Sd.Kfz11.Comparison

by Peter Van Kempen

Edited by Rob Haelterman

I took some measurements with my callipers on the following kits of the Sd.Kfz.11
- Esci (1/72)
- Special Armour (1/72)
- Matchbox (1/76)

(I took the Matchbox kit into consideration as sometimes kits that are labelled as 1/76 are actually closer to 1/72.)

I have no "official" 1/72 drawings of the Sd.Kfz.11 available, and no individual measurements of a real 1/1 vehicle, but I could find data on length, width and height, which are listed in the tabel below, compared with kit measurements.

	Vehicle data 1/1	Vehicle data 1/72	Esci	Special Models	Matchbox
Length	5.50 meters	76.4 mm.	78.8 mm	73.6 mm	72.0 mm
Width	2.00 meters	27.7 mm	29.5 mm	28.0 mm	26.3 mm
Height	2.20 meters	30.5 mm	33.2 mm (with canvas tilt and mounted windscreen)	I have not built this kit yet, so I cannot measure this reliably.	29.5 mm.

 

While it is not sure if the given length includes extremities like the tow hook, it is clear that Esci is by far the longest, by 2.4 mm long.
Because the width is more reliable as the starting point of the official sizes, it seems Esci is 1.8mm too wide and Special Armor 0.3mm.
There is quite a big difference in the relative measurements of the length, width and height.

I would conclude that, although abundant in detail, ESCI’s Sd.Kfz. 11 is grossly overscale and nearer to 1/65 than 1/72.
The main fault in the Esci kit is the length of the track units; for this you can use an Esci Sd.Kfz. 251 track unit. Strangely enough, even though the Sd.Kfz. 11 and Sd.Kfz. 251 share the same running gear, the Esci kits for these vehicles don't. Comparing the Esci Sd.Kfz. 11 and Sd.Kfz. 251 immediately shows that the Sd.Kfz. 11 is far too long.
We also note that the Sd.Kfz. 11 is rather high and that the roadwheels of the Sd.Kfz. 11 are far bigger than those of the Sd.Kfz. 251. The Sd.Kfz. 11 roadwheels are too big (8.5mm), while the Sd.Kfz. 251 roadwheels are too small - they are actually smaller (7.3mm diameter) than those in the Matchbox kit (7.6 mm diameter). To get at a reasonable roadwheel, you could sand down the roadwheels to 7.9mm or even take those from Matchbox. (Ed. note: or take those from Revell or Dragon.) Fixing the suspension is an other matter, however. Here we could shorten the Esci Sd.Kfz. 11 suspension, lengthen a Matchbox suspension or "borrow" one from Revell or Dragon. Note that the use of torsion bars resulted in an asymmetric lay-out of the suspension.

To shorten the hull, the best place to start would be the double ammunition doors, where one could remove 4.2 mm (on the outside). Another couple of millimeters can be found in the rear hull.

The height can be reduced by sanding off around 0.7mm from the underside of the vertical plates of the superstructure.

To correct the width, it is sufficient to sand off 0.7mm from the fenders; the rear of the hull is rather ok.

To correct the engine compartment: the radiator should lean back a bit more, and a millimeter can be sanded from the engine sides

Article Last Updated: 31 May 2013