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Hi everyone and welcome to this rather big kit review, this time Jagdpanther G2 from Dragon in 1/35 scale.
The model will be my entry for the ISM buddy build hosted by "HollywoodModelling" and "Schoof" (not sure about the pronounciation here, i´m sorry!)
They are planing the whole special interest group build right now and it is called "Dangerous Cat".
It will be a group build about the Panther tank and all its variants, the Jagdpanther is definately a worthy entry.
Its been a while since i made this tank the last time, so why not?
The boxart is fantastic, it inspired me immediately while i was searching for a suiting kit for this group build.
In the end i could not resist.
I intend to paint the tank similar to the one you can see on the boxart, i like it a lot,
and i never made such a camo pattern before so that will be something new for me.
As you can see the box is spilling over with plastic sprues, each sprue is nicely protected in a plastic bag.
The risk of receiving damaged parts is very low.
Its cool that the manufacturers keep that in mind.
Let´s start with the instructions, again the boxart on the front.
Next we see a diagram with all included sprues. The blue ones won´t be used for this kit.
Lots of new material for the spare box, but i start to ask myself "do i need so many left over parts?"
I already have several boxes with spare parts which i will never use, but you never know!
Some notes of safety here, legend of symbols and a paint chart.
Here the first step of the assembly, as you can see the kit features a workable torsion bar suspension.
It is very easy to build it in workable condition, this is very interesting for diorama builders,
because you can adapt the running gear to the surface of the diorama very easily. Nice touch, cool.
There are also internal details inside the engine compartment,
so you won´t see emptiness when you look through the engine grills.
Overall the Dragon instructions are a bit confusing and often parts are mislabeled.
Right now i can´t really judge that issue, i will see that as soon as i build the model.
A lot of model builders have big troubles with that, i personally don´t mind it.
I do not stick to the instructions step by step, i do it the "freestyle" way.
I only check the instructions to find the parts i need. Using reference material helps to find the mistakes.
Thats something i don´t know what to think about.
I can understand it that people are complaining about these instructions, but i personally don´t mind them.
However, i try to judge this kit as neutral as possible so i have to mention this although i don´t mind it at all.
This visor here is extremely complex, insane level of detail.
In my opinion Dragon is in the leading position when it comes to details,
but they achieve that only with extreme complexity of the parts.
This machine gun for example, Tamiya would split it into three parts, Dragon uses a lot more.
Finally painting and markings as Dragon calls this last step.
They suggest three variants, the first one belonged to the Panzerlehrregiment 130 in Germany 1945.
Thats the vehicle we can see on the boxart, but there it is different, it has camo on the wheels aswell.
It looks a bit more like the second suggestion here.
Unidentified unit, East Prussia 1945.
The last one is from an unidentified unit aswell, Germany 1945.
There are only few decals included, those vehicles had no colourful decorations on them, thats logic at the end of the war.
They left the factory, if there was time they got a decent camouflage and then they were sent to the front.
The divisions started to break, sometimes there was no exact assignment,
Several left-over unites where thrown together and formed "Kampfgruppen" (Battlegroups), often they had no own group symbol.
The decals are a pit sparse, but it suits the topic. We don´t need many decals for such a vehicle.
Photo-etched parts are included aswell, mainly for the engine grills on engine deck.
This is a great additon to the kit and makes sense.
In my opinion PE grills would be the only aftermarket product you would need if they weren´t included already.
Anyway, Dragon knows that and already added these grills to the kit. Very nice.
The PE parts are very thing, i like that. PE parts from Hobby Boss or Trumpeter are always very thick.
There are so many parts and sprues in this kit, so i won´t show them all to you.
If i showed you everything and comment on it we would still sit here tomorrow. I hope you don´t mind that.
Here we have the lower hull, there are the mountings for the torsion bar suspension system.
Nice details, but we will glue even more detailed parts on it.
The bottom is detailed aswell, well, the question is: Who needs that actually? Welding marks, everything is there.
This is the sprue with the upper hull and some smaller parts.
Again we find nice welding marks and the interlock construction of the armour plates is nicely visible.
