Tuesday, 22 February 2022

Modelling a 1/35 Pz IV Ausf J. Which one is best? Dragon #6575 or Border Models #BT-008

After finally tracking down Dragon’s elusive #6575 kit last year I thought it would be interesting to see how this well-respected 10-year-old stood up to one of the new guns. Manufacturer's seem to have moved the 1/35 armour game on to StuG kits for 2021-22 but Border Models 2019 kit BT-008 was, as of writing, along with RFM and Miniart, one of only a few Pz.IV Ausf J kits releases since 2019. I thought it would be interesting to do a side by side build comparison.

I’ve built a few Dragon Pz.IV variants and although I was fortunate, I have since discovered many turned out to be less than enjoyable to build. Their kit release heyday seems to have been in the mid noughties and although their massive parts count and busy instructions remained, they did produce some very accurate and well engineered kits. Many with huge frets of photoetch, metal barrels and their very own magic tracks.