Panzer IV Ausf.D
Kit Comparison
Dragon Kit #6265 - Tristar Kit #35023
Part 3: Turret
1:35th Scale
Kit Comparison by Terry Ashley
There are a surprising number of issues considering the turret is a relatively small assembly and again most are with the Dragon kit. The major external dimensions of both turrets are correct as far as possible with some small variation in the front plate and lower front turret panel angles but the plans are not conclusive in the area and the differences so small as not to really be a problem.
All dimensions were checked against 1:35 plans in Panzer Tracks No.4 Panzer IV, the new Model Art Pz.Kpfw.IV Photo Book, Ground Power May 2003, Achtung Panzer No.3 Panzer IV and Koku Fan “World Tank Series” Panzer IV as well as details compared with the many excellent illustrations in the Achtung Panzer book and available period and museum reference photos plus other references listed below.
7.5cm Gun and Turret front plate:
The
main gun is fairly detailed in both kits with an interior breech and gun guards
included as well as additional details in the DR kit plus alternate gun collars
for the initial type without aerial deflector and with the deflector as well
as a full metal barrel included with the DR kit along with the full length
plastic barrel and just the barrel tip in the TRI kit.
The break down of the exterior gun housing and barrel parts is very similar in both kits but as mentioned above there is one major issue with the DR gun in that the housing/barrel is 1.5mm too short which in turn makes the subsequent sections out to the barrel muzzle also 1.5mm too close to the mantlet. This is a substantial error and not easy to fix as the gun housing is moulded with the mantlet and not separate as with the TRI kit which would have made the correction easier.
Not wanting to sound melodramatic but when I first measured the parts this discrepancy seems odd and so I thoroughly checked this against all the plans on hand with all indicating the TRI housing parts were correct but with overall length .25mm shorter than indicated in some plans which is almost negligible. This was also checked against reference photos that allowed a square on profile to check the alignment of the gun assembly with the corresponding hull sections and everything indicates the existence of the error with the DR gun. As the gun assembly is the same as in the other DR Panzer IV kits this issue will be with those kits as will the undersized muffler issue mentioned in Part 1 of this review.
Update: Click HERE to see what the Dragon designers have done which resulted in this error.
The TRI kit has a separate co-axial machine gun fairing hollowed out with slide moulds and also includes the small slot top and bottom of the fairing while the DR MG fairing is included with the mantlet and doesn’t have the slots.
One small issue with the TRI co-axial MG is the barrel is a little too short to extent the required distance out of the fairing but adding a short length of rod to the back of the barrel will fix this and the barrel while having the muzzle hollowed out lacks details behind the muzzle flash suppressor. The DR co-axial MG34 is a complete gun and does have the correct details up to the muzzle.
The TRI turret front plate includes the bolted strip under the gun opening not on the DR plate with both having separate vision ports but only the DR kit has supports (in etched parts) that allow the visors to be shown if required.
The interior gun breech detail is more comprehensive on the DR kit with the two forward roof supports as well as the full co-axial MG and textured shell basket included and the TRI basket has now been updated to include texturing although a little heavier than on the DR basket.
The fit of all the parts was excellent on both kits with no trimming or filler needed during assembly and you may also wish to add the weld seams around the front section of the TRI gun housing which are included on the DR part. There should also be another weld seam along the centreline of the front gun housing added to both kits.
Turret roof:
The
forward turret roof is a separate part on the TRI kit to allow for easy provision
of the different panels on the various Panzer IV kit done by TRI while if forms
part of the full turret shell with the DR kit, this is not an issue just a
different approach.
The bullet splash guard for the large ventilation hatch in front of the cupola is included the TRI roof panel and is a separate part with the DR kit as well as the hatch itself being a separate part on both kits.
Unfortunately this bullet splash guard is the wrong size on the DR kit being too narrow and too deep, with all the available plans and reference photos again indicating the TRI parts are correct. But being separate parts in the DR kit does allow corrections to be made easier than if it were included with the turret roof.
Most of the flush crews on the turret roof are in the wrong place on the
DR roof while only a few on the left side of the TRI roof are miss placed.
All the available plans again concur of the flush screw placement.
There is also a minor issue in that the "flush screws" on the DR kit
are not actually flush but indented fractionally which in real size would be
too deep while the TRI screws are far closer the the
surface with virtually no indentation with both having nicely defined screw
heads.