This provided extra stability.
Looking great, no flash in sight, nothing bent or twisted.
The moulding is perfect.
This sprue is included four times and contains the torsion bars, wheels and spare tracks.
The construction with the workable torsion bars is very interesting, you glue them in place on one end,
and then they get bent like a real torion bar suspension if you move the axes. Awesome feature in my opinion.
This can be used for great effects on dioramas for example.
The backsides of the wheels are nicely detailed, the front parts have nice details anyway.
Awesome.
This is the sprue with the gun barrel, as you can see the sprue is bent, but the gun isn´t.
It does not consist of two halves as we know that from older kits, it is one solid piece.
There is a thin line on the top and bottom of the barrel, but thats very easy to remove with the backside of a knife.
Very sophisticated.
Here we have the roof of the combat compartment, it has a steel structure on it.
Maybe you can see it, i think its hard to see for you. It is glaring a bit.
Definately a nice touch, you won´t need Mr.Surfacer. This stuff does not smell great anyway.
Extremely filigree parts, perfectly moulded.
Thats not a kit for everyone, especially beginners might get overwhelmed by the amount of parts.
Thats the sprue with the tools. Normally Dragon adds two tool sprues to their kits,
one with moulded on tool locks and one without the locks and PE parts.
We have a smart kit here, they are always moulded on in this case.
However, they look great, more than enough for the usual model builder.
I don´t like the mess with those extremely tiny PE parts for the locks anyway, i´m glad that i have such a nice looking tools.
I think there is no reason to complain, the guys who are still not happy with it can get their PE parts anyway.
The kit includes several big sprues like this one.
Those plates here are the parts between the lower hull and upper hull above the tracks.
There are rivets on it, the surface is rough like a steel plate.
Its cool to find such details even on remote areas of a tank model.
The mountings for the spare tracks look awesome, there are even drillings.
Thats a kit beyond the usual stuff we see.
The front machine gun cover has a great cast steel structure on it.
Everyone who has seen and built such a Dragon kit knows that this is the standard for Dragon, its nothing exceptional.
Here we have parts with nice details, those parts can be seen through the engine grills on the engine deck later.
I think they are cooling units.
The "Saukopfblende" (pig-head-mantlet) has a perfect steel structure on it, same applies to the mantlet.
I´m always impressed by the size of the bolts on the mantlet of the Jagdpanther.
Here the front machine gun and parts of the muzzle break.
The muzzle break is amazing, the details are nice. You can´t demand more i think.
The MG has insane details, more than you acutally need.
The tracks are the DS ones, in the past i hated them but now i kinda like them.
They are a perfect addition to the moveable suspension, very handy because you adapt the running gear at a later stage aswell.
The level of detail is good, the guide horns have holes in them.
You barely see that on plastic single track links of other brands.
Any complaining is unjustified in my opinion.
The nice thing about those tracks: You can glue them with the usual model building glue, no need for instant glue or melting them together.
Very simple and handy solution.
Finally we take a look at the clear parts, the moulding is perfect, no flash at all. This applies to the whole kit. There are no blemishes at all.
I´m just wondering why we need clear parts on a tank model, the visors won´t stay clear when i paint them for the most part,
those paints will shine through. Thats why i treat them like any other plastic part in the kit. It does not make sense at all.
As you have seen the kit is extensive and a bit overwhelming.
They write on the box "over 420 parts",
if you consider that the tracks are one part each you can imagine how many parts you need for the tank.
For the beginner it will be very hard, it will be an interesting challenge for the advanced model builder for sure.
The result will be extremely detailed for sure.
The kit is not beneficial at all, it costs about 50€, but thats normal for Dragon kits.
If you compare that with Tamiya and what you get for 50€, well, they have nice stuff aswell,
but no Jagdpanther with so many parts and details, thats for sure! Keep that in mind.
I think Dragon did a good job here, i recommend it to the advanced model builders who want to build this fantastic tank hunter.
I hope you enjoyed this kit review, see you in the next video, your Hamilkar Barkas.