Das Werk le.SPW Sd.Kfz.250/I Ausf .B (neu)

[Kelscale]

Das Werk le.SPW Sd.Kfz.250/I Ausf .B (neu)

Box art

 

Finally found a few hours to start work on the little SPW. This is the 2022 Das Werk re-issue of the 2007 Dragon kit #6427 which is extremely difficult to find these days, so it is good to see it released again, and not for Dragon kit money!  Comparing the instruction sheets the only difference with the contents appears to be that Das Werk omits the rolled back tarp and the brass width indicators that were in the original kit🤔

 

The instruction sheet can be found here: https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/2/7/1/1426271-97-instructions.pdf with a quick kit review and the obligatory sprue shots available here: https://www.themodellingnews.com/2022/08/in-boxed-lespw-sdkfz2501-ausfb-neu-http://in.html

 

The kit comes in a huge box dwarfing all the sprues, of which the majority are wrapped individually. There is also a photo-etch fret. Das Werk have added their own instruction sheet with colour painting guides and decals for four of the seven offered originally. Apart from maybe a few 3D printed tool clasps this will be an out of the box build using all the photo-etch included in the kit.  I don’t have any reference books on the 250 but armed with plenty of period images I figured this would be good enough.

 

Photo-etch fret.

 

As in normal fashion we start off with the running gear.  The hull tub is a one-piece affair but be aware, in typical Dragon fashion, there are two in the box so make sure it’s the right one!  This all fits together without issue although the dual inner wheels have ridiculously small alignment detail so it would be quite easy to misalign the spokes. The torsion bar suspension is not workable so there are little tabs to align the visible ends in the hull tub. There is however, a little wiggle room in the attachment should you wish to show a little weight or show the tracks articulated over groundwork.

 

The tracks are of the original ‘magic track’ type which come in small sealed bags.  Although shallow there are two pin marks on the inside of each link, and I found every tooth had a small ‘pip’ which required a quick swipe of the modelling blade. Overall, they are relatively quick to clean up, but they are extremely small and to make each link moveable requires careful application of adhesive!  Tedious and fiddly as hell, I managed to clean up and connect both runs in around four hours. 

 

I have added the torsion bar ends in the hull stepped down towards the front to show some weight to the rear of the vehicle. This makes the 38 link track run look tighter than it would if the torsion bar ends were aligned in a straight line.

 

I had already checked fitment of a small link run around the sprockets and TBH I was not impressed. The sprocket rollers should be offset from the trackpads and thus each sprocket is ‘handed’ This allows the links to sit flush against the sprocket track pads. Although there is a small offset on the moulding it is nowhere near big enough, however, this doesn’t appear to be the reason for the fitment issue. The problem is with the track teeth. They were too thick to fit far enough down inside the sprocket. Shaving them thinner helped but I eventually resorted to completely removing them where they sat round the sprocket. 38 links are called out for. As with the torsion bar ends the idler has a little wiggle room in its attachment point to the hull so there is some room to play with the track sag without adding or removing links..

 

Both track runs have had the track teeth removed around the sprocket to get as flush a fitment as possible.

 

The front wheels are fixed on the axle in the straight-ahead position but are easy enough to manipulate should you wish to show a little movement. You get the option of two types of front wheels. An old style split down the middle and the much nicer ‘sandwich’ arrangement.

 

The interior is where most of the parts in this kit end up. First, we start with the floor, seats, and bulkhead. These are nicely engineered so you can paint them separately as access with the airbrush will be tight when fully assembled.

 

Bulkhead and two part floor panels dry fitted to aid painting later on.

 

 

This is as far as I got but looking at the next steps there is quite a comprehensive amount of crew gear to add to the interior walls of the side panels. Thankfully their locations are clearly laid out in the instructions. There are a multitude of witness marks from all the various models Dragon produced so you need to remove quite a few before placement of the parts can begin. A large portion of the photo-etch fret is used up here; storage boxes and frames, straps to add to all the crew gear such as the gas cannisters, mess tins etc, and all have to be added individually. This arrangement does give you the option to show empty spaces with gear removed which always adds a little realism.

 

 

Thanks for looking

 

Los

Edited November 23, 2022 by Kelscale

[edjbartos]

That's a very nice nice and a lovely clean build as well. looking forward to seeing this built..

 

Ed

[Courageous]

What Ed said. Should look fantastic when the paint goes on.

 

Stuart

[Stef N.]

Another one that will be following with great interest. All the best in your build.👍

[Bertie McBoatface]

This looks like a nice modern kit. Coming along well

[Kelscale]

I would love to say that the build is shuffling along nicely, however........

 

Getting to step 12 has been painless so far but from this point it appears confusion rains😶  Looking over all the steps for adding the interior components it becomes evident that something is not quite right. 

