DML 1/35 Scale
German Self-Propelled Gun Crew

I won this older DML kit in a raffle drawing, at an IPMS club contest, this past weekend. The kit comes in a end-opening type box. The box art and instruction drawings are by DML’s resident artist Ron Vostad. The year 1999 appears after his name on the box art, so I assume that is when this kit first appeared on the market.

The back of the box has drawings that serve as the assembly and painting instructions for the kit. However, the colors are called out only in Gunze Sangyo and Italeri paint product numbers and not as to what color they are. This is annoying, if a person does not have a list of what these numbers refer to as far as what color. There is no history in the kit either.

The kit contains one tree of tan parts and a small brass PE fret. There are 4 figures in this kit. One figure is posed as handing an 8.8cm ammo round up to another figure that is posed as bent at the waist and receiving the round. A third figure is walking and carrying a Jerry can. The remaining, fourth figure, appears to be an officer. He is posed to be standing in a vehicle with his right hand on his hip and his left hand resting on the side armor of whatever vehicle you put him in. These figures are intended to be crewmen for a Nashorn, Hummel or Wespe etc. They could also be used in just about any open-topped German vehicle.

The PE fret provides a head band for the radio ear-phones that go on the figure that is the officer.

The parts tree holds 37 parts. These consist of the 4 figures, divided into separate legs, arms, torsos. 3 of the figures have separate soft field caps and the 4th one has a side cap molded to his head. There is a pistol in its holster for the officer figure. Two ear-phones, to attach to a PE strap are provided for the officer.(you will wind up with extra of this for your parts box). There are 2 x 8.8cm ammo rounds and the jerry can.

All the figures are wearing reversible cold-weather uniforms. These consist of the Sumpfmuster 43(Swamp Pattern) camo pattern Amorak (parka) and winter trousers. These uniforms reverse to overall white inside.

I have to say that, after examining these figures under a magnifying glass, that I thought the detail on the uniforms was a little soft and the figures faces were clones (they all looked alike). I think this kit would benefit from some of the separate heads that some after-market companies market. Otherwise, I recommend it for inclusion in any of the self-propelled vehicles that it is intended to crew.