Dragon

1/35 Sd Kfz 164 Nashorn

Kit Number: 6386, 3 in 1 Smart Kit

Reviewed by  Tom Moon, IPMS# 43192

MSRP: $61.95 Review sample provided by Dragon Models USA: www.dragonmodelsusa.com This kit is designed to allow the modeler to build one of three different versions of the Nashorn. They are Initial, Initial modified and early versions. The instructions are very busy and has the three versions intermixed. You will need to decide which version you want and pick your options before you start. Refer to your references to help you pick the version you want with the particular optional parts along with the usual firing vs. travel mode and whether you want a hatch or vision visor in the open or closed position. I chose the initial modified version in the travel mode. Step 1: Road wheels, drive sprocket and idler wheels. The only choice here is the drive sprocket; one version has oblong lightening holes verses the round lightening holes. I chose the round holes version. Step 2: Running Gear. This step offers a second set of spare tracks mounted in front as found on the initial modified version. I suggest that you not glue the idler arm (A40) to the hull now, but glue it to the idler wheel and wait to mount the idler wheel when mounting the tracks. This will allow you to use the idler wheel as it was intended, to take up the track slack to give the proper sag/tension. The only problem I found in this step was the misalignment of the molding dies creates a very noticeable seam on the road wheels. It will take an extra long time to grind, sand, or scrape these to where the seam is gone. The bogies are not articulated, so take care to get them fixed correctly so the road wheels will be in plane and touching the tracks. Step 3: Roof over the driver area. This step adds the various parts to the roof. Here the only options would be to open or close the vision hatches. The vision hatch in the open position requires the use of Photo Etch parts as the braces and handles. The instructions did leave off the part number for the hinges on the hull that the hatch (A8) attaches to. The part (A21) is shown on the instructions, but there is no part number or arrow pointing to it. The same problem occurs for the vision hatch hinges. Parts (F28) hinges are shown on the instructions, but there is no part number or arrow pointing to where they should go. The part M21 for the front gun travel lock is a small plate with a nipple on one side. This nipple mates with the travel lock leg in Step 17. I suggest that you leave this off and attach it to the travel lock leg in Step 17.If you are careful, the travel lock leg will be movable. Before adding the front travel lock guide tube (Part M9), drill a small hole for the release wire to be glued into. Also make sure travel lock release wire roller (Part M24) has clearance between the roller and the roof so the release wire can be threaded through to the guide tube. Steps 4 & 5: Fenders and Floors. This step assembles the jack, and places all the associated parts that go on the fenders. The instructions call for the fenders to be mounted now, but I left them off because the latter steps would expose the added parts to the possibility of being broken off. You could leave off the add-on parts and mount the fenders then late in the build put on the add-on parts. The rest of the step is gluing the fighting compartment floor, gun mount floor and the rear hull plate. Step 6: Detailing the rear hull plate. This step adds the exhaust system and other details to the rear hull plate. Be careful when assembling the muffler assembly for the initial modified version. I believe the bracket parts H25 and H24 are reversed in the instructions. As with all instructions, dry fit multiple times before committing to gluing the parts. The instructions also call for parts E41 and E42 to be mounted. If these are to serve as steps, it makes no sense for the short one to be in the lower position as the rear wall is slanted in and would make the lower step shorter than the upper step. Steps 7/8/9: Barrel and barrel carriage. This step builds the barrel carriage, the barrel, and joins the two together. I wanted to paint the barrel assembly and gun carriage separately, so I left the muzzle brake off until I had painted and weathered the barrel and gun carriage. After that was done I mated the barrel and gun carriage then added the muzzle brake. Step 10 Gun carriage assemblies. This step builds the two main pieces of the gun carriage. There is one option here to use seat part D21 as is, or remove the plastic "springs" and add metal ones. The instructions here have several errors. Part D14 hand wheel shaft is pointed towards the wrong mounting hole. The proper hole is the half moon hole towards the right side, just above the D7 hand wheel shaft. Part D20 seat holder shaft is pointed towards the wrong hole. The proper hole is the hole that part D14 is incorrectly pointed to. Step 11: Putting the gun and gun carriage together. This step puts the parts from step 7 - 10 together into one assembly. You will need to be careful as you are trapping parts between two other pieces and if done correctly will allow for elevating the gun to a desired position. There were several discrepancies that I noted. The first is on the gun floor mount part D6 shows an extension on the top. It does not reference a part number and I could not find a part that it could be. Since this is hidden it probably doesn't make any difference anyway. The next involves Parts D54 and D55. These are supports between the gun carriage and the gun shield supports. When you clip them off of the sprue, be extra careful that you don't cut them off too short. There is a small plate depicted on the end and this should remain with the main part. The Part D55 shield support bracket is also pointed towards the wrong hole on the side of the gun carriage. The proper hole is the small hole towards the center of the carriage instead of the upper one pointed to as seen in the instructions. Step 12: Fighting Compartment side walls. This step adds the various details to the inside of the fighting compartment side walls. You can choose between photo etch or plastic parts for a mounting bracket to hold extra machine gun ammo boxes. You can also choose between photo etch and plastic parts for the mounting arm for the periscope. Step 13: Ready round ammo storage bins. This section builds the two ready round storage bins. They can be displayed either open or closed. The instructions are reversed, showing the closed bin under the "open" section and vice versa. Obviously there is no need to build the inside parts for the closed bin. On the open bin it is difficult to try and use the rounds that don't have the built in braces for the rear rounds. The rear rounds are almost completely hidden from view, so just use Part P20 as is. Step 14: Rear fighting compartment detail. This section adds the doors and machine guns to the inside rear wall. I tried something new for me on this section. After adding all the bits to the rear wall, I painted it and weathered it completely before attaching it to the main body. By doing this, it allowed me to paint the rear wall and the other inside walls with an airbrush and get paint into the nooks and crannies due to the angle achieved by leaving the rear wall off. This also allowed me to paint the machine gun the proper gun metal color on all sides without having to do so within the crowded fighting compartment. Step 15: Completion of fighting compartment. In this section, the outer detail is added to the fighting compartment sidewalls. I wanted to include the rear travel lock so I used template H19/H20 to mount the side mounting bracket (Part H2). Be careful not to glue the templates in; they are only used to show where the lifting lugs are to be mounted. The brackets for the side vision periscopes are too wide. They match up evenly with the two side bars when they should fit inside the two side bars. To fix this problem I cut off the two arms to the bracket and glued them directly to the side bars. Step 16: Front/side shields. This step adds the two front fighting compartment shields and various other parts.

