Rubicon’s Panzerspähwagen Sd.Kfz.250
(SdKfz 250/1 Alte) – A Review
Today’s review is of one of Rubicon’s newly-released
kits, the Sd.Kfz.250/1 Alte or SdKfz.253.
The “two-option” kit gives you the ability to create two interesting
variants of a small, yet effective, transport.
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| Image courtesy of Tanks-Encyclopedia.com |
The German army was a fan of motorized transportation for
its army. Many different kinds of
vehicles were developed in the inter-war period and with the outbreak of the Second
World War, various vehicles such as the Sd.Kfz.250 were used to hold and increase
the Axis Powers’ reach over territory.
The Sd.Kfz.250 was conceived in 1939 upon the request for
a small, yet armored, transport to fulfill multiple rolls on the
battlefield. The Sd.Kfz.250 was given a
6 cylinder Maybach, 4.17-liter gasoline engine capable of delivering 100 horsepower
for its size. The engine was able to
produce roughly a 17.2 to ton horsepower ratio.
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| Image courtesy of Wikipedia |
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| Image courtesy of Wikipedia |
Given its size, the Sd.Kfz.250 was capable of
transporting half a platoon and could be outfitted to meet various roles.
The angled armor, while only 8mm to 10mm
thick, served as sufficient armor and bullet deflection towards small-arms
fire.
The roof of the driving
compartment was usually outfitted with a ring to mount a pintled MG 34, however
necessity would later see the Sd.Kfz.250 being equipped with forward mounted
anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft defense.
Aside from fighting roles, the Sd.Kfz.250 also served as a great
transport for medical personnel, recon work, artillery observers, and was even
sported by Erwin Rommel himself in the popular Sd.Kfz.250 designated as “Greif”.
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| Image courtesy of Tanks-Encyclopedia.com |
Rubicon’s depiction of the Sd.Kfz.250 comes neatly packed
in an attractive box that doesn’t kid you with what it holds.
Aside from the great box art, the rear of the
box gives you a brief history of the vehicle as well as examples of two different
layouts of the kit: the Sd.Kfz.250 or the SdKfz.253.
For my sake, I will be building the kit as
the Sd.Kfz.250 version and will be doing a bit of a kit-bash by adding my own
Pak 36 to the top of the kit.
(Rubicon
will be releasing a version with a 28mm schwere P
anzerbüchse later on, but I enjoy modifying my
own vehicles and I admit, I’m tad bit impatient.)
Let’s get on with the unboxing.
Out of the gate, you’ll see that the kit arrives in two
packaged sprues; there’s really not much to this kit at all for how well it
turns out.
Again, you’ll see that each
sprue comes individually packaged to avoid any pieces escaping during transit.
Along with the sprues, you get a set of
detailed instructions as well as a sheet of decals.
Prior to building, be sure to look at the
instructions.
The kit is designed to be
made into two different variants, you’ll see steps being explained with alternate
parts.
Rubicon is very good about
telling you which steps to follow for either a) or b) model, but it’s good to
be aware of this.
The instructions start off with having you build the support
structure of the vehicle.
You begin by
pre-drilling holes in the formidable fenders.
From there, you attach each fender to the sloping sides of the
vehicle.
Rubicon placed shallow slits in
the side of the slopes so that the fenders lock slightly in place with the aid
of some plastic glue.
With the sides in place, the instructions whisk you away
to the trademark German suspension arms.
For the sake of your sanity, Rubicon made the lower assembly, arms, and drive
into one simple piece for each side!
After
applying each suspension arm assembly to its corresponding side, it’s time to
move onto the fully detailed interior and the first-of-its-kind in 1:56 scale: a
smiling German driver.
From here, the instructions go pretty in-depth about how
to build the fully detailed interior.
The kit provides many different options and bits to be included on the interior
racks.
For my sake, I put the driver in
as a test fit and filled out only a couple of the racks as I intend to outfit
the interior with a couple of crew members.
At this point, I went off the rails from Rubicon’s
instructions as I intend to use a forward-mounted 28mm schwere P
anzerbüchse on the driver’s
roof.
As Rubicon’s rendition of the gun
isn’t out yet, I scavenged one from a Warlord Hanomag kit.
With my setup, this armored behemoth will
fill the “armored car” slot in my DAK army at 135 pts.
Sure, it may die relatively quick during some
games (Steven, I loathe your mortars), but with the 28mm schwere P
anzerbüchse, it’s capable of
delivering a bad news and then exiting faster (thanks recce!) than I did at a
restaurant during a bad date four years back.
Outfitted with the 28mm schwere P
anzerbüchse, the Sd.Kfz.250 was ready to be
outfitted with its means of propulsion.
Once again, Rubicon saves your sanity by molding the interlaced wheels
and tracks together!
With the wheels and
tracks in place on the arms, the application of two final road wheels on each
side (to secure each wheel and track assembly to the body) mark the completion
of the kit.
For a comparison, here’s how the Sd.Kfz.250 compares to a
Stummel Hanomag.
This kit was a great, and very quick build. It combines detail with practicality to
create a great model. Well done Rubicon.
If you enjoyed the review, feel free to leave a comment
below as it really helps the site out.
Additionally, if you'd like to pick up this reduced-fat version of a Hanomag, head
on over to
Rubicon or follow this
link to the direct listing.
I’ll be following up with this post as I begin to paint
the Sd.Kfz.250. In a future post, I will
be reviewing one of Warlord’s kits: the 88 Flak! Until next time, have a great one.
