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Modeller Build Logs

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.

Introduction Chapter 1 - The Parts Chapter 2 - Running Gear/Lower Hull Chapter 3 - PE or not to PE Chapter 4 - Starting the Upper Hull Chapter 5 - Fighting Compartment Beginnings Chapter 6 - The Gun Part 1 Chapter 7 - The Gun Part 2 Chapter 8 - The Gun Part 3 Chapter 9 - The Rear Hull Plate Chapter 10 - The Front Upper Hull Chapter 11 - Fighting Compartment Part 2 Chapter 12 - Fighting Compartment Part 3 Chapter 13 - Fighting Compartment Part 4 Chapter 14 - Painting Begins Chapter 15 - Tracks and Roadwheels Chapter 16 - Conclusions
[Discussion]

Chapter 5 - Fighting Compartment BeginningsNov 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 the sides of the fenders and angles inwards toward the center of the vehicle. It is important to note this if assembling things at this stage in the order I did, namely because of parts B5 and B6. These are supports for the fighting compartment sides. In step 7 Dragon shows them attached to the hull before the sides A1/A2 are attached. However, below that they show them on the side bits, I'm assuming for clarity.

Anyway, because of their placement in the fighting compartment relative to other boxes and mounts, etc...I chose to mount them to the sides rather than the hull. I then attached the major components to the fighting compartment sides and glued the three parts B9, A1, A2 together.

You may want to consider painting some of this first, I did not, but things might be easier later if you do.

Some things to note are Dragon has the radio, C7, going in the wrong location, it goes in the top right corner of A1, not in the middle. Also there are two mount for MP40s on part B9. They need to be removed and the one on the right needs to be relocated to the near side of the rear door.

For now I have left off anything that will stick above the fighting compartment sides and just did a dry fit of the overall fighting compartment. It fits pretty good after a little sanding to the ammo boxes, C11, and the side mounting brackets B6/B5. This is probably my fault do to my choice for order of assembly, but I still found it easier to line up one piece to the lower hull than five separate ones.

I think I may tackle the rear plate next, we'll see.


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