DR 6314: Sd.Kfz. 164 Nashorn - Premium Edition
1/35 injection plastic kit with multimedia accessories and decals

Equipped with the 88mm Pak 43, the Nashorn when effectively deployed was a potent tank destroyer. The Nashorn, also known as the Hornet or Hornisse was an open top self propelled anti-tank gun, which was introduced into service with the German Army in 1943. It saw combat through to 1945, fighting on the Eastern Front, in Western Europe and Italy.

The Nashorn was one of Dragon’s earliest kits (kit 6001), and while popular required considerable effort to address its shortcomings. In 2002 Dragon released two all new model of the Nashorn (6165: Hornisse and 6166: Nashorn - Poland Autumn 1944), which featured modern tooling and compared favourably to references. This new Premium Edition release builds on the 2002 releases adding multimedia accessories and numerous other upgraded parts.

This Premium edition release depicts a later production Nashorn as evident by the gun’s travel lock with it’s A shaped profile and the presence of two exhaust pipes with one venting on each side of the hull’s rear. The sprues for the hull tub, suspension bogies, front and side armour, fighting compartment floor and upper hull are shared with the 2002 Nashorn release. The side armour plates are relatively thin, detailed on both sides and only have a few visible sink marks, which could be sanded off and are often in corners obscured by the ammunition bins. As these are modern tooling they offer a solid basis for this Premium Edition release.

The value add from this kit comes from the inclusion of upgrades and extras that would have previously been purchased as aftermarket accessories. In particular this includes improvements to the fighting compartment interior, road wheels, and Magic Tracks.

Features include

• - New 1 piece turned metal barrel, which unlike many aftermarket barrels, is a drop fit and requires no clean up of the muzzle break. The muzzle break is the nicely detailed three-part item and the barrel tube has been designed to work in with the retooled clasp on the travel lock. This last point addresses a problem in using generic aftermarket barrels on the 2002 release. An injection plastic two-piece barrel is still included.
• - Magic Tracks where each link comes loose, and for most modelers will require no clean up, although there are two small injector pin marks on each link which could be shaved off with a hobby knife. These links are the 40cm wide type with open guide horns and no chevrons on the outer faces, a type that was common during the mid-war period. The tracks are asymmetric in that there is a separate set for each side of the tank to reflect the way the track pins were fitted. Each side is separately packed and has its own shade of grey.
• - Clear plastic parts for the two periscopes, which can be fitted to photo etch mounts. One-piece grey plastic units are included for those who prefer a simpler assembly.
• - New road wheels and return rollers, which now feature the manufacturer’s brand names on the sidewalls.
• - Improvements to various small fittings such as the scissor periscope in the fighting compartment, slide-molded exhaust pipes, radio rack and aerial mount. The jack is molded without clamps for use with the PE.
• - The MP 40 submachine guns stored in the fighting compartment are now the Slide Molded Gen2 tooling. Several useful spare weapons are included in the weapons sprue including tow each of the MP44 assault rifle and Gewehr 43 rifle.
  

Photo Etch

A new large photo etch fret is included which is fairly comprehensive and will meet most people’s needs. PE parts include the brackets for the scissors periscope, machine gun pivot arms, below the aiming rods stored on the rear, and jack; front shield scope patch, the radio rack, base for the aerial mount, and travel lock detail. The ammunition bins now have the option of PE doors that can be modelled open or closed. For the thin sheet metal doors, PE will look really good when they are open and fold up. If the bins are open, there is the option of using PE parts for the shells racks. Eight plastic shells are included. For the engine cooling air louvers on the side armour, there is the option of carefully cutting out the plastic louvers (which are well defined) and replacing them with finer PE.

As with earlier releases the level of accuracy is high and the overall dimensions are consistent with scale plans. The multi-fold instruction sheet is based on the earlier release, which has colour step-by-step photos of a kit being assembled. Line drawings have been added to show the assembly of new parts and the use of PE, most of which is optional.

While very comprehensive the kit does not include a radio or machine gun (eg MG34), even though it has an impressive PE radio rack and mountings for the MG. I suspect most modellers will find these items in their spares box.

DECALS

Two new decal sheets by Cartograf provide markings for eight Nashorns, as well as a collection of generic black turret numbers that allow for modellers to make other Nashorns seen in photos. The painting guide illustrates each in colour from three views (side, front, rear). I found photos of most of the Nashorns profiled, and the others were consistent with other vehicles from the identified units.

Three of the Nashorns are from schwere Panzer Jager Abteilung.525 (heavy tank destroyer unit) in Italy during 1944, which fought around Cassino and lost some of their vehicles to New Zealand troops. These Nashorns have a dark yellow base with varying types of green and red-brown camouflage.

Two of the other Nashorns are from s.Pz.Jg.Abt.519 being named “Tiger” and Puma” and from the Eastern Front with a whitewash over the factory dark yellow. Another two are from s.Pz.Jg.Abt.88, namely a Nashorn with a “red heart” insignia and a dark yellow base and green contrast, and a Nashorn with whitewashed lines on top of dark yellow. The last scheme is also from the East and is black “231” from s.Pz.Jg.Abt.560 during 1943.

RECOMMENDATION

With the inclusion of a large photo etch fret, upgraded tracks and varying other extras and improvements, this Premium Edition release of the Nashorn is a comprehensive model. The kit represents excellent value for money and most modellers will have no need to add any aftermarket accessories. Definitely recommended.

- Neville Lord

“…Buy one. Highly recommended…”

< full review here >
- Vinnie Branigan

“…this new iteration can stand completely on its own…”

< full review here >
- Frank De Sisto