The Kit:
The model is printed on 11 sheets of card stock, and 5 sheets of standard letter
stock. The kit is a computer drawn model and the printing is crisp
and precise, the quality of the paper is excellent. The letter stock
is used for parts that are to be laminated on to .5 mm and 1 mm card stock and
also for parts that will be rolled into tubes and rods. Using the
thinner paper stock should make rolling the tubes easer. The Instructions
are in Polish with 4 pages of building diagrams. The experienced modeler should
have few problems building this model. One feature of the model
that I found to be outstanding is that Waldemar Rychard the artist/ designer
of the model has done an outstanding job of laying out the parts in a very logical
manner. With very few exceptions all of the parts for an assembly
are on the same page so you will not have to go through 16 pages to find all
of the parts you need to build an assembly. The part fit on this
model is very precise, the hull is a very complex shape and I have not had to
trim the parts to get an excellent fit. I was pleasantly surprised
by the quality of the model. Several years ago I had purchased
a Modelart kit, (Modelart is the forerunner of Modelik) and found the model
very disappointing. The Modelart kit suffered from poor fits, poor
quality paper and lack of detail.
The model represents the "1111" Puma attached to the Panzer Lehr Division
that was captured in early June of 1944 just after the invasion of Europe.
This vehicle is well documented in that several photos were taken of the vehicle
shortly after it was captured and the model is very faithful to the prototype.
All of the unit markings are correct even the license plate appears to be correct.
The model is highly detailed with a complete suspension system. The model does
have an interior however it is not highly detailed. Over all the
kit should build into a very nice model.
Typical assembly diagrams
The model is excellent but it does have one flaw. The Panzer
Dunkelgelb (Dark Yellow) color appears to be too light and is a little too yellow
for my likening, you can see the difference from the color chip.
The color is also very uniform over the entire model with no scale shading and
because of this uniform color the model will look more like a toy then a miniature
of the prototype. Weathering of the model will give it a better
appearance, but this is a personal preference you may like the model with a
just off the assembly line finish.
Here we see all of the hull parts cut and ready for assembly. The
hull is assembled using tabs and notches as guides. Some parts
will need to have beveled edges Modelik has supplied guides to indicate the
amount of beveling required
The hull is assembled from the bottom up. This is the front of the hull and
you can see the structure of the hull.
The rear upper hull side is assembled to the Hull bottom. The mating
edge of the upper hull half is beveled to insure a good fit
After the hull sides are glued in place the interior skin is glued to the inside
of the hull. Some weathering has been applied to give the interior
a used look.
The two driver positions are installed along with the rest of the interior.
This is the rear driver's position. The steering wheel is correct this arrangement
of the steering wheel is typical for German half-tracks and armored cars
After the interior is finished the rest of the hull is assembled.
Each part is checked for fit and any adjustments are made before the part is
glued. This gets to be a little tricky since all of the parts need
to fit correctly with up to 6 other parts. I used masking tape
to hold the parts together this allowed me to make adjustments to the parts
and reassemble them to recheck the fit.
This is the front drivers position, the shift knob was made by dipping the end
of the wire shift lever in white glue several times.
The hull is finished and is ready for the outside skins.
Summary:
| Model: | Nr 3/03 SdKfz 234/2 PUMA |
| Kit: | MODELIK |
| Designer: | Waldemar Rychard | Scale: | 1/25 |
| Difficulty: | Rated 4 on a scale of 5 |
| Number of Parts: | 980 |
| Instructions: | Polish |
| Diagrams: | 4 pages generally good |
| Fit: | Excellent |
| Coloring and Artwork: | Coloring average Artwork Excellent |
| Printing: | Excellent |
| Resources: | Elite
Forces - Armoured Cars WW II Vehicles - SdKfz 234 (8 rad) SdKfz 234 Web site |
