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1/35 Voyager update sets July

 

 

 

 

Voyager Model 1/35

round up -July 2010

Voyager Models from the far east has furnished us with some great 1/35 detail sets from their expansive set of photo-etch and resin sets for this month. These span form Armoured train accessories to tank additional details to rifle holders and truck additions. Voyager has a bunch of these coming out very month and are well worth checking in on, especially if you are an armoured vehicle or aircraft modeller.

http://www.voyagermodel.com

 

We will go through some of these 35th scale items in turn, and I will try to show you with pictures and texts what we think.

PE 35335 – Sd.Kfz.7 Late Production for Dragon kit

PE 35336 – Sd.Kfz.7 Late Production Cargo Bay for Dragon kit

PE 35345 – StuG IV Early Production

PE 35348 – 8.8cm Pak 43/3 L/71 for Dragon kit

PE 35349 – 8.8cm Flak 37 for Dragon kit

PE 35357 – Schwerer Panzerspahwagen (3 in 1) for Dragon kit

They are available directly from Voyager Models via their website http://www.voyagermodel.com

 

Pe35335: 1/35 WWII German Sd.Kfz.7 8t Late Production

http://www.voyagermodel.com/productlist.asp?itemid=PE35335

For the Dragon 6562 kit, this is a set of five photo etched frets, plus two styrene rods, one copper rod and a steel .3mm wire and a dash film in clear. This is a large upgrade kit - with parts in photo etch to make a whole new engine cover, new doors, windscreen frame, underchassis, shackles, petrol tank skins, radiator fan, gear shifts, rifle holders, shovel heads – the list just goes on.

All of this metal is a great upgrade to the kit, and is pretty extensive really, on a kit that isn’t that bad in the first place. This still makes a valuable upgrade.

There is a clear film for the dash instruments here which is a noel touch, it sits inside the brass dash board and with the gear knobs, bulk head supports and windscreen frame really add some fine touches to the front office – you really wouldn’t like to put a driver in!

This is part of a three part conversion to the dragon kit – one or all of them are a great addition.

 

 

Pe35336: 1/35 WWII German Sd.Kfz.7 8t Late Production

http://www.voyagermodel.com/productlist.asp?itemid=PE35336

This is the second part of the three part conversion for the Dragon 6562 German 8 tone halftrack kit. This cargo bay comes in six brass frets , with two styrene strips, with some wire and seven shells that can load into the side compartment of the halftrack

The wood grain effect on the large floor pan in the back of the halftrack recreated here in photo etch is totally believable in this scale . underneath this is the chassis of the vehicle along with the containers that hold the spare tyres. Latches that hold the tray together and steps to get up onto the back of the halftrack are included as well.

This upgrade kit is a bit of work but boy what an improvement on the kit – its sure worth it!!

 

 

Pe35345: 1/35 WWII German StuG.IV Early Production

 

 

http://www.voyagermodel.com/productlist.asp?itemid=PE35345

 

This set is for the Dragon 6520 or the 9038 kits for the StuG.IV . The brass frets on this upgrade kit – and there is nine of them – covers such additions to the original kit as the commander's cupola, various wrenches and the clasps for the onboard tools, aerial stands, straps to hold on the exhausts, shield for the self defence machine gun on top of the hull,, spare wheel holders, track holders light frames, shovel heads, some towing plates and virtually anything on the StuG.IV that is too thick in scale to be rendered in plastic.

Everything is covered. There are some resin parts for the inside of the commander's hatch, towing cable attachments and aerial bases. There is steel wire and twisted cable which is to be used as towing wire. I liked this set very much and I would purchase it if I was making a early model StuG.IV.

 

Again be carefull the of exactly what is in the kit you are getting, the image above is a combination of a few of their kits but I have included it to show you the possiblities.

 

 

Pe35348: 1/35 WWII German PaK43/3 L/71 mit Behelfslafette

 

http://www.voyagermodel.com/productlist.asp?itemid=PE35348

The L71 Flak gun with Behelfslafette or "Simplified gun mount" as it is roughly translated, is again a many component set if bought with the other set – the VBSO 115 German Jagdpanther barrel – but this set itself is enough to enhance the kit if you don’t want to use a metal barrel. Six sprues of photo etch to replicate steps, harnesses, four tool boxes, some spade heads, some plates on the stand o the guns, some very excellent seats on the gun and some very fine mudguards.

There is some copper rod and some steel wire used as well as some brass rods for the gun tools. This is a really simple set for this gun that makes a big difference due to the nature of the thinness of the parts used/ substituted.

This set doesn’t include the gun, be careful when buying these products so that you know what is and what isn’t in the set.

 

 

 

Pe35348: 1/35 WWII German 88mm Flak37 mit Behelfslafette

 

http://www.voyagermodel.com/productlist.asp?itemid=PE35349

This set covers the Flak 88mm gun, the scourge of all who faced it on the battlefield.

For the Dragon Flak 88m gun kit number 6523 this upgrade set contains three frets of photo etch parts. These are mostly the supports for the gun, spacing bracers for the gun stands and some other tiny parts for the body of the gun.

Again be sue of the parts you want to replace or upgrade before you buy it, apart from this, this upgrade set is again top notch.

 

 

 

Pe35357: 1/35 WWII German Panzer Schwerer

http://www.voyagermodel.com/productlist.asp?itemid=PE35357

This is a set of additions and updates for the Dragon kit 6071Schwerer Armoured Train kit. There are Five photo etched frets full of detail, plus five resin parts, small brass rod and some wire.

The resin parts make up a jack and the inside of the turret hatch, while the metal parts serve a multitude of things. The whole commander's cupola is made from photo etched, this replaces the whole kit parts for this part of the kit. Handles, steps and a multitude of straps to hold down the Trains tools are used for most of the rest of the PE parts. Instructions are well thought out on this kit, all of the added parts being shown in another colour. Parts of the coupling are also in photo etch which is good as the scale thickness of these isn’t really good in the donor kit. This rectifies that.

 

 

 

So what do we think?

A great bunch of sets which I can find no real fault for, great additions to each donor kit, you must be sure that the parts you need are in the update kit you buy as there are often up to three separate ones for each kit.

Overall a great bunch, fine in detail , well packaged and accurate – Well done Voyager!

Overall 9/10

Adam Norenberg

 

Many thanks to the great people at Voyager Models for the review sample.