Dragon Puma 234/2
3 Price ~$88 MSRP (wtf?), Spruebrothers.com $70, (via Cyber-Hobby, I paid $47.39 w/free shipping)
4 Instructions Overall very good for Dragon, zero glaring issues, parts placement is reasonably clear.
3 Molding Quality Not at all impressed, kit looks older than it’s age (2006). Too many soft looking details.
4 Plastic Quality Serviceable hard gray Dragon plastic
4 Parts Clean Up Much better than the typical Dragon kit. Wheels are very well designed. The new copper color PE is much easier to cut and clean than the old nickel-silver color PE. 3D printed muzzle brake is excellent and already cleaned.
5 Ease of build Suspension is a fiddly but everything fits well enough. Keyed barrel and keyed 3D muzzle brake are nice. Easy to place in proper orientation.
4 Accuracy I’m without reference on this vehicle. Kit looks reasonable. With the soft details there’s room for improvements.
5 Fit Best fitting Dragon kit, I’ve built in 1/35 scale. Very impressed 
5 Doesn’t Require Aftermarket metal barrel, metal smoke grenade launchers & canisters, 3D muzzle brake plus PE, clear periscopes, two sets of wheels, fantastic for one box! The kit turret MG sucks and replaced with a turned Aber brass barrel but this is very minor. A+ for Dragon.
4 Details built Out of the Box former Panzer Police will be just a hair grumpy tool clasps and clamps aren’t provided.
** 41 points out of 50 **
41/50 => 82%
41/50 is a very good score overall, probably the highest I’ve ever awarded to any Dragon kit. If THIS 2023 Premium Edition kit can be acquired at an acceptable price, it’s recommended. I’d pass on other Dragon kit versions of the Puma unless they have the cool 3D muzzle brake & other metal parts.
With two new 1/35 Puma releases, one Ryefield and one from Mini-Art, there’s no shortage of quality new Puma kits available.
Despite the 41/50 score, I wouldn’t purchase this kit again for $47. The Ryefield Model’s kit would be my choice and hopefully will follow as a build one day.