Instruction sheet can be found here https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/2/7/1/1426271-97-instructions.pdf

 

Without any great knowledge of internal layouts of the 250 variants it is still obvious Dragon have really messed up the interior. In step 12 you are instructed to add all the many accessories to both sides of the interior side panels, however a red flag is raised immediately as no seat back for the seat bench parts C2 & C3 already added in step 10 on the driver’s side is called out for!  If you add, as instructed all the various crew paraphernalia there simply isn’t any room for it! Yet, if you turn the page and look at step 14 the seat back on the driver’s side is visibly shown!🤔  Before adding any more items to the interior, I decided it would be prudent to do some further digging into what the interior of the 250/1 looked like.

 

First up I began searching the tinterweb for specific build logs of the 250/1 Neu version and it became apparent that many builders pointed the finger at Dragon mixing up the interior and adding items that would only be found in the 250/5 variant.  Not ever intending to go mad super detailing the interior I did at least want the basic layout to be correct. 

 

If anybody has got any decent period images of 250/1 Neu interiors, it would be appreciated.

Edited November 28, 2022 by Kelscale

[PeterB]

6 hours ago, Kelscale said:

If anybody has got any decent period images of 250/1 Neu interiors, it would be appreciated.

Don't know if these are any help.

 

The drawing is a "neu" 250/1 and the photo an old style one with the angled sides but the layout internally looks similar. My "Encyclopaedia of German Tanks" states that it was built to transport a "halbgruppe" of 4 infantrymen and had a total crew of 6, and as the bench seat on the left in the drawing  (which seems to have a back rest) is apparently for only 3, I gather there is another seat for a passenger at the rear right that you have not fitted yet.

 

Pete

[Kelscale]

On 28/11/2022 at 19:09, PeterB said:

Don't know if these are any help.

 

The drawing is a "neu" 250/1 and the photo an old style one with the angled sides but the layout internally looks similar. My "Encyclopaedia of German Tanks" states that it was built to transport a "halbgruppe" of 4 infantrymen and had a total crew of 6, and as the bench seat on the left in the drawing  (which seems to have a back rest) is apparently for only 3, I gather there is another seat for a passenger at the rear right that you have not fitted yet.

 

Pete

Thanks a bunch Pete. It does look like the interior of both the Ausf A & B variants are very similar

[Kelscale]

Thanks to Pete above and to some additional info obtained on the ML site it does appear that both the Ausf A & B internal layouts were very similar with only some minor differences. The Panzer Tracts book 15-1 appears to be the one required but it is long out of publication and searching the tinterweb I can only see a few copies advertised on US bookshop sites.

 

Some nice walk Ausf A around images from this site posted in 2016: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235003705-sdkfz-250-sonderkraftfahrzeug-250-german-halftrack/

 

Some  nice plans of the Ausf A: https://bushmakow.com/files/389/leichter-schurenpanzrwage.pdf

 

Some nice resto pics of an Ausf B along with plenty of original manuals in PDF form: https://bushmakow.com/collection/250-5-ausf-b-ii-1944-5-ss-pzaa-wiking-correction/

 

As already mentioned, the kit instructions has you build and includes a whole photo-etch fret which comprises parts for the 250/5 variant and not the 250/1 which is what the kit is supposed to represent. Browsing the sprues, it does look like parts for the 250/1 are present save for the bin cover behind the driver’s side bench seat so I will use the reference pics to add just the accessories for the 250/1 and hopefully source anything else required from the parts box.

[PeterB]

I have found another book and I rather think that the earlier plan of the "250/1Neu I posted is in fact mislabelled and it is actually a 250/3 Neu. Here are links to a Ausf A 250/1 and I suspect the Neu version will be similar.

https://flic.kr/p/2o6Mn17

https://flic.kr/p/2o6GFr7

 The difference is in the rear right corner where there should be a seat in the /1 and not the rack or whatever it is which was in the /3 Signals version.

 

Pete

[Kelscale]

This is progress so far so I don’t think I have added anything that shouldn't be in the 250/1 as yet 🤔    Definitely a vehicle that will need painting in sub-assemblies.

 

Holes in the floor are opened to receive the single seat. Gear levers are way too chunky, and the tracks are ‘fiddly to assemble due to their size but almost all of them articulate. The tracks are not a great fit round the sprockets due the rollers not being offset but I managed to get them flush round every tyre flat. The ref images in the links above distinctly show each Sprocket with a stamped 'L' and 'R'

 

I'm probably going to airbrush them on the wheels to save any possible faff re-fitting them after a few microns of paint have been applied! 

 

Other than that, pretty straight forward to this point.

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2022 by Kelscale

[Kelscale]

22 minutes ago, PeterB said:

I have found another book and I rather think that the earlier plan of the "250/1Neu I posted is in fact mislabelled and it is actually a 250/3 Neu. Here are links to a Ausf A 250/1 and I suspect the Neu version will be similar.

https://flic.kr/p/2o6Mn17

https://flic.kr/p/2o6GFr7

 The difference is in the rear right corner where there should be a seat in the /1 and not the rack or whatever it is which was in the /3 Signals version.

 

Pete

Thanks again Pete. Appreciated

[edjbartos]

That looks very nice neat and tidy, looking forward to some more progress...

 

Ed