History

The Maus is without a doubt one of the most ambitious undertakings of the Third Reich. Dr. Ferdinand Porsche received the contract for the new 100 ton panzer- VK10001/Porsche Type 205. In May of 1942 Hitler ordered Porsche and Dr. Muller Krupp to develop the 120-ton super tank, however upon completion the weight had reached an astounding 180 tons plus. The heaviest tank ever produced. Ironically no bridge could support it. For further reading on the web see www.achtungpanzer.com.

The Kit

In the box you have six sprues, one decal sheet, Dragon’s new DS-100 track, a PE fret of screens and ladder, plus two crew figures in Dragons vinyl, so in all a total of 163 parts. Glancing at the sprues shows good detail overall with minimal clean up required and the knock out marks are all located in areas that will not show up when completed.

The kit offers two versions to build. The first being the production turret, which was found on the V2 at Kubinka, and the second being the V1 test turret. The Cartograph decal sheet offers a choice of three different number styles, four different styles of national crosses, Russian markings, and kill markings, overall a great decal sheet that can be used for other projects including smaller 35th scale vehicles. Of the two versions to build the instructions offer three different paint schemes, Seelow Heights, Berlin 45 and Kummersdorf Firing Ground 45. However I am only aware of one actual scheme that is shown in photographs, so you are free to use your imagination also. Of note are the two figures included, I was very impressed with the pose and details on them. 1/72 scale figures are usually not very well done however that is not the case with these.

The only areas that I can see that might cause a problem are the running gear and tracks. If you plan to build and paint in steps it might pose a problem trying to fit the tracks on after you have assembled the model. The upper hull and skirts cover the majority of the road wheels so feeding the tracks through will require a little patience and care. It should not be extremely difficult but I would recommend careful planning before the final gluing. Looking at the instructions and the parts, I did not see any other areas that need special attention. However I will write a build review and share any tips or problems that I find.

Conclusion

All in all it appears that Dragon has done a knock out job on this kit and I do look forward to building it, although I tend to build mostly 1/35th scale models this kit should prove to be a nice easy and rewarding weekend build.
A special Thanks go to Dragon Models Ltd for supplying our review sample