This photo-etched update set is intended for Dragon's early Hetzer kit (No. 6030). Included are front and rear fenders and their mounting brackets, the side armour plates their brackets and mounting bolts. muffler screen, air intake screen and blanking plate, spare track racks, tool clasps, spare antenna storage mounts, MG shield, both solid and perforated storage box and various little fittings such as tie downs and vision block protectors. The instructions are printed on two sheets in black and white. They are quite clear. The packaging is outstanding, the best I've seen for a photo-etched kit. It is actually a cardboard CD-ROM carrier that the PE parts in a plastic bag were inserted into one side while the instructions in the other. It is quite sturdy.

Contents

Side Skirts

The spaced armour side skirts on the Hetzer were made from 5mm armour plating (MBI). The plates in this set are etched in 0.15mm brass so scale out well (5.25mm). However, they suffer from two problems that render them useless. First of all the are 1mm too high. According to the plans in Panzer Tracts No. 9 by Jentze and Doyle they are 350mm high while the set has them at 11.2mm high. While this may seem trivial to some the fact is they are the wrong size, see Fig. 4. The second problem is much worse, the fret that I got was slightly warped. It does not appear to have been warped during shipping but warped as part of the manufacturing process. The warp is ever so slight, but ruins parts that are supposed to simulate rigid armour plating which _does_not_ bend. I looks like some substance or material was applied to one side of the brass which shrank and has distorted the larger pieces on the fret (I am not saying this has occurred, it just looks like that... sort of like a bimetallic strip).

Fenders

The fenders are etched in copper which is very soft. This is to facilitate the strengthening ribs that must be embossed in from the underside. It is best to fold the fenders beforehand and then do the embossing since the resulting ribs are very soft and bending done to the part, especially if you use a PE bending tool, will obliterate the details. I tried both embossing before and after and after was the better. I used a regular ball point pen with minimal pressure. Watch what you are doing or you may break through the copper if you press too hard. Se the fender in a semi hard flat surface, a soft cover book is good, and lightly run the point of a pen up and down the groove. When finished the fender was bent out of shape somewhat due to the stresses introduced to the sheet copper and it is difficult to get flat again. This is also a problem with Aber brass fenders that in some cases must be embossed the same way. With careful work I was able to straighten the fender back again. You can hide mistakes by simulating battle damage if you like. I do like the use of this thin copper for fenders, although you have to be careful when working with it.

The fenders have a groove etched into them where the mounting braces are positioned. This is not how the real Hetzer fenders where engineered. The braces

The storage boxes that hold the S-hooks are provided as the perforated and solid types. These are etched in brass and fold up rather nicely. You may want to brace the inside edges with sheet styrene strip for strength. The perforated box is not accurate, it has two problems. First the number of holes on the side are wrong, the top row of three is missing and the rows that are shown have the incorrect number of holes. The box is the wrong shape, the problem comes from the lid which is too steep and angle and hence is too short and throws the rest of the box out of whack. I didn't bother to check the solid box because at this point I'd given up on this set and decided not to use it on my Hetzer.

Reccommendation

I can not recommend this update because there is not much of anything that is useful compared to what is available from Aber or what can be modified from the existing DML parts. I don't think the DML kit actually need much of an upgrade other that perhaps the tools and clamps being replaced.

References

I used to following references to evaluate this kit:

1. Panzer Tracts No. 9, Thomas L. Jentz and Hillary Doyle., Darlington Pub. Ltd.
2. Jadgpanzer 38 Hetzer, C. Kliment and V. Francev, MBI Ltd.
3. Collection of personal measurements and photographs of the APG Hetzer, 1989.

Conclusion

My evaluation of this kit raises some important topics. All of the other reviews I've seen of this kit have given it high recommendations, but my review, even ignoring the warping problem, is not favourable. Why is this? I have compared each part to photographs and plans and found most parts the wrong size, incorrectly engineered or the wrong shape. This will be called "nit-picking" by some, but let them call it what they will as it does not change the fact that this kit is wrong.

For an after-market detailing kit I think the modeller should expect the kit to be correct. After all, what is the point of detailing a model with replacement parts that are wrong? Another important topic is the degree of error: at what point is the kit not to be recommended, 1%, 5%, 10%...? Take the side skirts, they are more than 10% too high which is noticeable, it this acceptable for a detailing kit that is supposed to correct your model?

This kit was supplied by Voyager Model for review.