Dragon 1/35 Armored 1/4 Ton 4x4 Truck w/.50-cal Machine Gun [6714]

NEW TOOLING!!!

Barcode: 0 89195 86714 8
Packaging: 24Pieces per carton
Box Size: 8.7" x 11" x 1.8"

Features:

• Newly tooled 1/4 Ton 4x4 Truck
• Newly tooled engine grille
• Newly tooled cab armored plate
• Newly produced well-defined wheels w/authentic tread pattern
• On-vehicle tools w/newly produced photo-etched parts included
• Delicate headlamp w/photo-etched parts is included
• Slide-mold jerrycans w/photo-etched racks represented by multiple parts
• Delicate .50 cal machine gun installed
• Detailed dashboard & driver's compartment
• Armored plate over front grille
• One-piece slide-molded body tub
• Well-detailed seats w/realistic cloth pattern
• Compartment sides rendered w/rivets and fine details
• Highly detailed steering mechanism and suspension system
• Highly detailed chassis
• Complex engine represented by multiple parts
  

The military vehicle known in official US nomenclature as Truck, 1/4 Ton, 4x4, is probably the world's most famous design in its class. This iconic WWII vehicle was produced from 1941-45, with more than 634,000 rolling off American production lines. They faithfully served not only the US military, but also allies like the UK, France and Russia. These small 4x4 vehicles were employed in numerous battlefield tasks, with one role being that of reconnaissance and scouting. Some vehicles involved in such missions were fitted with steel plates to better protect the occupants, and early efforts soon led to the fitting of specially designed armor kits. The 82nd Airborne Division, for example, was one unit that created a standardized armor kit. Such recce vehicles were also armed with machine guns.

Dragon has produced an exciting 1/35 scale kit of a 1/4-Ton Armored 4x4 Truck. The vehicle features a solid one-piece body tub that ensures accurate assembly and alignment. Under the hood is an extremely realistic-looking engine that assembles from multiple parts and it can be shown off if the modeler chooses to model the hood up. The vehicle is ready for reconnaissance tasks with a set of armor plates rendered in photo-etched metal to give a true-to-scale appearance. Other photo-etched components provide finer details such as tool mounting brackets, hood retainers and various straps. For self-defense, the vehicle also carries a .50-cal machine gun on a pintle mount. All in all, this is one extremely effective reconnaissance vehicle!

-Reviews-

Armoured ? Ton 4x4 Truck w/.50 Cal Machine Gun
Manufacturer: Dragon Models
Scale: 1/35
Material: Styrene, Etched Brass
Serial Number: 6714
Price: TBA

Dragon:
The military vehicle known in official US nomenclature as Truck, 1/4 Ton, 4x4, is probably the world's most famous design in its class. This iconic WWII vehicle was produced from 1941-45, with more than 634,000 rolling off American production lines. They faithfully served not only the US military, but also allies like the UK, France and Russia. These small 4x4 vehicles were employed in numerous battlefield tasks, with one role being that of reconnaissance and scouting. Some vehicles involved in such missions were fitted with steel plates to better protect the occupants, and early efforts soon led to the fitting of specially designed armour kits. The 82nd Airborne Division, for example, was one unit that created a standardized armour kit. Such recce vehicles were also armed with machine guns.

Kit Contents
I must admit to being slightly confused with this one. I received it a few days ago, and as usual checked to ensure it was a new kit and not sent to me as one of the Dragon Feature prizes. To my surprise, it turned out to have been released in March of last year. I can find mention of it in a review of another Jeep kit after this, but can't find any review on the site. All of which leads me to assume a review sample was never received....so I'd better do one now!
The kit arrives packed in one of the smaller Dragon standard boxes, inside of which are a selection of grey styrene sprues, plus three etched brass frets, one of which is extremely small, a decal sheet and one small clear plastic sprue. The instructions run to six sides. And a small correction slip is included too.
As usual, it's a state of the art kit in terms of moulding etc. So no flash, and no ejector pin marks where you really, really don't expect them, and pin sharp detail throughout.

The instructions begin with the assembly of the wheels and the rest of the drive system onto the one-piece slide-moulded chassis. Despite being such a tiny model, this is incredibly well detailed. Each of the wheels consists of a one-piece moulding where the outer hub and tyre is moulded as one piece, and the inner tyre sidewall is a separate insert. This method of moulding maintains the best detailed tread pattern. The suspension leafsprings on both front and back are fully detailed, including shocks as separate parts, and we're even supplied with a fully detailed engine, which on a model this size is quite an achievement! The engine hood is therefore of course, a separate part too so that it can be displayed open if required, to display the full engine including radiator and housing, fan belt drive, block etc.

The main body of the Jeep is also supplied as a one-piece, slide-moulded part, with the aforementioned engine hood and rear wall as separate parts. The rear wall has reflector detail and step moulded integrally. The crew seats for inside the vehicle are supplied as frames onto which cushion parts are fixed, and there's a separate dash with blank dials that decals are provided for. The small light at the front has an etched brush guard supplied, and the hood catches are supplied as etched brass too. There's a pedestal mounted .50 cal supplied for ahead of the passenger seat, that the passenger would have sat with his legs either side of. The small corrections slip included in the instructions is for the .50 cal, which is almost a small model in itself when compared to some of the .50 cals we've seen over the years. There are etched brass parts supplied in the kit to improve the detail of both the mount and ammo can, along with the gun itself.

The large frontal armour that protected the driver and passenger is provided as a large etched brass part that is fairly thick, and just needs folding to shape and fixing to the model. There's also another frontal piece of armour, again supplied as etched brass that needs to be fixed in front of the radiator.

The one marking scheme that's illustrated on the instructions is that of a vehicle of the US Army, Western front in 1945. It's green! See below for full details.

Conclusion
I'm still puzzled as to whether this is an update on the original release that I somehow missed, or something else. I certainly can't remember reviewing it before. It's such a great little kit I feel that I would have remembered it? Anyhow...if you're after a Jeep...with or without the extra armour....you can't go far wrong with this one!

Vinnie Branigan