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Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.J Latest Production
Manufacturer: Dragon models
Scale: 1/35
Material: Styrene & PE
Serial Number: 6575
Price: TBA

Introduction
It's seems almost unnecessary to introduce the Panzer IV, Dragon having already released so many versions over the last few years...so I'll keep this brief. As everybody knows (probably) the Panzer IV became the workhorse of the German armed forces during WWII, although it was never intended to be so. As a result of it being the only German yank to be manufactured throughout the entire war, it was subject to a series of upgrades and adaptations to maintain its effectiveness. This model is of a last production Ausf.J, the very last type to roll off the production line. This version had a number of specific changes from earlier types, not necessarily to increase its effectiveness, but also as a result of the situation that existed at that time, and with hindsight can be seen as a backwards step from the previous Ausf.H version.

Kit Contents
This is one of "those" boxes again. There's a seriously large amount of plastic on this one...seventeen sprues, seven small ones, a transparent sprue, separate lower hull, turret shell, rear turret schurzen, two alternative gun sleeves, decal sheet, large photo-etched fret, and a series of pre-cut wire meshes to use as schurzen.

As alluded to in the introduction, there have been a lot of previous version of Panzer IV's released by Dragon, and it struck me looking through the box that the majority of modellers...or at least the majority of those that read this site...are already very familiar with the general contents of what is in these kits from Dragon. Or are they? Because whilst processing the photographs for this review, I was struck by a number of things I hadn't really noticed before...although I'm almost certain they've been there in other variants Dragon have released. More on that later.

The instructions for this kit run to ten sides, and construction as normal begins with the assembly of the running gear, and then it's installation onto the assembled lower hull. All the usual detail is there, i.e., manufacturers logo on roadwheel tyres, a choice of welded and cast idler wheels (consult your references for which to use), and a new lower hull with three return rollers, since the fourth was deleted on the Ausf.J to save material and weight. At this stage the hull rear wall is also assembled, and instead of the usual cylindrical muffler we're supplied with the two flame suppressing ones, along with the absence of the turret traverse motor of course. Moving back to the running gear, the tracks supplied with this kit are thankfully, the Magic Track ones, in two bags, each a slightly different shade of grey to help distinguish them during assembly. Each of the links does have two small ejector pin marks on their lower surface that will need to be carefully removed, but at least they stand proud rather than recessed so they're easy enough to remove. There's a choice of parts between injection moulded and photo-etched when it comes to the brackets for the spare track links on the glacis, and holes to be complete if you choose to use the former. Each of the two fenders has tread detail moulded on both upper and lower surfaces, with separate front and rear mudflaps.

Moving to the engine deck, there are photo-etched louvres supplied, along with injection-moulded ones, so you again have a choice to make. Construction then begins on the superstructure, the main deck of which is supplied in one part, with separate side panels to attach. Although internal detail is at a minimum, such things as the co-driver's Mg is supplied fully detailed, so that if you do decide to leave hatches open, then there's something there to be seen. As with all the Panzer IV variants, the fenders are absolutely choc-full of stowed equipment and tools. Al the tools supplied for this purpose are of the 'Smart' series variety, i.e. detailed clamps moulded in-situ. The close-off panels on the engine air-intakes are supplied as plastic or photo-etch, and a few tings, such as the jack block and towing clevises are supplied with some photo-etched details to add to their appearance.

The turret shell is provided as a one-piece, slide-moulded part, minus the vision and pistol ports that were deleted on this version. The commander's cupola is a small model in itself, such is the level of detail, with clear inserts to provide the periscopes, and a hatch fully detailed on both surfaces. The main gun has a fully-detailed breech assembly, along with a choice of two lower gun sleeves and four different muzzle brakes, so either go with the first choice offered, or select which is most appropriate to the version you're modelling from your references. For the turret roof there's a fully detailed Nahverteidigungswaffe or close-in defence weapon supplied, but on nearly all of the last production variants this was just closed off with a blanking plate since the weapon was in short supply. Dragon supplies the blanking plate as an alternative part. It almost (but not quite) goes without saying that all the hatches are supplied with full detail on their inner surfaces for displaying in an opened position. There are also two roughly quadrant-shaped photo-etched mesh panels for fixing between the rear of the turret and the turret schurzen that provided a stowage space.

The turret schurzen is supplied in plastic, with the semi-circular rear section as a separate part, and a choice of opened or closed crew access gates. When arriving at the stage of installing the hull schurzen, the instructions split into building with or without these, the former necessitating the installation of the fixing brackets, supplied as injection moulded parts. The length-wise fixing rail for the mesh panels is cylindrical in profile, and on top of this covering the space between the rail and the body of the tank are horizontal mesh panels, constructed from plastic frames onto which photo-etched mesh is fixed.

The wire mesh schurzen supplied in the kit is supplied as actual wire-mesh. This is supplied ready-cut into the required shapes, and there are photo-etched framing edges supplied for along their sides, along with the necessary hanging brackets of course. Fixing these photo-etched parts to the wire mesh may require some thought if it's going to result in a clean job, but I've little doubt careful application of superglue should do the job!

Conclusion
That's what you get in brief, now back to what I mentioned earlier. I was experimenting with taking more close-up pics for this review, and with ways to display them in a lager format to that normally used. Dragon regularly suffers criticism from certain quarters, and unjustly too. It's my honest opinion that they've done more for advancing armour modelling over the last ten years than any other manufacturer. Their tooling in terms of detail and quality is simply the best there is. Look closely at some of the pictures below and you'll see exactly what I mean. Check out the weld detail...especially on picture 044 that shows the join on one of the turret panels. It's tooled so as not to appear regular...very realistic looking. Then check out pictures 052 and 060 as examples of tooling welding beads where they existed...but will never be seen on a model. Or how about that cast texture on the idler wheel centre in picture 063? There's the extremely fine weld bead around the brake vents in picture 064, the bolt detail in picture 067, the tiny circlip detail on the steel return rollers in picture 069, and the screw head detail in picture 070. No other manufacturer regularly produces models with this level of fine detail. They're simple the best injection moulded kits available today, and this latest release is no exception.

