Sd.Kfz.265 kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen
Dragon Kit No. 6218
1/35th Scale
First Look Review by Terry Ashley
The kit offers a choice of depicting a A 1.Serie vehicle with the original split Commander’s hatch and square signal port but this version had a different rear hull arrangment without the reinforcing pipe to support the idler wheel mounts than depicted in the kit or what appears to be a A 2.Serie backfitted with the second model Commanders cupola with round signal port which did include the idler reinforcing pipe.
The inclusion of the rear Smoke Grenades would also allow a A 3.Serie vehicle to be built but these didn’t have the side armour reinforcing strips on the superstructure and you would also need to add the two round pistol ports on the upper superstructure sides.
As you would expect the kit shares the lower hull, suspension/tracks, rear engine deck and etched parts from the Panzer IB (kit #6186) so my comments in the initial review apply and I will just concentrate on the new parts here.
This also includes the idler wheel from kit #6186 which is depicted with a solid rubber tyre as with the Panzer 1A idler. The idler wheel on the Panzer 1B was in fact a new all metal design with a gap between the inner and outer wheel discs with connecting ribs and while this is a difficult design to replicate in injection plastic hopefully Dragon can have another look at this in any future kits on this chassis.
The new parts are the one piece glacis and superstructure shell to which are fitted the outer superstructure walls allowing very good weld seam and other details to be included.
The fit of the super structure sides is excellent without any gaps showing when test fitting the parts with a separate front machine gun ball mount and MG34 barrel as well as separate side crew hatches. There are unfortunately some sizable pin marks on the inside of the hatches that will need filling if you show them open, this being about the only blemish on the parts.
The weld seams are very well depicted and all the vision port covers are separate parts so you can show these open or closed and the side armour reinforcing strips are also separate and it’s best to check your references to see if these should be fitted or not for the model you are building.
The two part Commander's cupola also has nice weld seam details as well as open vision slots on the lower section
As mentioned there is a choice of top superstructure plate with the original split Commander’s hatchor the second model Commanders cupola each with separate two part hatches but again these have prominent pin marks on the insides to be filled when showing them open.
The rear smoke grenade racks are also carried over from the Panzer IB and you should again check your references to see if these are applicable to the model you are building.
The Tracks:
These are all individual links with very fine details but being very small
will require some patience to assemble but the end result is excellent
detailed tracks.
While they are individual links they are not workable and have to be glued together but to help with this each link has small pins and corresponding grooves so each link will locate precisely into the next giving the correct spacing between each link and a positive seating, but be sparing with the glue so you don’t clog up the small spaces between the links.
Figures:
The figures from set 6029, “German Sturmartillerie Crew” are
again included but only two of the four figures are used with this kit so
the others are for the spares box.
The instructions:
These are of the traditional line drawing exploded view type with easy to
follow construction sequences but as with any kit careful study of the
instructions before gluing is advisable.
Decals:
The sheet is well printed with good colour register and has markings for
five vehicles;
Conclusion:
Another nicely detailed kit of this major variant on the Panzer IB chassis
with a couple of choices for some variety as well as a good selection of
markings
and it will be interesting to see what further versions are released on this
chassis.
Highly recommended.
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Detail images
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|
Panzer Tracts No 1-1 |
Panzer Tracts No 1-2 |
|
Ground Power Magazine |
Pz.Kpfw.I/Pz.Kpfw.II and variants |
| TANKS & ARMOUR: PanzerKampfwagen 1 & II Ian Allen Publishing 
|
AFV Modeller Issue 12 Excellent photo feature on the Panzer 1a  |
|
Military Modelling Magazine |
|
Thanks again to the guys at Rainbow Ten for their excellent service.
Page created 16 August 2004
Page updated 24 August 2004
