The Vehicle

The Sd.Kfz.250/1 (neu) was a compact version of the SdKfz251. Its mission was to carry a scout section for reconnaissance purposes. There was a previous (alt) version which had multi-faceted armor plate which stood up better than the simpler flat plates used by the “neu” version. But because the older version was more difficult to build and cost more, the newer one became the standard in early 1944

The armor of the Sd.Kfz 250/1 could stop rifle caliber bullets and shell fragments, but didn’t stand up to anything heavier, such as a .50 caliber or larger weapon. The half track design was superior to wheeled armored cars when off-road, so the 250 was preferred in many situations.

The Model

Ace has produced a vehicle which we haven’t seen kitted previously. ESCI had a 250/9, but it’s a different vehicle in that it has a screened top to prevent insertion of grenades and other litter.

This kit contains 47 grey styrene parts that will create five “mostly civilian” figures. “Mostly” because two are in uniform. One is a Hitler Jugend (Youth) or HJ, technically a civilian, and the other is an Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) uniformed regular policeman. More on these two later.

What a great time to be a modeler! Zoukei-Mura continues their excellent 1/32 scale releases with an A-1H Skyraider. The kit is stunning with the option to fold the wings already included, great cockpit detail, and a full interior. Other options include positionable air brakes, a highly detailed engine, detailed gun bays, and many other options.

The kit is available now and Zoukei-Mura also allows the modeler the option of adding even more aftermarket to it as options, with a complete weapons set (that could be used for other aircraft and is excellently detailed), metal landing gear, turned cannon barrels, and a variety of photoetch and decals. I love the fact these are options, in that it gives the modeler a choice of how far he want to go with his own build and cost.

This kit represents a field modification of an SdKfz 10 Halftrack to mount the 3.7cm PaK 35/36 in the bed. The AT gun basically just had the wheels removed and was placed in a specially designed cradle in the bed of the halftrack. The sprues are from the halftrack kit (new) and the 3.7cm PaK kit (old), along with the special sprue for the mounting of the gun. There are Magic Tracks for the tracks and, if you are careful, they will moveable and will allow for a good representation of the track sag. There is one sprue of clear plastic and one small fret of photo etched parts.

Step 1. This step builds the drive sprocket, idler wheel, and the two front wheels. It has been noted elsewhere that the drive sprocket is undersize in both the diameter and the thickness. After I built a run of the track I found that the drive rollers are too wide and, to get the tracks to fit, I had to sand off a little of the drive rollers on both sides.

The kit comes in a sturdy top opening box – great for holding the parts as you work on the model. There are thirty-eight light grey plastic parts and two clear sprues, one being from the Minicraft C-47/DC-3 kit that uses only the Astrodome part. The small decal sheet (1¼” by 4½”) manages to include three schemes, one Navy (the only named aircraft) and two Marine.

As I found the PBJ with the radar nose interesting, I decided to make that one. With a little research I found a right rear-quarter picture of the aircraft in the Osprey Combat Aircraft #40 “PBJ Mitchell Units of the Pacific War” book on page 82. This picture and others in this book show that many of the PBJ’s had no fifty cal. package guns on the fuselage sides, so one of the first jobs was the removal of these guns.

I appreciated that the glass nose on this radar-equipped aircraft was painted blue, saving a lot of tiny window frame painting.