 "falke" and there does'nt look like much room in the cab area. Thanks again Geraint
I 've Encountered the same problem that Driver and Radio Operator does not fit into the Dragon halftracks.
Legs and lower bodys form the Sdkfz 251/6 Auf C had to be used in place. And still had to shorten the upper torsos.
Radio operator still had some clearance issue to the top of the vehicle roof.
It was disapointing that the figures "seated" did not work from out of the box. The Machine gunner and track commander worked out OK when mounted to the finished model.
These figures are really designed only for the SdKfz 250 series. The box art shows the officer with the binoculars resting up against the inside of the 250/1 hull which is the dead give away. That is also why the legs are bent so much on the driver and R/O- to sit higher as you do in the 250 series. The seated crew will not work in any SdKfz 251 kit without substantial modification. Even the MG firing crewman may not fire on a flat trajectory in other vehicles.
The figures may fit in some trucks or the sdKfz 7 with some simple mods such as moving the hand position and perhaps feet, but I have not tried them - I did use them in the first issue dragon sdKfz 251, but with forced perspective like cutting down the legs and sanding the boots down to just the thin boot top as well as removing a lot of the buttocks and taking out the belt section (behind the seat that isnot noticible.
In reality, the kit is quite old and suffers flash and heavy mould seams like others of Dragon's early efforts. For the effort required to fit them to a 251 series vehicle you probably should just cobble together pieces from the spares box and use replcaement heads such as Hornet heads - it will be just as much work in the end.
The seated figures (both of them) are like if they were seated in a chair, and the position in the 251 is more like in an sports car, with the legs nearly straigh,compare them with the figures that DML provides in some of the 251's.
In my case both standig figures needed to be modified, changing the feet angle
If someone compares the driver figures provided by DMl in the 250 series and the ones in the some of the 251 half tracks can notice the size diference, the second one is lessthan 90% the sizeof the first, it makesme think than anithingis wrong (I think in the 251)
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