First, you have to know that I'm not an expert and I didn't make any indepth research on the subject so I can't tell if that kit has innaccuracies or not, I made this review to show you what's in the box and to bring you the observations I made.
At first sight, it is quite impressive, a great amount of parts (379 plastic parts, 11 PE parts, 2 springs for the idler wheels, 20 polycaps, 2 full length vinyl tracks, 1 small twine and no decal.) You can expect to add many spare parts in your drawers cause there are 6 sprue trees that comes from their Tiger 1 kit.
The most impressive part is the one piece super structure which is wonderfully textured and has very well done joints and weld seams. Curiously, that texture have been omitted on the roof of the super structure.
Another very well done area is the engine deck. Plenty of details with only minimal flash on some parts. PE grills are supplied with the kit to go over the louvers.
Some parts are very small as you can see on the pictures, those tinny wing nuts are the smallest one I've seen in plastic so far. I've put the ones that come with the Dragon Panther Smart Kit to compare them and the AFV Club ones are a little bit smaller but the definition of the Dragon ones is better in my opinion. Both will require some work to thin the wings anyway.
The tracks are the full length vinyl type and are very well done for that kind of track but the guide teeth are not hollowed of course and there is some flash on the sides of the track which can be really a pain to remove in that kind of material. So aftermarket tracks are mandatory in my opinion.
The one piece barrel and mantlet is nicely reproduced and presents 31 gas holes like it is supposed to. There is some nice texture on the giant articulation ball also.
The ammo crane is beautifully represented and features a PE grabbing ring and a twine to simulate the cable. I did not verify but the twine seems a little bit thick for that use.
The suspension is made of working torsion bars and it should result in a workable suspension if glued properly.
There are plenty of pioneer tools provided but the details are not impressive and the molded on clamps are very basic. (You should read "blob of plastic")
PE parts are provided for the grills on the engine deck as previously mentioned but also for the inner riffling of the barrel which should be very nice once installed. There is also a very nice cross hair but I think this is not for that kit.
Some polycaps are provided for the wheels but some of them looks more like o-rings than conventional polycaps and I have no idea how those ones will fit.
No zimmerit is provided with the kit but that is not surprising and must not be a trouble for most modellers.
I can already see where details could be added or enhanced by the addition of a PE detail kit. The already existing kit made for the Tamiya kit would be a good purchase but other PE sets for Tiger 1s would do just fine for some details. There is no 38cm projectile supplied with the kit but again, there is already an aftermarket kit for that.
Another flaw on this kit is the lack of interior. The gun is nicely detailed from the interior but there is no floor or wall details at all. Maybe the old Italeri kit could be scavenged to use the interior or you could also wait for an aftermarket kit to come out which shouldn't take long.
A few funny things:
- The parts list shows two different types of barrel/mantlet but only one was provided in my box.
- The rear mud guards are not illustrated in the instructions but can clearly be seen on the painting guide and on the box art. So don't forget to install them.
- The instructions show to simulate zimmerit on the front mud guards but I doubt this is accurate.
- You can tell the instructions are based on their Tiger I kit by the suggested additional product shown at the beginning of the instructions, the zimmerit applicator doe is shown but also the 88mm ammo kit, which is not correct for the Sturmtiger.
- I don't know what they were thinking when they made the "spring loaded" idler wheels. I know the real thing is probably spring loaded like that but with a plstic kit with vinyl tracks, the springs are simply to strong for that purpose! If the idler wheels are installed with the springs, there will be no sag in the tracks for sure. It's kind of strange.
Conclusion:
This kit is nicely done with minimal flash and/or pin holes. Details are crisp and there is a few nice features such as the inner riffling for the barrel and the wonderfull texture on the super structure. But there is also some flaws such as the lack of interior and the vinyl tracks. I don't know how the parts fit together since I didn't build it yet but it is rarely a problem those days.
I never saw the Tamiya kit neither the Italeri one but I can tell that AFV club has released a wonderfull representation of the Sturmtiger which is an amazing vehicle by itself.
I recommend this kit to modeller who has a little bit of experience with very small parts cause there is quite a few and it can be frustrating for a newbie.
No matter where you go ....... there you are.