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Krankenpanzerwagen (35113) Sd.Kfz.251/8 Ausf.A WWII German Ambulance 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd The Hanomag Sd.Kfz.251 was the mainstay of the German armoured Personnel Carrier fleet, but was flexible enough to also take up many other tasks within the Nazi War Machine, from Anti-Aircraft duties to Howitzer carriage and back again to armoured reconnaissance, which led to a lot of variants. With two steering wheels at the front, the rear was carried on tracks, giving it good clearance and rough ground capabilities that a truck simply could not manage once the going got tough. It was armoured sufficiently to deflect non-armour piercing rounds from small arms fire, but with an open top it was susceptible to both grenades and aerial bombardment, where the armour would concentrate the blast and reduce the interior and its occupants to a tangled mess. The Ausf.A was used at the beginning of WWII alongside the Ausf.B, and was generally fitted with an MG.34 on the front cab wall, operated from inside. The armoured ambulance variant was of course unarmed to avoid braking convention, and in place of the military equipment normally found in the load area, it had two litters for casualties, and was crewed by medical staff. There were more than 20 official variants and more unofficial field modifications, but despite their seemingly ubiquitous nature in German service, not many were preserved after the war, and they are highly sought after now, with many examples being based upon post-war builds from Czech factories that have been made to look as convincing as possible by their restorers. While the purist may notice the differences in films, they're still a huge improvement on repainted American half-tracks from an authenticity point of view. The Kit This is a reboxing with different parts of the 2018 tooling, and extends the range to a less combative aspect of the vehicle’s operational duties. The kit arrives in a medium sized box, with a captive flap on the lower tray, and inside are six sprues of grey styrene, a clear sprue, and two sprues of flexible black parts. A small decal sheet is found slipped inside the glossy colour printed instruction booklet, completing the package. This is a full interior kit, and has the engine, crew compartment and a substantial number of internal parts, including personal weapons, stowage and two beds mounted on one side, with a stretcher folded against one wall to bring new patients to and from the vehicle, so the build should result in a highly detailed model. The tracks included are of the flexible variety, although a little flash is evident here and there on our sample. This is easily removed with a sharp pair of scissors or a brand-new #11 blade on a firm surface. Construction begins with the underfloor pan, which has two cross-members fore and aft, adding the sides of the tray, which is then added to the interior floor, and has stowage bins added to the sponsons over the tracks. The angular hull sides are held in the correct angle by butting up against the sides of the bins, and the rear bulkhead with door cut-out completes alignment. The engine compartment is fabricated from various panels including an armoured sump-guard, and work commences on the engine and compartment fittings. Suspension, steering gear and the block are assembled and fitted in turn, with colour call-outs to help you get the painting right, and a twin-fan radiator at the very front. The firewall is fitted out with the driver's controls with decal applied, then is inserted into a ledge within the hull, after which some engine ancillaries fit to the other side of the bulkhead. The driver's seat, bench seats and a range of tools, an MP40 and spare ammunition are installed with the upper hull plates off, while a narrow former marks the difference between the cab and crew compartment, which will be hidden under the upper hull part when it is installed. The bench seating in the rear compartment is assembled and fitted in place on the left side, adding a four-part ribbed drum at the front between the crew seats, and a single bench seat at the rear, all supported by simple legs with diagonal braces. On the right side, a litter is built from two rails with cross-members and the bed surface, inserting it in four recesses in the floor along with a blanket strapped to the walls, and a co-driver’s seat. The folded away right seats are fastened to the wall, leaving the rear seat open for the use of medical crew or passengers, adding a headrest on supports and several brackets around the edge of the lower walls. The same headrest is also applied to the left jump seat, and a handrail is fixed to the crew divide, drilling holes to accept the pegs long the flat top of the part, preferably before installation. Oddly, the model is then flipped on its back to add a steering linkage and actuator before attention turns to the upper hull. Several vision hatches and their multi-part hinge mechanism are supplied as separate parts, as are the engine compartment hatches, plus some small flush-fitting forward stowage bins. A bullet-splash strip is applied to the roof above the crew eats, but the gun mount and stowage racks are removed, as is the gun mount at the rear of the vehicle, presumably to discourage the crews from the temptation of fitting defensive armament that could result in attacks by a confused enemy. Two thin strips are applied to the lip of the upper hull, fitting a stowage box under the dash on the co-driver’s side, attaching the rack for the upper bed across the opening, and mounting a folded stretcher on the underside of the left lip, a single part that has some impressive moulding to give the impression of multiple parts, some made from fabric. The second bed is made in the same manner as the first, and is mounted as the upper and lower hull halves are joined, trapping the two hinge frames between its halves. The angled doors are then fitted to those hinges, allowing them to operate if you have been careful with the glue, affixing a fire extinguisher to the right door near the centreline. It's unusual to get this far into an AFV model without building up the wheels and/or tracks, but it's at this stage that it's done here. A V-shaped anti-roll bar is fitted to the front axle and the rear hull, fixing swing-arms and stub axles slot into holes in the sides of the chassis, with the interleaved wheels slid onto the axles both in pairs and singly, with the drive sprocket at the front. The two steering wheels are made up from two-part hubs, and have