Hmm... interesting. The (few) photos i've seen suggest the contrary... Comments? Images to support or refute this claim? An interesting topic

The box art shows a Brummbar with zimm, but there is no Zimmerit logo on the box, no zimm on Cad either... Pity, would have made another nice pre-zimmerited kit. I am growing more unhappy with each new release news. I have stopped buying new kits because of my overgrown stash, yet this new releases hit the mark. I think this is what you call a "wrong investment policy"

The weight of the Brummbär (according to Chamberlain and Doyle) was 28.3 ton. That is 3 tons heavier than the Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. H and J, and these were at the limit of what the chassis could cope with. The Pz.IV/70 (StuG) with it's 70 caliber 75mm gun caused the rubber tyres of the front wheels to wear to quickly, which is why these where fitted with the steel wheels. But that was mainly due to the overhang of the barrel, increasing the load on the front bogies. The armour thickness of the Brummbär's superstructure was 100mm at the front, and 50mm at the sides. Compare this with the 80mm and 30mm respectively of the Ausf J, and the overall increase of weight is obvious. The suspension of the Brummbär would have been overloaded, however, the weight distribution is much more centralised, so whilst the suspension overall would have been stretched, I don't think it would neccessarily be 'nose heavy'. If I remember correctly, I have seen pictures of Brummbär with all steel wheels, but not specifically just the front bogies. The suspension and wheels of the Pz.Kpfw. IV were designed for a vehicle of around 20 ton (the first version weight in at 18 tons), not 28+ tons....

Found this on YouTube...starts in English and then becomes dubbed (loudly) in Russian (I think). The suspension looks sound. Maybe the sagging thing happened over time, assuming the tank wasn't destroyed before that happened. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVzCBO_8IWk

The metal schurtzen will hopefully carry over to the late Panzer IV's. That would be nice and as for this Brummbar I've always wanted to build one so now I guess I'll have to Bob

As something of a postscript to this, i'm beginning to get the feeling that DML are correct in portaying the vehicle in a 'Horizonal' position. The last 24 hours, i've been looking at a lot of images of Brummbärs and i've yet to see one which confirms this. Frankly, these 'instant' reviews based on a handful of CAD images rather than the actual model are becoming a tad terious....

I am wondering if the sag in the Trumpeter kit is easily correctable. I would like to get the kit to try these new tracks they are putting in it.

Lawrence Quah sent me a mail on the subject this morning, here are his suggestions: Nothing to do with me - but it does raise some fascinating ideas...

Never mind the (perceived or not) nose heavy stance of the vehicle, does this new release mean that I can shelf the 'original' Brummbär from Dragon which I have been adding zimmerit to? It will be interesting to see where the kits differ. edit as I hit the post button, I realised that the old Dragon kit is indeed a 'Late' version... The good news is that that means that all version will then be available. Thank you Dragon.