Bring on the vehicles...
Sdkfz 250/1 Ausf B 'Neu'
I have to admit that I have long had a soft spot for the Sd.Kfz 250 and the late Ausf B version in particular. It tends to be overshadowed by its much larger cousin the 251, but with its short length and snub nose there is something almost cute about it!
When I was last modelling back in the 80s, when the only kits available were the early Ausf A versions by Tamiya (notably Rommel’s famous ‘Grief’ 250/3 variant with the frame antenna), I even contemplated a partial scratchbuild. Luckily in 1998 Dragon finally got around filling the gap.
The kit I used was actually the Dragon 250/8 which I found second hand at IPMS Scale Model World in Telford a few of years back. Since the kit also includes all the parts for the original 250/1, this didn’t matter (apart from the decals as I later found out).
I also sourced some photoetch from both Royal Model and Aber. Some people hate PE and, if I am honest, I would rather avoid it - but sometimes there is nothing that looks as good. I usually buy two sets from different manufacturers so that I have more than one choice when it comes to tricky parts: there’s usually one that’s easier or simpler (and it’s almost never Aber).
The one place where I think all of the late model 250 kits let themselves down is on the upper side armour. This is far too thick. The real vehicle actually had fairly thin side plates bolstered with internal armour panels. The side vision slits are also poorly defined.
For this reason I highly recommend the Aber set. This is actually etched into thicker metal than their usual sets and it fits the Dragon, etc kit parts really well. The only minor surgery required is to separate the old upper armour from the bonnet.
Opened-topped vehicles are always a challenge because there is so much detail and nowhere to hide, but the late 250 is also very crowded.
Surprisingly there is also a lack of reliable information about what the interior actually looks like. For a vehicle that was built in the 3,000+ range there are remarkably few surviving examples of the late 250/1 variant and those that I have found on line are often heavily restored. There are a lot of fine factory interior shots of the early (Ausf A / ‘Alt’) versions of the 250 taken by the Germans during manufacture, but none for the later model. Perhaps they didn’t bother keeping these sorts of meticulous records later in the war (they had other things to think about) - or the archives are now lost. Two useful reference books are:
Panzer Tracts No.15-1: Le.s.p.w. (Sd.kfz.250) Ausf.a & B by Hilary Doyle and Thomas Jentz, and Sd. Kfz 250 Alt-Neu: Archive: v.3,Pt.2 by Martin Kogel.
Fortunately, the first has re-printed and whilst the second is OOP, but can be found fairly easily second-hand.
They each have a lot of excellent photos and the Doyle/Jentz book has fine scale drawings of most variants, but they both leave the interior of the late 250 as something of a mystery. The Doyle/Jentz book has a plan view of the late 250/3 with interior, for example, but the plan view of the 250/1 has an empty interior. Knowing the authors, I suspect this is because they were not prepared to speculate where they lacked enough first-hand source material.
Anyway, I didn't want to get too bogged down in the technical stuff - this is supposed to be a diorama blog after all. In the end, what I put together was based on the original Dragon kit, a mixture of the Aber and Royal Model photoetch sets (which often overlap, but sometimes differ), the above-mentioned books and images I found on line. Chief amongst the latter were pictures of the well-known Panzerfarm late 250/1 that was dredged up from a river surprisingly intact.
Because the upper and lower half of the superstructure need to be attached before you can complete the exterior I did most of the interior painting before this happened. At this stage I also added a driver using parts from various figures. Getting this guy to fit was one of the most challenging parts of the build because the fit is so tight: once he was in he wasn't coming out!
Sdkfz 250/1 Ausf B 'Neu'
I have to admit that I have long had a soft spot for the Sd.Kfz 250 and the late Ausf B version in particular. It tends to be overshadowed by its much larger cousin the 251, but with its short length and snub nose there is something almost cute about it!
When I was last modelling back in the 80s, when the only kits available were the early Ausf A versions by Tamiya (notably Rommel’s famous ‘Grief’ 250/3 variant with the frame antenna), I even contemplated a partial scratchbuild. Luckily in 1998 Dragon finally got around filling the gap.
The kit I used was actually the Dragon 250/8 which I found second hand at IPMS Scale Model World in Telford a few of years back. Since the kit also includes all the parts for the original 250/1, this didn’t matter (apart from the decals as I later found out).
I also sourced some photoetch from both Royal Model and Aber. Some people hate PE and, if I am honest, I would rather avoid it - but sometimes there is nothing that looks as good. I usually buy two sets from different manufacturers so that I have more than one choice when it comes to tricky parts: there’s usually one that’s easier or simpler (and it’s almost never Aber).
The one place where I think all of the late model 250 kits let themselves down is on the upper side armour. This is far too thick. The real vehicle actually had fairly thin side plates bolstered with internal armour panels. The side vision slits are also poorly defined.
For this reason I highly recommend the Aber set. This is actually etched into thicker metal than their usual sets and it fits the Dragon, etc kit parts really well. The only minor surgery required is to separate the old upper armour from the bonnet.
Opened-topped vehicles are always a challenge because there is so much detail and nowhere to hide, but the late 250 is also very crowded.
Surprisingly there is also a lack of reliable information about what the interior actually looks like. For a vehicle that was built in the 3,000+ range there are remarkably few surviving examples of the late 250/1 variant and those that I have found on line are often heavily restored. There are a lot of fine factory interior shots of the early (Ausf A / ‘Alt’) versions of the 250 taken by the Germans during manufacture, but none for the later model. Perhaps they didn’t bother keeping these sorts of meticulous records later in the war (they had other things to think about) - or the archives are now lost. Two useful reference books are:
Panzer Tracts No.15-1: Le.s.p.w. (Sd.kfz.250) Ausf.a & B by Hilary Doyle and Thomas Jentz, and Sd. Kfz 250 Alt-Neu: Archive: v.3,Pt.2 by Martin Kogel.
Fortunately, the first has re-printed and whilst the second is OOP, but can be found fairly easily second-hand.
They each have a lot of excellent photos and the Doyle/Jentz book has fine scale drawings of most variants, but they both leave the interior of the late 250 as something of a mystery. The Doyle/Jentz book has a plan view of the late 250/3 with interior, for example, but the plan view of the 250/1 has an empty interior. Knowing the authors, I suspect this is because they were not prepared to speculate where they lacked enough first-hand source material.
Anyway, I didn't want to get too bogged down in the technical stuff - this is supposed to be a diorama blog after all. In the end, what I put together was based on the original Dragon kit, a mixture of the Aber and Royal Model photoetch sets (which often overlap, but sometimes differ), the above-mentioned books and images I found on line. Chief amongst the latter were pictures of the well-known Panzerfarm late 250/1 that was dredged up from a river surprisingly intact.
Because the upper and lower half of the superstructure need to be attached before you can complete the exterior I did most of the interior painting before this happened. At this stage I also added a driver using parts from various figures. Getting this guy to fit was one of the most challenging parts of the build because the fit is so tight: once he was in he wasn't coming out!
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