Special Hobby Sd.Kfz.250 Captured ‘alte Ausführung’ (SA72027) 1:72

[Mike]

Sd.Kfz.250 Captured ‘alte Ausführung’ (SA72027)

1:72 Special Armour by Special Hobby

 

 

The Sd.kfz 250 was a light armoured halftrack similar in appearance to the Hanomag Sd.Kfz.251/1.  Both were a mainstay of the German armoured Personnel Carrier fleet, but were flexible enough to also take up many other tasks. With two steerable 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 plunging fire, where the armour would concentrate the blast inside to the detriment of the occupants.  Almost 6,000 examples were produced between 1940 and the end of WWII, and the vehicle was in service in time for the invasion of France, serving in most theatres in which the Wehrmacht fought to the bitter end. Fifteen official variants were produced, including ammunition carriers to support StuG batteries and signals cars that were equipped with radio sets. Other variants were equipped with heavy weapons that enabled them to provide infantry support.

 

As a testament to their versatility, usefulness and durability, the type was sometimes reused when captured by Allied forces and insurgents taking back their homeland toward the end of the war, and they were kept in service for some period afterward where needs required.

 

 

The Kit

This is a re-release of the original MK72 kit, As the sprues were originally tooled By Special Hobby in their MPM days. According to the Special Hobby website they now own the moulds, hence its release now under the Special Armour brand.  The kit arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of the vehicle on the front and profiles of the decal options on the rear, with five sprues inside, four in grey, one in sand coloured styrene, plus a decal sheet and instruction booklet.  The tooling still looks sharp and the parts count is quite high for what will be a small model in 1:72. Some of the small parts are very fine and will require care removing them from the sprues. The kit represents the earlier 250 before it was replaced by a revised version that was simplified to be easier and cheaper to manufacture. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the lower hull, which is made up into a shallow dish from three sections so that the road wheels for the tracked portion of the vehicle can be interleaved behind the drive sprockets, which are both made from two parts each.  The tracks are found on the sand-coloured sprue, and are shortened by five links to fit the chassis, as shown in the accompanying scrap diagram, and here a little heat judiciously applied might be wise to help the styrene wrap around the sprockets at the ends.  The front wheels are each made from two halves, and these are fixed to the steering axle that is made up from six parts, with a wheel on each end.  The crew compartments are made up next, starting with the driver’s compartment, which has much of the detail moulded into the floor, plus a dashboard with steering column and wheel, joined by two seat backs, control levers and stowage boxes.  The rear compartment is tread-plated in the lowest areas, and fixes to the back of the drivers’ section, with an additional seat and a two-door cabinet at the rear, plus a stack of double drum mags for the machine gun behind the chair.  The sloping centre sections of the body sides are glued in place on the lower hull, adding a pair of towing hooks at the front, and the fenders with stowage boxes and pioneer tools moulded into the surface, the latter also able to be removed with a knife and sanded back if you choose. 

 

The upper hull is moulded as a single part, and is fixed on top of the centre section along with the rear bulkhead and a fold-down platform that stows near vertically in the left side.  The front armoured radiator cover, bumper, stowage doors, and crew compartment vision slots are all fixed to the front, and a door, towing hitch, convoy light and radio antenna are added to the rear to complete the majority of the structural work.  There is a choice of slotted or open-fronted headlamps, width indicator lollipops and a pair of upstands on the fenders, then the remaining parts are used to fit either a shallow or deep mounting plate for the gun, which isn’t your standard MG34 or 42.  This is built up on a mount with two styles of splinter shield parts, and a pair of aiming wheels that glue onto the mount.  The gun looks like a small calibre artillery piece with a breech protector on the left, and it is suitable for decal option C in Polish service.  A more traditional pintle-mount is supplied for the other two options that installs in the front or rear of the crew compartment, using one of the two MG34s that can be found on the sprues.  Incidentally, there are a number of spare small arms on the sprues if you wish to use them.

 

 

Markings

There are three choices on the small decal sheet, all captured vehicles in the service of various operators.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• ‘Small Caterpillar’ insurgent Unit Prague-Zizkov, 8th May 1945
• Vehicle captured by US Army during battle of the Bulge, Bastogne, Belgium, 1944-5
• Captured vehicle operated by the troops of 13. Pułk Artylerii Samobieżnej, Ludowe Vojsko Polskie

 

 

 

The decals are printed in good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film extending around the printed areas, which should hopefully make the edges easier to hide.

 

 

Conclusion

An interesting reboxing of this standard German halftrack that takes it away from both the Panzer Grey and Dunkelgelb fare that we normally see, although there’s still a little of the latter on display in some of the decal options.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of