Tuesday, April 6

Preview: Three new kits from Hobbyboss for this may...

Hobbyboss continues on with their relentless march of new releases, this time three new kits for May in 35th & 72nd scale. We have box art, sprues, marking, decals and everything else inside the boxes of these kits in our new item preview.

Hobbyboss' new releases for May 2021...

German Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Ausf.G - Early Version 
Model no: #84551
1/35th scale
“Panther is the common name of a medium tank fielded by Nazi Germany in World War II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. The Panther's excellent combination of firepower, mobility, and protection served as a benchmark for other nations' late war and immediate post-war tank designs, and it is frequently regarded as one of the best tank designs of World War II.

The colour choices and decals supplied with this kit
While sharing essentially the same engine as the Tiger  tank, it had better frontal armor, better gun penetration, was lighter overall and thus faster, and could handle rough terrain better than the Tigers. The tradeoff was weaker side armor; the Panther proved to be deadly in open country and shooting from long range, but vulnerable to close-quarters combat. Also, the 75 mm gun fired a slightly smaller shell than the Tiger's 88 mm gun, providing less high explosive firepower against infantry, though it was still quite effective.

The Panther was also far cheaper to produce than the Tiger tanks, and only slightly more expensive than the Panzer IV, as its design came to fruition at the same time that the Reich Ministry of Armament and War Production was making great efforts to increase war production. Key elements of the Panther design, such as its armor, transmission and final drive, were compromises made specifically to improve production rates and address Germany's war shortages, whereas other elements such as its highly compact engine and its complex suspension system remained with their elegant but complicated engineering. The result was that Panther tank production was far higher than what was possible for the Tiger tanks, but not much higher than what had been accomplished with the Panzer IV. At the same time, the simplified final drive became the single major cause of breakdowns of the Panther tank, and was a problem that was never corrected.

The sprues of the kit
Model Dimensions: Length: 254mm Width: 97.7mm
Total of Sprues 26 sprues , upper hull , lower hull and turret
Metal copper cable
Photo Etched Parts 2 pcs
More Features The kit consists of over 1200 parts
Multi-slide moulded lower hull , turret
Individual tracks


Russian BM-21 Grad Multiple Rocket Launcher
Model no: #82931
1/72nd scale
The BM-21 Grad is a Russian truck-mounted 122mm multiple rocket launcher, developed in the early 1960s. Several other countries have copied it or developed similar systems.

The colour choices and decals supplied with this kit
The BM-21 122 mm multiple rocket launcher (MRL) system entered service with the Soviet Army in 1963 to replace the aging 140 mm BM-14 system. It consists of a Ural-375D 6X6 truck chassis fitted with a bank of 40 launch tubes arranged in a rectangular shape that can be turned away from the unprotected cab.In 1976, the BM-21 was mounted on the newer Ural-4320 six-by-six army truck.

The sprues of the kit
Total of 3 sprues , cab and tires
Model Dimensions: Length: 102.5mm   Width: 33.3mm 
Total Plastic Parts 50+


LKW 7t dump truck
Model no: #85520
1/35th scale
The German Army has adopted the HX series, which is a military truck developed by MAN (currently RMMV), and operates variations according to the application.

The colour choices and decals supplied with this kit
This kit reproduces a dump truck based on a 6-wheel drive medium-sized truck that is active in various scenes.

The sprues of the kit
Model Dimension     Length: 230.7mm   Width: 72.8mm 
Total Plastic Parts     410+
Total Sprues     11 sprues , cab and tires
Photo Etched Parts     3 pcs
Detailed multi-directional slide-moulded cab
Full drive train assembly complete with engine transmission, differential  housing and suspension units.
The main tires are hollow rubber with tread pattern
Wheel hubs are in great detail (apparently)

These new kits are (or should soon be) available from Hobbyboss' Distributors Worldwide...