Step 17: Final Assembly. This step adds the tracks and gun carriage to the main hull. When mounting the gun carriage the commitment to building in either firing mode or travel mode must be made. In either case the release wire that runs from the fighting compartment to the front travel lock is shown on top of the roller part M24. All my references show the wire threaded under the roller. Tracks - These are Magic Tracks that require no cleanup unless you want to remove the ejector pin marks on the inner face. These are the proud type that will clean up with a swipe of the sanding stick or a sharp blade. These are not workable tracks so you will need to glue them together. The method I use to glue the tracks together is as follows: I use a track jig that is adjustable. I place it on the work surface and put a strip of yellow Tamiya tape down with the sticky side up. If you don't have a jig, you can use a ruler; just tape it down and use it as a guide to keep the tracks straight. I "assemble" the track using the jig and tape to hold all the parts in place. When the vehicle is ready for the tracks, I prepared the tracks one side at a time by adding a dab of Tamiya thin glue at each joint. I let this set for about 3 to 5 minutes. This will allow the glue to set enough to hold the tracks together but still be flexible enough to put sag into the tracks. With the drive sprocket and idler wheel in place, but not glued, mount the tracks with the ends meeting on the bottle flat side. Adjust the sag and the idler wheel so there is no gap in the ends. Let them dry. Remove the tracks. Paint and weather them off the vehicle. Remount them, along with the drive sprocket and idler wheels. When you are happy with the look, glue the drive sprocket and idler wheel permanently into place. Make sure that these two pieces are correctly aligned, as the biggest mistake armor modelers make is tracks that are toed in or out caused by improper alignment of drive sprockets and/or idler wheels. Painting and Decals. The instructions show one paint scheme for each variant. I used the scheme as listed and it looks very good. Obviously if you have a particular vehicle you want to model follow that scheme. The decals are minimal, including only Balkenkreuz and vehicle numbers. The decals are done by Cartograf of Italy and are in good registration.

Conclusion: This is a very good model. The molding is well done. No flash and other than the road wheels, very faint mold lines. As with most Dragon instructions, be careful. Check and recheck, dry fit multiple times before adding glue. This kit is much improved over the initial offering from Dragon for this Nashorn. References: · PanzerJager Technical and Operational History Vol 1 Waldemar Trojca ISBN 978-83-60041-31-4 · Panzer IV and Its Variants; Spielberger Series Vol.IV, Schiffer, by W.J. Spielberger ISBN 0-88740-515-0 · Nuts & Bolts Vol 14 "Nashorn" 8.8cm PaK 43/1 (L/71) Auf Fgst. Pz Kpfw III/IV (Sf) (Sd. Kfz. 164) Tony Greenland & Detlev Terlisten · Panzerjaeger (7.5cm PaK 40/4 to 8.8cm Waffentraeger) Panzer Tracts No. 7-3 by Thomas L. Jentz and Hilary Louis Doyle ISBN 0-9771643-3-0 · German Self-Propelled Guns Concord Publications Company Gordon Rottman ISBN 962-261-630-9 Thanks to Dragon for the review sample and IPMS/USA for the review space. This model can be found at most hobby shops, online hobby shops, and at www.dragonusaonline.com.