Dragon Models is preparing a new re-release in 1/35 scale:
6516 - 1/35 Sd.Kfz.251/9 Ausf.D mit 7.5cm Kanone 37
This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://armorama.com/news/re-release-by-dragon-models
This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://armorama.com/news/re-release-by-dragon-models
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Dragon hasnt released a new kit since the Clinton administration. All they do is rerelease the same old junk and jack up the prices. (NOTE: Buy the older boxing on Ebay for 1/4 the price.)
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Dragon scrapped up an occasional new releases through Obama’s first term, didn’t they?
Dragon releases are pretty irrelevant to me.
Recycled limited run Cyber-Hobby releases occasionally get a few of my hobby dollars. Otherwise, Dragon kits are only purchased from motivated vendors at model shows.
Buying, building and singing the praise of Dragon’s competition, (who are superior kitmakers on average) is far more fun than investing time in a 2nd or 3rd rate Dragon product.
However, amazingly there’s still a market for Dragon kits plus some folks like The Way of the Dragon. More power to them! Enjoy & have fun with the originals and 
recycled stuff in the sweet new boxes!
Each to their own, it’s only a hobby after all.
Cheers 
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Hmm. They seem to be busy.
Kits (1876)|Figures (338)|Aftermarket (31)|Die-Cast (5)|Books (49)
From Scalemates. Includes all genres.
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I wouldn’t call them junk at all.
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The instructions usually have an error or two or three and can be less than clear; but many of their kits are great. If you want to build an M3 halftrack, or an M7 Priest you can’t find a better kit. I’m currently building their M752 “Lance” missile can TEL. It is a decent kit, and the only offering in styrene. Dragon may not be my favorite kit maker, but I’ve built a number of their kits and have many more in the stash that are on the list to be built this year.
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Some “modern” ones are clearly junk though - especially their infamous “Black Plagues Label” - T54, M6, T1E1, M103s.
Some of their “Dumb Kit” series modern ones are bad, too - M60, M60A2, M48 AVLB, and M60 AVLB to name a few.
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100% agree and its terrible to know that the only options to build certain subjects is going to be an exercise in not jumping off a bridge. It’s almost as bad as knowing you need to build a panda kit.
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And ,if you go to scalemates , I bet most are old kits rereleased…
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go for it!
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In times of Yore, Dragon was my favorite model company. In 2025, Dragon still offers many models I would like to own…if the price is right. 
Using ScaleMates as a guide, the last time Dragon released a Sd. Kfz. 251/9 Ausf. D was 2004 (Kit 6233). It received good reviews, I remember wanting one, and the version with rivets (6246) resides in my closet.
The Dragon 3 in 1 model is still available via eBay for about $50 US to my door including tax and shipping.
I do not know who makes the best Sd. Kfz. 251 Ausf. D in 2025.
ScaleMates shows a new tool 1/72 scale Pibber by Dragon in 2024. I was not able to pull up a list of new releases by year.
My impression is that attempts by Dragon designers to produce models of modern subjects always met with scorn. They had much better luck with World War II subjects, especially German vehicles.
To my surprise, the recent Dragon Field Artillery Tractor is a Gecko mold!
Reusing old molds seems like good business sense, especially if the model is regarded as a decent one. My impression is that this model is a decent one.
It does seem like managers at Dragon stopped allocating design resources to completely new 1/35 scale projects. Dragon efforts always receive very strong criticism. Maybe the people at Dragon decided to plow more fertile fields.
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Doug,
Oh I wish I recalled all the details…but it sort of more or less goes like this…
PMMS - Perth Military Modelling Site & Dragon
Dragon constantly harassed Perth Military Modelling in various ways for pointing out the multitude of errors and mistakes Dragon made on many different kits. It’s a long and sort of ugly story. Basically, Dragon couldn’t handle objective constructive criticism.
Terry & Perth Military Modelling were held in very high regard by many modelers.
Some of that group might be willing to continuing to point out or remind folks of the multitude of errors and mistakes Dragon made in many different kits. Likewise, they might even remind folks how poorly Dragon reacted when faced with objective constructive criticism.
Speaking Truth to Power is realitively rare in the land of the Dragon. Little people don’t talk back to the big boss and tell the big boss he got something wrong very much.
Anyway, there’s likely some resentment toward Dragon, that Dragon created and fostered long ago based on how badly they handled situations that remains alive and well.
As for Dragon, the owner has probably found better ways to make more money faster than by focusing on plastic model kits.
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“My impression is that attempts by Dragon designers to produce models of modern subjects always met with scorn.”
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The criticism was well-deserved in my view. Of course, people had a lot of expectations of them based on their well-crafted WWII German stuff. At the same time, their research and efforts were lazy and half-@$$ed at best. When there are more than enough people (even on this forum) to avail themselves with high-quality reference photos and information, DML simply ignored them.
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These inaccuracies became even more apparent to me when I got into 3D modeling and CAD work. The technology has been readily available for many years (decades before I started learning). Yet, their lazy CAD work and lack of attention to detail is appalling when a layperson like myself can do a better job instead of those inaccuracies. I mean some things are not even a matter of CAD work. For instance, its M60 kit’s hull is short by like 4mm, which is like 14cm in real thing. That’s just a complete negligence.
“Reusing old molds seems like good business sense, especially if the model is regarded as a decent one. My impression is that this model is a decent one.”
“It does seem like managers at Dragon stopped allocating design resources to completely new 1/35 scale projects. Dragon efforts always receive very strong criticism. Maybe the people at Dragon decided to plow more fertile fields.”
