Hobby Boss

presents

German Panzerjagerwagen Volume 1

For a First Look review of this kit and a brief history of this subject, check out the following link: https://www.amps-armor.org/SiteReviews/ShowReview.aspx?id=15245

Introduction:

This kit is assembled in 6 steps, but it's really 5 steps as Step 6 instructs the modeler to place the completed panzerjagerwagen onto the completed track bed. For a small kit with only 5 actual assembly steps, this kit is packed with detail, ease of assembly and provides a very distinct subject when completed. This is my first venture into armored trains and thankfully it was a good experience so, I may actually consider building this in 1/35 scale.  Now we'll walk through the construction of this nice little kit.

Step 1: Wheel assembly

Wheel assemblies went smooth and with minimal parts at this stage. The springs and wheels hold some pretty nice detail in 1/72 scale and with very minimal cleanup. Looking at the second pic of the wheel assemblies, the one to the left looks crooked...because it is. In my review sample, some of the holes to accept tabs for the springs and wheel frame housing appeared a bit off center. However, once the housings were placed onto the the lower hull of the rail car and a little wiggle, everything lined up quite well. The wheel edges had nice sized sprue attachments, so a bit of careful removal and sanding were necessary to keep them looking good. For those considering this kit, one option would be to simply rotate the wheel so the sprue attachment is on the top and hidden away by the lower hull.

Step 2: Train Platform assembly

Here's a look at the inside of the fighting compartment before the upper deck is mated. The four boxes are the wheel assemblies (shown above) glued into place. Everything fit as it should with no filing, filling or some other modeling drama.  It was nice Hobby Boss includes the 7 holes to accept the upper hull which leaves out trying to line up both halves by eye.

Hobby Boss provides some excellent raised bolt detail on all sides of the lower hull...and in 1/72 scale yet!

Here's a view of the bottom of the lower hull once the wheel assemblies are glued into place. All 4 of my wheels lined up straight with no 'toe in' or 'toe out.' Now if I can just get my armor builds to do that! 

Joined upper and lower hull complete with plowing blade. The fit of both upper and lower parts was good, though putting extra thin glue around the joint seams and a little added pressure helped get rid of any gaps. There was no need for me to fill in any of the outer edge seams once the glue dried.

Step 3: Turret Assembly

The four holes and notch at the bottom edge of the turret are to accommodate the turret schurzen brackets. Yes...I know the muzzle brake is not oriented correctly. Apparently the hole to accommodate the barrel tab was oriented incorrectly during the design/manufacturing process. I've shown it incorrect here, but simply cutting off the tab at the base of the barrel will correct this issue. From this pic, some minimal flash at the bottom of the turret edge and on the stowage basket can be seen. However, a few gentle scrapes from a sharp hobby knife will fix this. The holes on the turret sides to accommodate the schurzen brackets could have been made a bit smaller, but modelers must work with what they've got.

Trying to get all the schurzen bracket ends to line up with their corresponding holes on the turret was a little challenging, but was overcome by a bit of patience. In this pic, one of the bracket ends didn't make it completely into the hole (lower set far right), while all the others did. So...a touch of putty will take care of that. The experienced 1/72 scale modeler may want to fill in those large holes on the turret and replace the thick brackets with sheet brass or plastic strips to bring them closer to scale. Again, the lower edge of the turret schurzen shows a bit of flash and easily corrected, but this was the majority of flash in the whole kit. From the pics shown here, Hobby Boss provides some very nice details on the turret, schurzen and the inside of the schurzen.

Step 4: Railroad platform tool/ammo locker, bumper/buffer stops, steps, car coupler

Hobby Boss provides very nice detail on everything in this kit, even the small, fragile parts. Sharp molding, minimal cleanup and the anti-skid deck looks convincing. All the fragile parts fit where they are supposed to though there are some seam lines to cleanup. Remember; I did say minimal cleanup. This is the step where the modeler should really slow down and take their time cleaning up these fragile parts. Trying to fix 1/72 broken parts can be a nightmare, so gentle hands and patience to properly clean them up is necessary.

Step5: Track bed (ballast) and rail assembly

The track bed or ballast to railroad enthusiasts among us, and rails are a very welcome addition to display the finished model. Hobby Boss provides two track bed sections, two end pieces and four rails to construct a long rail bed to accommodate additional Panzerjagerwagen rail cars. For this review, I only constructed one track bed section and two rails for the Panzerjagerwagen. The rails are one piece lengths and slide under the rail plates molded into the railroad ties making construction much easier. They can be easily removed for painting and slid into place once the track bed, sleepers (railroad ties) and plates are painted.

The detail on the sleepers looks good for 1/72 showing some rough surface and the molded in plates to hold the rails look very convincing. Care will need to be taken when joining the end pieces so it doesn't create an obvious seam (see lower right side). In my case, I moved the end pieces around once attached to get the best fit. Unfortunately, minor seams can be seen. But all is not lost; gentle, precise sanding and careful hobby knife work can hide those seams.

Step 6: Panzerjagerwagen on tracks

Hobby Boss provides a track bed that acts as a model stand and adds to the overall look and feel of this kit. After painting, I added a dark wash on the deck and turret, pin wash on the bolt detail, kept dusting and grime streaking to a minimum and finished off with a matte coat. While the decals were thin, one of them gave me a bit of trouble and would not conform to the surface (see pic below). 

Conclusion: Yes...it's true. This kit has only 6 steps and can be easily built in under 3 hours with extra care on the fragile parts. This kit looks really good and I was surprised at how well it looks among my other builds even though it's sitting on railroad tracks. While I'm not a railroad aficionado, it was a nice break from some armor and ordnance while learning about other weapons and weapon systems used in WW2. In my opinion, the price is a bit high for this kit, however, as we modelers know, prices on all things model building is steadily going up. If the modeler really enjoys 1/72 scale and military railroad subjects, then this is a good way to go.  And Hobby Boss has at least two more Panzerjagerwagens in 1/72 scale that can accompany this one. 

Highly Recommended for Beginner to Advanced builders with extra care on the fragile, detailed parts. Due to the low parts count and construction steps, this could make a nice beginner project for a young person being introduced into modeling or a parent-child team building project, provided help is provided when removing and cleaning up some of the smaller, more fragile parts. Hobby Boss is to be commended for providing a very nice display base for this kit.

Thanks goes out to Model Rectifier Corporation for this review kit.

Reviewed by Chuck Willis

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