Commander's Cupola:
This
is an impressive assembly on both kits with both having separate upper and
lower vision port armoured blocks that allow you to show the ports open or
closed as well as having the individual cupola hatches with details on both
sides including separate latch lever.
Both cupolas are the exact same diameter and height but there is a slight difference in the size of the two doors but not enough to really bother with and the profile of the upper cupola opening is also different with the DR opening being circular and squared off in front of the hinges on the TRI kit. I don’t have a photo of this feature but the hatches themselves are slightly squared off between the hinges which would indicate the cupola cut-out would follow suit.
The main difference with the cupolas is the inclusion in the DR kit of nicely detailed inner vision blocks which are clearly seen when the hatches are open. These have excellent detail as well as additional clear plastic vision block and also a second set of vision blocks to use if you show the outer visor port open or closed. The difference is the small latch at the top of the inner visor is angled to the opposite direction when open or closed and this is depicted on the alternate DR visors and this really does make for an impressive looking cupola assembly that will have you wanting to leave the hatches open to show off the detail.
Both cupolas assembled easily if a little tricky with the outer armoured blocks but a little care will make the job easier and both also fitted snuggle to the turret roof with small locating notch to ensure you fit it the right way around. The small sighting vane in front of the cupola is provided as an etched part in both kits for a good scale appearance.
Just a quick mention of the separate bolted strip added around the base of the cupola at the rear bulge which is nicely represented on the TRI kit but moulded a little thick with the DR part which leaves it sitting a little too far out from the turret bulge surface. Thinning this strip a little before fitting will fix this issue without too much trouble.
The only other minor issue is with the contours of the visor cut-outs in the outer armoured louvers, these are a little too curved at the inner corner on the DR kit and a little too square on the TRI kit, but we are really talking minor stuff here.
Turret Side Panels:
Moving
to the turret side panels, each kit has separate vision ports, forward lifting
hook and hatch securing latch above the doors with the DR kit also having
separate bullet splash guards in front of the vision ports and separate hinges
for the doors.
The separate visors are the correct size and profile on the TRI kit while the DR visors are slightly too large and have the visor profile depicted too sharply when compared to photos.
With the hatches themselves there are quite a few issues with the first being the DR hatches are slightly too small in depth, this may come about because if you lay the hatches directly onto the available plans they appear the same size as the plans, but you must take into account the sides of the turret are on an angle and the flat plans distort this measurement. When you check the size against the side profile plans to get the correct angle it shows the DR hatch size discrepancy.
The DR doors again have the round key hole as opposed to the correct rectangular profile key hole on the TRI doors and the inner latch handle appears slightly undersized on the DR kit when compared to photos.
A point to watch on the insides of the doors is the pistol ports face the
same direction on both hatches, i.e. with the port closest to the hinges
on the left door and facing away from the hinges on the right door.
The DR doors have these correctly oriented and with the ports being separate
parts on the TRI doors you can attach them correctly but watch this as the
instructions show the left door port facing the wrong way.
The door vision port moulded with the doors on the DR kit are again too sharp in profile and a little undersized with the profile of the TRI visors correct but watch as there should be a small space between the pistol port bolts and the visor but as the TRI visor is a separate part it is easy to position this correctly.
One the inside upper corner of the left side hatch are two small fittings that are on the DR door but not on the TRI door, these brackets are for the sighting mirror fitted as required but note they are only on the left side door and not on the right door.
On the left side there are three small bolts above the visor and the middle one should be raised slightly on the TRI kit but the rain channel above the doors does not extend far enough around the door at the rear on the DR kit as it correctly does on the TRI kit. The DR kit provides an additional etched channel lip to add to the kit part but this too does not extend far enough around and will be quite difficult to correct.
Turret Rear Panel:
The
turret rear correctly depicts the cupola bulge of these early Panzer IVs
with the TRI kit also included the weld seam around the lower edge of the
bulge which isn’t on the DR kit and both kits should have two conical
bolt heads added at the base of the cupola bulge.
Both include the two lifting hooks at each top corner and separate pistol ports although the TRI ports and marginally oversized according the plans and the two bolts under the ports are slightly too far apart on the DR kit.
