DR6327: Tauchpanzer IV Ausf. D
1/35 injection plastic kit with multimedia accessories and decals

As part of the preparations for the planned invasion of Britain, 48 Panzer IV Ausf. Ds were converted to Tauchpanzer. These watertight tanks were intended to be launched from vessels of the English coast and to crawl along the seabed to reach the beach. As Operation Sea Lion was abandoned, these tanks were used on the Eastern Front, including by the 18th Panzer Division in crossing the River Bug during Operation Barbarossa.

This new release from Cyber-Hobby, comes in a box which is crowded even by Cyber-Hobby and Dragon’s standards. The main twist is that it is a 5 in 1 kit, which contains all the parts, including the decals and instruction sheet from the earlier Panzer IV Ausf D 3 in 1 plus new parts and a new full instruction sheet for the Tauchpanzer (good idea as its easier to read a dedicated sheet).

This five suggested ways of making the kit are:

* A submerged Tauchpanzer with all openings closed and the air tube raised.

* A Tauchpanzer, which is not submerged, but is ready for action.

* Typical production Ausf. D, without add-on armour plates.

* Ausf. D, which has additional frontal, hull and side armour.

* “DAK” version, which has the add-on armour and was converted to “tropen” by installing hatches with ventilation slots and an increased fan speed.

New Parts for the Tauchpanzer
The new tooling for the Tauchpanzer provides the parts that sealed off the gaps in the Panzer IV and enabled the exchange of air with the surface. These include a metal tube for receiving fresh air and expelling engine combustion, modifications to the rear hull where the muffler is replaced by non-return valves, clamps to hold down the brake hatches, a large piece which depicts the mantlet covered with tarpaulin, a separate frame for the tarpaulin, new headlamps, seals for the driver’s visor and hull MG (with alternative parts for when the Tauchpanzer was out of the water), plastic sealing frame for the turret base, PE for the frame that maintained the turret seal, seals for the engine deck air intakes and a new commander’s cupola which has a waterproof tarpaulin cover. The kit is designed such that the Tauchpanzer can be built either submerged or ready for action out of the water.

General Overview
The underlying Panzer IV Ausf D is a sophisticated kit with in excess of 1,000 parts and features the improved lower hull and turret. Photo-etch and pre-formed metal are used for much of the fine detail. In many cases where PE parts are included, a simpler plastic only option is available, and many internal details are could be left. This flexibility, and the fact the underlying kit fits together smoothly, ensures that it has broad appeal.

As this kit has plenty of spares including a second lower hull, Ausf E turret base (with lower front triangular plates) and the outer housing for the Ausf E’s final drive, it provide a solid basis to refine an early release of kit 6264 (Ausf E late 3 in 1). You will need to trim some overhang on 6264’s turret shell and cut of the area under and between parts B9 and B10 on the old hull to fit it to the new hull.

Turret
The turret shell compares favourable to scale plans and has considerable interior detail including the turret crew seats, turret floor with anti-skid, clear plastic vision blocks, breech with catcher for spent cases, toothed turret ring and coaxial MG. The commander’s cupola is slide-molded and there is an optional turret stowage box.

Most hatches and turret ports can be positioned open or closed including the commander hatch, ventilation hatch cover, side hatches (with interior detail and clear plastic vision blocks) and signal ports. There is a choice of injection plastic Kwk37 L/24 gun with muzzle rifling or turned metal gun without rifling.

Two Hulls with Workable Suspension
The lower hull is very detailed and includes numerous alternative parts including a choice of fenders and workable suspension. For the non-tauchpanzer versions there is the option of the supplementary bolted on armour and a second hull with additional armour. Both hulls are one-piece tubs with considerable detail including an enhanced final drive housing.

Features include:

* The side fenders have anti-skid pattern on both the upper and lower surfaces. One pair of fenders has holes for the tools in their factory positions and the other has no holes for use with PE clasps etc. The fenders are fairly thin for injection plastic and have the lip (fold) on the outer edge. The front and rear fenders are separate pieces and can be modelled folded up.

* Choice of earlier style hubcaps, as typically fitted to new production Ausf D (flatter profile), or later style with the recesses for the screws.

* Two sets of on-vehicle tools are provided of which one has the clamps moulded on for easy of assembly (and works with the fenders with the predrilled holes) and the other set has no clamps and is for use with the PE clamps.

* MG 34 with a workable ball-mounting.

* The road-wheels have considerable small detail including separate rubber tyres, which allow for painting of the rubber independent of the rims. The 'Continentau' (you can slice of half the “U”) logo is on the sidewalls.

* Choice of standard (i.e. intended for use in Europe) engine deck or the "tropen" engine deck with ventilation slots. PE parts are provided to add the grills underneath the slots, while other parts depict the fans underneath the deck.

Tracks
The pre-cut injection plastic magic tracks have open guide horns and are "handed" in that separate left and right side tracks are provided with the track pin facing out accordingly. To avoid mix-ups each set has its own plastic bag and is in a different shade of gray. The links snap together for quick assembly and a whole run can be assembled in minutes; before you apply glue to the assembled track run. A small injection mark is on the inner face of each link and can be removed swiftly with a hobby knife if you wish.

PE and other Accessories

The mixed media accessories include:

* Assorted preformed metal for hull detail such as tow cable hooks, metal cables for front and rear lights and spare wheel mounts

* Three jerry cans with PE for the jerry can rack and the cans’ centre welded join. These early style jerry cans have an “X” stamped into their sides.

* 240mm twisted wire cable with injection plastic eyes for tow cable.

* PE chains for the smoke candle rack and a PE tail-light.

* Two turned metal rounds.

Decals
Two Cartograf decal sheets are provided. The new sheet is specific to the Tauchpanzer and provides markings for “1233” of 7 Panzer Division and “33” of 7 Panzer Division, also from the Eastern Front.

The other sheet containing markings for 11 different regular and DAK/tropen Panzer IV D and includes a variety of turret numbers, Balkan crosses (2 styles), unit insignia and tactical markings. Decals and 3 view outlines are included for four Panzers from the 1940 invasion of France (2, 6, 7 & 10 Panzer Divisions), six from Libya in North Africa 1941 (5 Leichte Panzer Division, 15 & 21 Panzer Division) and one tank each from the 1941 Balkan Campaign and the Barbarossa invasion of the USSR (7 Panzer Division).

Recommendation

The Cyber-Hobby Tauchpanzer is one of the most comprehensive kits that I have seen. Apart from the intrinsic appeal of the Tauchpanzer with its distinctive waterproof fittings, this kit contains numerous multimedia extras, spares and optional parts which all enhance its interest and value for money. An excellent out of the box model that is highly recommended.

- Neville Lord

"... Another top-notch production from Cyber Hobby! It's limited release so once it's gone, it's gone. Beautifully produced, containing unique parts. Highly recommended..."

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