Dragon 1/35 Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.H, Mid-Production Sep-Nov ’43 | 6526 Dragon

Features:

– Newly tooled air filter
– Newly tooled side armor for air filter
– Newly tooled spare-track bracket on glacis w/optional photo-etched and plastic parts
– One-piece upper hull made from 2-directional slide mold w/new engine-deck design
– Slide-skirt armor produced in metal for scale thickness
– One-piece 3-directional slide-molded turret
– Turret roof rendered w/Turret-skirt armor brackets
– Turret-skirt and side-skirt armor plates can be installed separately
– Complete gun assembly w/full detail
– Mantlet guard can be removed and gun unloaded as on real vehicle
– Detailed gun muzzle brake
– Finely detailed 7.5cm Kw.K.40 L/48 gun
– Gun sleeve w/delicate weld and bolt detail made from 3-directional slide molds
– brackets for side-skirt armor realistically detailed
– Hollowed-out undercut on Turret bottom included
– Incorporates toothed Turret ring inside Turret
– Commander’s cupola creates structural details
– Cupola vision blocks can be assembled open/closed
– Driver’s and radio operator’s housing w/splash guards
– Hatches w/internal detail
– Injection-molded fenders made to thinnest possible dimensions
– Side fenders w/pattern detail on both top and bottom surfaces
– Great detail on hull rear
– Intricate spare tracks on rear armor plate
– Photo-etched parts for engine-deck ventilation grills
– Engine hatches can be assembled open/closed
– Spare-track bracket on lower hull front
– Two types of side-skirt armor plate w/bolt detail
– Spare-wheel rack w/spare wheels on upper hull side
– OVM arrangement on fenders included
– Injection-molded OVM w/crisp detail
– Air-intake covers have option of injection or photo-etched parts
– Realistic double-layered air intake
– One-piece lower hull made from slide molds
– Hull bottom fully detailed
– Final-drive housing w/details on both sides
– Sprocket wheels w/breathtaking detail and multiple delicate parts
– Complete MG w/workable ball mount
– Idler wheels have detailed parts
– Road wheels and suspension w/multiple components exhibit crisp detail
– Detailed towing-eye brackets w/separate parts
– Extendable jack w/separate parts
– 40cm Magic Tracks w/detail on both sides

Despite the fame of designs like the Panther and Tiger, Germany’s most important tank was the Panzer IV. As well as being the most numerically common tank in German service, it was also a very capable design that underwent continuous improvement during its lifespan of 1936-45. One of the versions was the Ausf.H (Sd.Kfz.161/2), which began rolling off factory floors in April 1943. A total of 3,774 Ausf.H tanks were eventually made. It also had the six-speed SSG77 transmission from the Panzer III fitted. This increased the tank’s weight to 25 tonnes.

Dragon’s newest 1/35 Panzer IV Smart Kit shows such an Ausf.H variant. Specifically it’s a subtype produced from September-November 1943. While it uses a good number of components from previous Panzer IV kits, there are also newly tooled parts to enable an accurate rendering of this Ausf.H Mid-Production tank. The air filter is located on the right-hand side of the hull, which required the kit designers to remake the hull plate, for example. Slide-molded parts are widely resorted to, plus there are also metal parts such as the side skirts to give a true-to-scale thickness. This is another welcome arrival, allowing modelers to easily replicate a specific Panzer IV subject dating from the late 1943 timeframe.