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Thursday 30 October 2014

Another Engineering Triumph - Dragon Sdkfz 231

So from the pain of Matchbox, to the engineering of Dragon.

Firstly - this isn't really suitable for wargaming. There are 95 parts that build up into an exquisite wee model, but there are so many fragile external parts such as number-plates, lights, width indicators and so on, that this would break under any normal wargames handling. The only way it might be useable, would be to drill out all the holes for these parts and replace them with superglued soft steel wire. But some of the shapes are complex and would be difficult to recreate.

This is the first kit I have built that has got me seriously wondering about putting bases under these.

The other thing is that some pieces are 'tiny' I mean really tiny. The side-lamps for example are about 1.5mm in diameter. Watch out for the hungry carpet monster.

So here it is. The Dragon Sdkfz 231 heavy reconnaissance car. Ready for paint once I get my order from the Combat Company. I eventually cracked as I was cranking up the airbrush just for base coats, and an aerosol is much more convenient.






Once it gets a base coat, the overall finish will be very soft thin green stripes, followed by a filter. For some reason Dragon decided on decals that allow you to build your own numberplate - waaaay too fiddly for this black duck, so the number-plates WILL be wrong. I hope the rivet counters don't get too hot under the collar.

The Italeri Sdkfz 234/4 is on the pile in the shed, I might just try a sneak peek in the box and see if it looks like it might be fun..



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