Sd.Kfz. 162 Jagdpanzers
Manufacturer: Hasegawa
When these two kits wereannounced by Hasegawa last year, it had modelers anxiouslyawaiting to see how improved they were over the earlier Panzer IVkits. I'm happy to say that numerous improvements have been made,and these are excellent models. The sole reservation I have aboutthem is the typically horrible tracks.
In most of the scansbelow, I have placed two identical sprues next to each other toshow both the front and back sides, but only one of each sprue(except the wheels) is included with each kit.
SprueA.
The upper hull looksfantastic. I am especially impressed by the joints of theinterlocking armor plates. There are numerous holes in the hullfor the variety of options included in the kits. You can usemono- or binocular periscopes; and one or two machinegun portsfor the L/48. The L/70 kit includes only a single machinegun portcover; the second one needs to be filled with putty. A couple ofthings could have been improved, such as the smooth fenders,which should have a treadplate pattern on them. Also, the pioneertools molded onto the hull I would prefer as separate parts. Butat least they are molded in good relief, and aren't too flat.
SprueB.
Both kits come with theearly "cylinder" muffler. The L/70 also has thelate-war style flammentoeter mufflers, but those were also seenon late models of the L/48, so it would have been nice to haveincluded them in that kit as well. Spare wheels and spare tracklengths are included with both kits.
SprueC.
The main improvements Ihave seen over the Panzer IV kits are the lower hull and chassis,which are completely new. This is the first of the HasegawaPanzer IV-chassis kits to no longer include any of the parts fromthe old Munitionspanzer kit. And I must say, the new chassis isreally well done. It rivals the chassis in the Revell Panzer IVkits in detail and molding finesse. It also displays another ofthe many options included with the kits: three or four returnrollers, depending on which version you build. According to theinstructions, the L/48 uses four, and the L/70 uses three, butvery late models of the L/48 also had the reduced number ofrollers. The kits include new "all steel" returnrollers, in addition to the older rubber-rimmed rollers.
Sprue K.
The wheels are the same"improved" wheels as included with the earlierWirbelwind and Ostwind kits. Very, very nice.
Sprue D.
Unique to Jagdpanzer IVL/48. It includes the spare tracks, gun mantle, and some otheroptional parts. The muzzle brake is included for the L48 cannon.This should be an option, because many of the L/48's left off thebrake, but you'd have to modify the end of the gun barrel alittle to replicate the muzzle-less version. The angled cover forthe radiator caps is included here. Again, late models of theL/48 had the squared-off box cover, but that option is onlyincluded with the L/70 kit. Another option which is not indicatedin the instructions, is the squared-off corners of the gun mantlebase plate. Later versions had clipped corners, which should beeasy enough for the modeler to take care of.
Sprue E.
Unique to Panzer IV/70(V).This sprue includes all the special parts for the L/70 version.Some of these parts could be used for late L/48's, butunfortunately, this sprue is not included in that kit.
Sprue F.
Another sprue unique toPanzer IV/70(V). This one has the long L/70 cannon, the gun lock,and the steel road wheels for the first two wheel stations. Thesesteel wheels are fantastic.
The tracks are the samecrap included with all the other Hasegawa Panzer IV kits. Time tostock up on the etched brass tracks from PART or Extratech.
The decals are typical ofHasegawa, i.e., well printed, good color and registration, butthe carrier film is too thick. As you can see, the markings arenot very extensive. The painting guides in the instructions(which are fantastic, by the way) show a single marking optionfor each kit, but each set of decals gives more options, withthree different styles of balkankreuz, a couple of divisional andtactical markings, plus optional vehicle numbers. As is typicalof many decal sheets, the vehicle numbers don't allow forduplicate digits within the number, such as "122".Although the selection for divisional markings is slim, I don'tbelieve these vehicles typically carried much in the way ofdivision marks, but I'm not certain. If it wasn't for theoverly-thick carrier film, these would be pretty good decals.
One other item lackingfrom these kits, is zimmerit. Most L/48's had zimmerit coatingapplied, except for very late models. But as we've seen, the kitlacks the optional parts to make a late version, so the modelerhad better be proficient at making zimmerit. For the L/70,however, the lack of zimmerit is not such a big loss, since onlythe earliest models had it applied. Most L/70's had no zimmerit.Regardless, I am sure that we shall see some etched brasszimmerit from PART very soon (as well as additional detail sets).
According to myreferences, these kits are perfect 1/72nd scale.
References: PanzerTracts No. 9 - Jagdpanzer , by Jentz andDoyle; Panzer IV & Its Variants by Spielberger; Encyclopedia of German Tanks of WorldWar Two by Chamberlain, Doyle and Jentz; Photosniper No. 6 - Jagdpanzer IV L/48 , byMucha and Parada; Panzersat Saumur No. 1 , edited by Ichimura.
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