Building the Dragon 1/72 Sd.Kfz. 164 Nashorn |
| By Christopher Wilson |
| Started: | Oct 20, 2005 | | Updated: | Dec 26, 2005 |
|
Recently Dragon has done a brilliant job in expanding their line of 1/72 armor and giving braille scale fans some of what they want, a range of interesting subjects with increasingly impressive detail at a very reasonable price.
However, some of this comes at a cost. We still have vague instructions and one piece tracks when most braille scale modelers will tell you straight away what we want is link and length tracks.
I've watched Dragon's new kits steadily increase in quality from the coldly received Model 1940 T-34 through the Late model StuG IV.
This is my first look at Dragon's Nashorn. I've seen some controversy online in various forums as to the accuracy and buildability of the this kit.
The purpose of this blog will be to build the Dragon Nashorn as close to OOB as possible while pointing out any errors I find along the way. These include error in instructions and accuracy of the kit as well as fit of parts.
I plan to concentrate most on the buildability and what's in the box. There may be some accuracy issues that get overlooked and please feel free to point them out to me, I am no expert on the Nashorn and will not pretend to be. I will use my references to the best of my ability and point out what I find as I go through the steps of building this kit.
So let's build a 1/72 Nashorn.
|
|
|
|
| Chapter 16 - Conclusions | Dec 26, 2005 |
Well after not posting anything for awhile the end here is kinda anti-climactic.
I added the fiddly bits, and they are fiddly, they are also weak, and have some flash. In other words, the weakest parts on the kit (no pun intended) IMO are the final bits for the interior.
Parts C3 (4) are the worst... more |
| Chapter 15 - Tracks and Roadwheels | Dec 6, 2005 |
Well it is finally time to see if these tracks are going to work or not and how.
First I took all the road wheels and separate hubs and assembled those and glued them onto the suspension, using a piece of glass to make sure all was level.
Then I took the completed idler wheel and fit it to the... more |
| Chapter 14 - Painting Begins | Dec 3, 2005 |
So here I've decided on a camo scheme. I found a picture in one of my references of this vehicle after it tried to cross a bridge and the bridge collapsed. The Nashorn is partially submerged and so the camo is partially fictious.
This scheme belongs to 3./s.H.Pz.Jg.Abt. 88, 1944.
The large... more |
| Chapter 13 - Fighting Compartment Part 4 | Dec 1, 2005 |
Here we have the fighting compartment mounted onto the hull and the model primed in basic red brown.
I have to say I was glad I did all the dry fitting on the fighting compartment, and very glad that I assembled it off the hull first.
I started at the front and attached the completed fighting compartment... more |
| Chapter 12 - Fighting Compartment Part 3 | Nov 27, 2005 |
| This is just a pic to show the final stage of the fighting compartment before glue is put to plastic. The main purpose of this is simply to show why I built the fighting compartment off the hull as opposed to how Dragon suggests it be done. As you can see it will be much easier to align and attach this... more |
| Chapter 11 - Fighting Compartment Part 2 | Nov 25, 2005 |
In this step I'm getting ready to install the fighting compartment sides, but before that I wanted to paint and weather some of the inside bits that would be hard to get to later.
In this pic you can see the process is started with a base of black primer followed by light coats of gradually built... more |
| Chapter 10 - The Front Upper Hull | Nov 23, 2005 |
Steps 6,7 and 8 all deal in some way with the front upper hull.
I've already added the round hatches at this point and it is time for the rest of the parts.
These are the jack, headlight, driver's visors, antenna mount and travel lock.
I've decided to leave off the travel lock... more |
| Chapter 9 - The Rear Hull Plate | Nov 21, 2005 |
Part A6 is the rear of the lower hull. This is obviously the same for the Hornisse kit because of all the holes to be drilled through the back. For the Nashorn only 6 need to be drilled, these are for part B7 and the 2 spare roadwheel hangers.
These hangers are really nice preformed metal wire and... more |
| Chapter 8 - The Gun Part 3 | Nov 19, 2005 |
OK here steps 3, 4 and 5 are complete and we have the finished gun assembly in a base coat of black with a light overspray of dark yellow.
A wash and lots of dry brushing when we get closer to final stages will follow this.
The assembly can be completely finished and weathered off the vehicle and... more |
| Chapter 7 - The Gun Part 2 | Nov 17, 2005 |
This part consists of steps 4 and 5. This is the fiddliest part of the kit and because the plastic is soft and the parts small great care must be taken in removing the parts from the sprue.
I began by filling all release marks I thought would be visible with punched styrene discs. Then I assembled... more |
| Chapter 6 - The Gun Part 1 | Nov 15, 2005 |
Today I started with step 3 and mainly the subset that makes up the rear main assembly of the gun. This consists of 13 parts, most of which have seams to clean up. When finished these areas will be quite visible on the model.
In my kit parts F4 and F5 were warped, but a little hot water fixed that... more |
| Chapter 5 - Fighting Compartment Beginnings | Nov 13, 2005 |
Next up I decided to build the major parts of the fighting compartment and go ahead and glue it together for some stability as well as insuring the angles on the top were all correct. I'd prefer to make any corrections down at the fender level.
The fighting compartment is designed to hang over... more |
| Chapter 4 - Starting the Upper Hull | Nov 10, 2005 |
OK, since I wanted to save the gun assembly for later I decided to start on the upper hull and fighting compartment next. So we are skipping ahead to step 6.
However, I have to say I find Dragon's instructions for this model to be one of their of their poorest efforts to date. Many things are... more |
| Chapter 3 - PE or not to PE | Nov 8, 2005 |
Dragon give you nice and very delicate PE for the engine grills on the side of the Nashorn as well as some well molded plastic versions. So the question is, do you want to use the plastic and have a lot less work, or go for the PE and perhaps create some headaches for yourself?
The obvious reason... more |
| Chapter 2 - Running Gear/Lower Hull | Nov 7, 2005 |
| Step one and we are assembling the well detailed lower hull and running gear. There are two types of drive sprocket in the kit so check your references to see which is required. I have only found one picture in the refs I have showing the round hole type Panzer III drive sprocket and the vehicle I intend... more |
| Chapter 1 - The Parts | Nov 6, 2005 |
I decided to start this blog with an overview of the parts for the Nashorn. Pictured are all the sprues and various little bits that come in the box.
You get 9 sprues of nice flash free gray plastic, a fret of PE, some one piece DS100 tracks, a very inclusive decal sheet, and some pre-formed wire... more |
