Wade’s World Review: Dragon Neo #5 Pz III ausf N #6956
This Track Link - Dragon Neo #5 Pz Ill Ausf N - Tunisia review is well worthwhile if interested in this kit.
Dragon had some hilarious box art but it was corrected. Note the modern jerry cans on the rear of the tank.
3 Price $104 MSRP, $87 Online Vendor, Paid ~$81 in 2021 in a moment of impulsive shopping.
Basically this Neo kit has new plastic link and length tracks (2020) plus a new interior (2020 parts). It also has some basic PE and a jerry can rack with three jerry cans.
With the new plastic and interior felt the kit deserved some consideration on the high price.
0 Instructions = failure
Dragon has 3 three trees labeled A , two are alike and wheels etc the 3rd A tree is totally random collection of parts. Naturally Dragon interspersed use of the three A tree parts. Dragon also included two different trees label B
The hull doesn’t fit together because the poor instructions omitted the step where the lower hull has to be modified by trimming away plastic. Some other Dragon Pz III kit do cover this but it was omitted for this kit.
One PE part referenced not included.
5 Molding Quality Excellent quality, no sinkmarks or short shots etc.
The fender moldings are exquisite top & bottom, well thought out and don’t required much clean up. World Class A++ in Wade’s World 
To put it mildly Dragon schooled every manufacturer on how to do a nice fender! A+++
5 Plastic Quality Normal top notch
3 Parts Clean Up
The exterior face of the turret has EIGHT punch marks. Really sad given how well designed and planned many of the other parts were.
The Notek light is exactly the opposite of world class. Near bottom barrel molding design running the sprue gate into the delicate edge detail.
If the link and length tracks are used, punch marks need to be removed. I used an aftermarket set of plastic individual links from Ryefield Model’s.
4 Ease of build
Suspension fit together very well which was nice after the Takom Pz III ausf N.
While the hull fit had an issue that was due 100% to poor instructions not kit design.
5 Accuracy Items can be improved but overall it’s excellent. Other modeler’s have mentioned the dimensions were spot on with their references from Jentz & Doyle.
5 Fit the kit fits well the jerry cans not so much due to an error with the PE. This can be side stepped by removing the alignment pins.
While annoying it’s fixable.
4 Doesn’t Require Aftermarket what’s in the box is pretty good but there’s lots of potential improvements with an Aber brass antenna, Aber brass MG’s and aftermarket individual link tracks.
5 Details built Out of the Box the kot has a lot of potential with the interior as an OOTB build.
39 out of 50
39/50 => 78%
Best points: Crisp molding, excellent details, excellent fit of major components, some accessories included.
Worst points: Punch marks on Turret face, terrible instructions, , overall mediocre engineering, punch mark covered link & length tracks.
Would I buy this $87 Dragon kit again? NO
Recommended as I think most will like the level of detail, accept the unfun build experience with good grace, tolerant Dragon’s lousy instruction sheet and be happy with the end result.