rubberised tyres fitted to them before slotting them onto the front axles, and with the three layers of road wheels installed, the tracks can be wound round the lengths, and glued with a suitable glue, probably super-glue, or CA as modellers tend to call it. The build is finished off by addition of pioneer tools, fire extinguisher, number plate, rear towing hook, spare fuel cans in two-part racks, one per door, crew step at the rear, four hoops to accommodate a tilt in foul weather, rear view mirrors, and headlamps with clear lenses on the front fenders. Markings In keeping with German armour it's either Panzer Grey or Dunkelgelb (dark yellow), the latter camouflages as the war progressed, any camouflage benefits cancelled out by the large red and white crosses painted on each side, front and bonnet of the vehicle. From the box you can build one of the following: Sd.Kfz. 251/8 Ausf.A livery Variant for North Africa, 1941-42 Sd.Kfz. 251/8 Ausf.A livery Variant for Eastern Front, 1941-42 Decals are printed on a bright blue paper, have good register, colour density and sharpness, with decals for the driver's binnacle included on the sheet. Conclusion A welcome re-release of a Wehrmacht staple with a more peaceful task in mind, that will surely find its way into many collections, and is well detailed enough to be built out of the box for diorama purposes. Very highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

German Command Vehicle Crew 1939-42 (35644) 1:35 ICM via Hannants During WWII German Blitzkreig operations there would be command vehicles dotted about the battlefield to maximise situational awareness and give the shortest distance between troops/vehicles and their commanders, which was essential for a fast-moving offensive. Although they weren't intended to be in the vanguard, they were close enough to stay in touch and could occasionally become involved in the actual combat inadvertently, so some form of armour was necessary to keep the high value targets relatively safe from stray bullets. Often the Sd.Kfz 251 was used as they were proof against small arms fire and shrapnel, excellent over rough ground while giving sufficient space for a commander and radio operators in the rear. Other vehicles were used, but there's a 251 on the boxtop so we're safe to assume that these figures are patterned to work with them, and you can see our review of the ICM kit here. The set arrives in a figure sized top opening box with additional captive lid inside, and has a single sprue of mid-grey styrene and a short instruction sheet inside. On the sprue are four figures, including a driver figure and two radio operators, one adjusting his set whilst listening in on headphones, the other with his headphones round his neck writing on a pad that is resting on his left knee. The officer of course is wearing his rank appropriate cap, binoculars and riding breeches, and is resting his right arm on the lip of the vehicle's walls and his corresponding foot propped up on a box within the vehicle. His other hand is looped through his belt/over his holster and he is leaning forward as if he is interested in what's going on. The accessories are fairly sparse due to the duties of the crew, and consist of bands for headphones, binoculars, pistol holster and notepad, while the figures themselves are broken down into separate legs, arms, torso, head with moulded in caps, or separate cap for the officer. The driver figure has his arms split at the elbow to obtain a more realistic position while maintaining detail on the hands etc., and to give a little adjustment when fitting his hands onto the steering wheel. Conclusion Sculpting and moulding are first rate as you'd expect from ICM with impressive detail and realistic drape of clothing throughout, plus sensible breakdown of parts around belts, clothing seams etc., and once the seams are scraped smooth and a little sympathetic painting is carried out (sounds easy, doesn't it?), you should have a great-looking crew for your 251. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Sd.Kfz.251/6 Ausf.A (35102) 1:35 ICM via Hannants The Hanomag Sd.Kfz.251/1 was the mainstay of the German armoured Personnel Carrier fleet, but was flexible enough to also take up many other tasks within the Nazi War Machine, from Anti-Aircraft duties to Howitzer carriage and back again to armoured reconnaissance, which led to a lot of variants. With two steering wheels at the front, the rear was carried on tracks, giving it good clearance and rough ground capabilities that a truck simply could not manage once the going got tough. It was armoured sufficiently to deflect non-armour piercing rounds from small arms fire, but with an open top it was susceptible to both grenades and aerial bombardment, where the armour would concentrate the blast and reduce the interior to a tangled mess. The Ausf.A was used at the beginning of WWII alongside the Ausf.B, and was generally fitted with an MG.34 on the front cab wall, operated from inside. There were more than 20 official variants and more unofficial field modifications, but despite their seemingly ubiquitous nature in German service, not many were preserved after the war, and they are highly sought after now, with many examples being based upon post-war builds from Czech factories that have been made to look as convincing as possible by their restorers. While the purist may notice the differences in films, they're still a huge improvement on repainted American half-tracks from an authenticity point of view. The command version being identifiable by the large antenna. The Kit This is a reboxing of kit number 35101 of the same vehicle, but with the addition of a sprue for the command antenna. We reviewed the original kit here, where you can see all the pictures below, as well as the build process and our thoughts on the model. This boxing arrives in a similar box, with the additional sprue taking up any spare space within, and on the exterior it has a new painting, which represents the more relaxed theme of the figures, which are either walking with their transport, or standing offering directions. There are now six grey, a clear sprue (just the headlamps are used), and the flexible tracks and wheels. Markings 2 markings are supplied in any colour you want as long as its Panzer Grey WH 179467 Command Vehicle of General H Guderian, Poland, 1939 WH 609084 1941 Conclusion We liked it first time around, and like it still, especially with the addition the command version. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from Hannants and other model shops Review sample courtesy of