As mentioned previously there is the minor issue with the bolted strip under the cupola which sits a little proud of the turret bulge on the DR kit.
Included in the DR kit only is the later turret basket which was not fitted to early Ausf.Ds and this can be added if you build the model with the add-on armour provided as an option. The basket itself is very nice with two part lid and the two lid latches made up of four etched parts each with two more for the padlocks and these look quite impressive.Interior Detail:
On
the inside both kits provide a basic turret interior with lower circular
floor plate, supporting ‘legs’ and the three crew seats with
the DR kit also providing the traverse motor and manual traverse hand wheels
to add a little more detail.
A couple of minor issues here is the floor plate on the DR kit is about 2mm too small in diameter but unless you are going to crawl around inside you model this is not really and issue. Tread plate pattern has been added to the TRI turret basket floor plate which is also included on the DR floor plate.
The lower turret ring in the TRI kit is the standard type we see on most kits with notches that fit into cut-out in the upper hull turret ring to allow traverse but no other detail while the DR turret ring has the undercut and traverse teeth included that of course will only be seen if you build the model with the turret off. There are plenty of pictures of Afrika Korps vehicles in just such a condition and using the tropical parts included could make for some dramatic dioramas.
A small base attached to the lower hull tub and small notched fitting under the turret floor plate secure the DR turret in place to allow traverse while preserving the turret ring details.
Conclusion:
We have now had a close look at the major components with just the smaller parts
such as tools, light fittings and the like to examine so we are in a position
to make an overall judgment.
If you strip away all the eye candy, the minor errors and additional optional parts from the Dragon kit and look at the basic dimensions against those of the Tristar kit we clearly see that the Tristar kit is the fundamentally more accurate of the two with the list below only including dimensional errors over 1mm and actual detail errors.
But with the Dragon kit we have;
The only major issue with the Tristar kit;
As mentioned each kit has a number of minor issues of less than 1mm as indicated throughout the review and it should also be noted that all the overall hull and turret dimensions are basically correct on both kits and it is only the smaller individual components and details that have the issues which again may prompt some to overlook the errors and go with the overall Dragon package which is certainly impressive looking in the box.
And of course all the additional internal details and assemblies with multiple parts for added detail such as the drive sprockets, final drives gearing and Commander’s cupola as well as the optional parts certainly makes the Dragon kit a very attractive proposition if you are not overly concerned with fundamental accuracy.
I did ask the question at the beginning of this review “one thing Dragon is very good at is the advertising spin that precedes each new kit release but does the kit live up to the hype?”
The answer is clearly NO if you want any degree of accuracy, but yes if you want all the fruit and can go gaga when you open the box. But again the Dragon kit will build into an impressive model as it has some impressive details included, especially the interior and alternate parts but without labouring the point if you want a fundamentally more accurate Panzer IV Ausf.D then it’s definitely the Tristar offering.
The real answer like with any comes down to what the modeller wants from the kit, as the decision of where you lay down your hard earned is the final answer.
Part 1: Lower Hull and Running Gear
Part 2: Upper Hull
Part 3: Turret (this page)
Part 4: Gun Housing Dimensions
References:
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Panzer Tracts No.4 Typical Panzer Tracts book with excellent technical descriptions and detailed coverage of the Panzer IV. |
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Achtung Panzer No.3 Excellent detail coverage of the Panzer IV with the usual detail photos and drawings of all versions of the Panzer IV. |
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Pz.Kpfw.IV
Ausf.D Up-Gunned AFV Super Detail Photo
Book Vol.1 56 pages, full colour, soft cover |
 |
Ground Power Magazine PzKpfw IV Ausf.A-D |
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Koku Fan World Tank Series Japanese text but 1:35 plans and many wartime Pz.IV photos |
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Panzerkampfwagen IV Medium Tank 1936-45 Osprey New Vanguard 28 ISBN: 1855328437 |
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Panzer IV & Its Variants Schiffer Publishing |
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PzKpfw IV Ausf.A to J |
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PzKpfw IV The usual in action fare with photos and drawings of the Pz.IV
versions. |
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PzKpfw IV in action #2012 The usual in action fare with photos and drawings of the Pz.IV versions |
Page created April 29, 2006
Updated October 9, 2006 (Blue text)