- Yup, DML was once a pioneer in the industry. However, it is now following the same lazy business model of Academy and Italeri. Of course, the defenders of Italeri on this forum are going to write some hate words.
- Of course, their excuse has been “NO, screw accuracy for modern subjects. Only Nazi stuff sells well.” “NO, the Far East market is 10 times bigger than the North America and Europe combined so get lost!” for decades. The same reply has gotten old and repulsive even.
- Let them do whatever. I’ll give my money to AFV Club, Bronco, Meng, RFM, and Takom instead. Plenty of other fish to fry.
End of my rant.
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DAYAM! I did not hear this before. All the more reasons not to buy their kits. Whole bunch of jerks.
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Indeed, this might be entertaining, it’s discussion on Dragon’s smear campaign.
FSM: Tristar Or Dragon??? (Hiroshi’s War)
For the record, TriStar > Dragon
IMHO 
Definitely TriStar
…and Italeri on WW2 1/35…can be lame indeed…but Italeri has NEVER behaved like Dragon did.
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I would definitely purchase a tell all book chronicling events in the Hong Kong model manufacturing scene from 2000 to 2020.
Models are designed by people, not companies, and some of those people are better at it than others. I suspect the best model designers move around or work free lance, and that the variable quality of models coming from various Hong Kong manufacturers reflect those movements.
I am not going to stop purchasing stuff from Dragon because of a dust up that occurred 15 years ago. I am not going to write off a model company because of a few borked models or because management likes to reuse molds.
As I wrote previously, I usually enjoy Dragon models. Perth Military Modeling is an excellent resource. In my universe, these resources live together in harmony.
If a model meets my needs for accuracy, fun, price, and subject, I will buy it. The age of the mold and name on the box are irrelevant.
I wish the people at Dragon well. I wish the people at all model companies well. I wish model reviewers well. As a whole, models keep getting better. Interaction between model designers, model reviewers, and model customers drive that improvement. There are speed bumps. That’s okay.
I’m not sure where I am going with this. Maybe I am trying to say that it is okay if not every model release is a new tool, low price home run. Some slop in the system is okay.
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Agreed, but I want a Netflix series covering the early 1980’s to current!
Just think how entertaining it could be when stuff like the owner of Border Model’s declares he’ll eat 1.5 kg (3 pounds freedom units) of feces if the Border Model’s Pz IV G isn’t the most accurate Pz IV G on the market when it releases comes to light. 
Disney + should seriously consider doing DML & the Dragon Slayer’s given how poorly they are doing. The novelty of a scale model drama would get more views than the recent Disney Star Wars shows. The Acolyte cost ~$700,000 a minute. Ten minutes would probably pay for whole season of DML & the Dragon Slayer’s
Imagine, the pilot episode for the show, 1983 in China, the owner of a sucessful prosthetic p-€-n-i-$ factory 
has a flash of inspiration 
…and new profitable venture into Scale Modelling starts!
2nd episode a few crates of John Holmes replicas are mispacked in 1/35 T-72M2 w/ERA boxes and shipped to Wally World & Kmart’s. Customer service has some explaining to do…
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Yes, a lot of us had front row seats to the Dragon vitriol against Terry as it unfolded. The fact they tried to impersonate a 3rd party individual as a representative of ‘truth’ raised their cowardly and unjustified attacks to stratospheric heights.
Terry Ashley was, and still is, highly regarded in the modelling community. His integrity was never in question. His reviews told it like it was with no sugar coating but no overly harsh criticism either. He never once said not to buy a brand’s kit, he always left that to the reader to decide. He actually stopped reviewing one brand (he never said who) when they wanted him to compromise his integrity and do only favourable reviews for them. It was a dark day in modelling history when he ceased reviewing on the site.
He does still have a presence out there on Facebook search for ‘PMMS - Terry A’.
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Few people know about a Dragon Policy they forced upon the Aussie wholesalers some years back (maybe other countries too?). If you wanted to import their new release model kits, you also had to buy their their other lines, like the ‘Battle Barbies’ and pre-built and painted diecasts, etc. They dictated to you what you would get; you had no choice. There was no market here for the other lines, so no-one wanted to import them and lose money. What happened? Aussie importers stopped ordering from Dragon, resulting in the death of Dragon kits for sale in LHS here back then.
Now, as to Dragon kits generally, the overall quality is representative of when they were first produced. Don’t ‘diss’ a 20 year old kit because a new manufacturer has produced a better, or more detailed one recently. Very few manufacturers produce a perfect kit, that suits all skill levels and appeals to all tastes. A lot of Dragon’s woes came about because of the sheer number of releases they did, leaving little time for proper detailed R&D, etc. We, the modelling community, wanted more variety and they complied. We snapped up kits at staggering rates, even with flaws. So why fix something when people will still buy what is out there already? We were our own worst enemy there.
Even when they did outsource to ‘experts’ the accuracy fell short (The first issue Panzer IV Ausf E as example).
But then you have the ‘Black Plaque’ kits. No excuses there. Poor research, poor quality and wholesale inaccuracy.
This release of the SdKfz 251 comes with the same undersize transmission hump they always did. It also comes with the firewall that is too far back (and presumably the driver with shortened legs to fit). It has a new (unnecessary) 3D printed gun mantlet and some Brass width indicators and with those, it will also come with a ‘new release’ price tag… and that is the ridiculous part - and people will buy it. The older version of the kit is just as good and can be picked up in any second hand show here in Oz for 15-20 USD - so buy the old one… and a couple of other kits for the same money.
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