Said it all above. Superb detail, superb engineering, superb quality. The best. Highly recommended.

- Vinnie Branigan

Kit Review: Dragon Models Limited 1/35 scale '39-'45 Series Kit No. 6575; Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. J Last Production - Smart Kit; 1,211 parts (750 in grey styrene, 240 "Magic Track" single links, 140 etched brass, 15 clear styrene, 6 stainless steel mesh); pre-order price US$59.95 via Dragon USA Online

Advantages: final version of a J with late exhaust systems and completely new fittings for "von Thoma" mesh skirts

Disadvantages: still comes with "Magic Track" links; AA machine gun skate ring and details but no AA MG

Rating: Highly Recommended

Recommendation: for all German and Pzkw. IV fans

DML is now completing their final versions of the Pzkw. IV Ausf. J series with the last production variant to follow the Ausf. J Early Production limited release kit from cyber-hobby.com (No. 43 - No. 6549) and the mid production one from DML proper (No. 6556), and now replaces a previous kit from 1998. This kit now only comes with the "flammenvernichter" (flame suppressor) twin exhausts, the later style return rollers (with four per side still in the kit), the close in defense weapon, but now the antiaircraft/commander's machine gun is missing although the traverse rail is provided. It again provides the mesh floors for the rear "schurtzen" to turn it into a de facto bustle rack. However, the kit now has a new upper hull and fenders with modifications to fit the so-called "von Thoma"? mesh shields as side protection. The kit adds a total of 149 new parts (less 80 rivet heads on the main shield sprue) as well as more than 80 new etched brass parts.

As mentioned this kit has a new upper hull core and details as well as the mid J turret shell with the representative modifications. The new "von Thoma" shields are assembled from styrene, stainless steel mesh, and etched brass parts, so not for the novice or weekend builder. The shields also require reinforcing strips made from etched brass which have to be formed via a press (provided in the kit) to make a section of U-shaped channel. All of this hangs on new fenders with the receptacles built in for the shield mounts.

Construction of the rest of the kit is the same as all previous "Smart Kit" Panzer IVs. However, as the tanks evolved so do the kits and there are a lot of parts which need to be drilled out for specific options; alas, as usual, DML rams the directions into a single multi-fold sheet and the word "busy" does not begin to describe them. You will need to look them over several times BEFORE starting the kit to check what has to be drilled out and for what options.

The kit uses a hull pan which is complete less the stern plates, separate final drives, and much of the surface detail simulates screw or bolt holes; it also has an applique lower glacis plate. Drivers consist of only four parts; the separate bolts are gone. Bogies are now eight piece affairs without separate tires. New details are provided for the tow hook at the rear of the hull as well.

The upper hull consists of a deck and framework with applique sides, front and rear engine intake components and fenders. Note that the new sides of the upper hull are N6 and N11 even though the previous ones (parts E21 and E28) are included. As usual with DML directions, read ahead and DO NOT ANTICIPATE which parts will be used!

All ports and hatches are separate parts so they can be posed open. While no interior components for the lower hull are yet present, the hull still provides a rudimentary firewall for the engine compartment, and the various vents and louvers are also posable either open or closed. The bow also comes with a well-done machine gun and ball mount. Note that all ports have clear styrene inserts as well.

The turret is relatively conventional in its parts breakdown, but the KwK 40 is unique. The barrel is nearly complete in regard to length, being trapped between the recoil cylinders at the rear and slid through the armored recoil cover and barrel jacket before having the muzzle brake installed; this is only in styrene, but a metal part could be provided later in an upgrade set. The commander's cupola now consists of 22 parts. Other than the gun and cupola there is still only a minimal interior for the turret, however.

Etched brass is hefty for this kit and covers both the new skirts and details as well as all of the previous options such as the engine air intake louvers, the inner guides of the idler wheels, some small brackets, and the flaps for the engine air intakes on the sides of the rear deck. As noted it comes with the "floor" mesh for the turret "schurtzen".

Tracks are the "Magic Track" snap-together-then-cement type, and modelers are advised to recall that when facing the head card the left side track links are on the left and right are on the right. So far no DS plastic tracks have been provided in any Pzkw. IV kit. As I repeatedly state before there is nothing wrong with the "Magic Track" links other than they are tedious to assemble, and the DS ones are now more popular with modelers who do not want to spend several hours making up the tracks or trying to figure out how to paint them (as DS ones can be painted off the model and installed later).

Eight finishing options are provided along with a targeted set of Cartograf decals:
11th Panzer Division, Germany, 1945 (tricolor, black 33); Pz.Rgt. 31, 5th Panzer Division, East Prussia 1945 (whitewash over sand brown, red 515); 6th Panzer Division, Czechoslovakia 1945 (tricolor with shields, white 431 or white 433); Unidentified Unit, Germany 1945 ("ambush" scheme, black 615); 11th Panzer Division. Germany 1945 (tricolor, black 11, 21 or 25); Unidentified Unit, Silesia, 1945 (tricolor, white 602); 2nd Panzer Division, Germany 1945 (tricolor, partial "ambush" scheme, white 121); Pz.Rgt. 33, 9th Panzer Division, Germany 1945 (tricolor with shields, white 332).

Technical assistance was provided by Notger Schlegtendal, Tom Cockle and Gary Edmundson.

Overall, DML has given the modeler almost all he needs to complete a late model J with or without the mesh "schurtzen". Now for the A version?

- Cookie Sewell