There's been somewhat of a resurgence of interest in model kits of artillery subjects of late, and Dragon have amply contributed to that revival with a string of '88' gun kits, all produced to an extremely high standard. Just received at the TMMI office is Dragon's newest addition to the line-up of heavy weaponry in the form of the German army's heavy field howitzer sFHl8, complete with limber for use when the gun is depicted in travel mode. Perhaps the first thing to report is that although they are shown on the boxtop artwork, no crew is provided, these having to be purchased separately. Open the box, and you are greeted by the now familiar carded packaging carrying the 'multi-media' parts of the model, namely the beefy turned aluminium gun barrel, flexible mouldings for the ammunition containers, two short lengths of brass tubing, two small PE frets, some waterslide decals and a sprue of clear parts for the sighting mechanism. The main parts of the kit reside across eight sprues of grey polystyrene, (the D' sprues are repeated), and there sure are a lot of parts! The howitzer is broken down very thoroughly into multiple component form, and because of Dragon's use of sacrificial mould-ejector pips' to limit the impact of ejector pin marks, there will be a fair bit of clean-up required before each part is ready to be glued to its neighbour.
