Back to Modeling the Sd.Kfz. 234 in 1/72nd Scale

Although the Sd.Kfz. 234 armored car was a rather uncommon vehicle, there are a number of printed reference works available to model builders. That being said, however, there are relatively few contemporary photographs of the vehicle in action, and most of those tend to be repeated between many of the following references. Combine that wartime photo shortage with the fact that only a couple vehicles survived the war to be preserved in museums today (I believe only a single 234/3 and three 234/4s survive), and we are left with sparse information on these vehicles. There are a lot of unknowns regarding specific details of the vehicles, as well as their operational use.

The following books are ones that I found to contain material on the Sd.Kfz. 234 series. Some of them are dedicated specifically to the Sd.Kfz. 234 series, and others are devoted to German armored cars in general, which tend to be a little less helpful. There are several other books available, though not listed here, that contain an occasional photograph of a 234 variant, such as several volumes from Concord Publications. If viewers have any additional useful books that are not listed here, please consider sending in a scan and short description so that I can add them to the list.

This book is written entirely in Cyrillic, so unless you read Russian, it will be of only limited use to you. It has nicely drawn scale plans, as well as some pretty decent, though not stellar, color profiles. The photographs are all common shots that have also been published many times in English publications.

This is a very basic book that gives only rudimetary information on the Sd.Kfz. 234 series, along with most other German Armored Cars of World War II. It is typical of the AFV Profile series in that it is set up as an encyclopedia, with only basic information on the development and design of German armored cars, as well as a paragraph or two for each major version. There are no scale plans, and only a handful of color profiles of a sampling of vehicles. Not a very helpful modeler's reference, but provides useful data for the historian.

Osprey Vanguard 25 An older Osprey title that has since been republished in the New Vanguard series. It is a typical Vanguard title with a broad developmental and design background of the subject vehicles. There are numerous black & white photos, a few "Order of Battle" tables, and several color profiles in the center pages. As you can imagine, with such a broad subject, each vehicle type is not really described in great detail, but rather this book is more of an overview of the German World War 2 armored cars. It would have been nice had Osprey split this subject into several separate volumes.

Osprey New Vanguard 29 A new reprint of the older Vanguard title (above). This book is mostly the same as the earlier print, but not entirely. Most of the photos are the same between the two, but there are a couple of exceptions. Similarly, the text is mostly the same, but I have not been able to compare the two books word for word to determine how much new information may have been included in this revised edition. A couple of the color profiles are different between the two as well. It shares the same drawback as the earlier volume, in that it is such a broad subject, I don't feel it does justice to any of the specific vehicles covered herein.

I admit that I do not own this entire volume. I received a photocopy from a friend of mine that includes only the photographs that are specific to the 234 armored car series. Ground Power is a Japanese modeling magazine (all text in Japanese) that typically covers several subjects, and each volume is usually a superb reference. This particular volume does not include the scale plans and color profiles that are typical of the series (at least, not the abridged version that I have), however, the photographs alone are worth having. Many of the photos have been seen before, but some I've not seen anywhere else. And even the ones that I have seen elsewhere are printed to a much larger size here. This book has provided most of the model reference photos I used in building my Puma. They are all wartime shots, some of vehicles after capture, so there are no walk-around detail shots here of vehicles that have been modified post-war. I suspect that the abridged version I have is missing some useful information, so I am on the look-out for a complete copy of this book.

Part 2 This book is written entirely in Cyrillic, so unless you read Russian, it will be of only limited use to you. It has decent scale plans and several color profiles, plus a few black & white photos. The photographs are all common shots that have also been published many times in English publications.

I have a very old edition of this book, and I am unsure if it has been republished (or revised?) by Squadron since the original printing. This book has been reprinted in Germany under several different publishers, such as Waffen-Arsenel and Schiffer, but as far as I am aware, all printings are identical, except for their language. Like the Osprey titles described above, this book suffers from covering too broad of a subject, including many of the 4-, 6- and 8-wheeled German armored cars, plus captured vehicles as well. Unlike other Squadron in Action titles, there are only two color profiles included here. Its coverage of the 234 series is limited to only a single page on the 234/2, but with three wartime photos that are not often seen.

Panzer Tracts No.13 - Armored Cars Sd.Kfz. 3 to Sd.Kfz. 263 For those of you familiar with the Panzer Tracts series, you will immediatly recognize why this is a must-have book. Thomas Jentz is probably the most renowned researcher of World War 2 German vehicles alive today, and the scale drawings by Hilary Doyle are among the best as well. Again, this book covers a very broad range of subjects, but this is typical of this series. Each armored car is given a page of background information, a page of specifications and weapons data, and several black & white photos. In this volume, the Sd.Kfz. 234/2 is treated to 4-view scale drawings, but for the other three versions, we are provided only side view plans. This book provides what I feel is the most accurate development and design information available for these armored cars, which makes it a must-have volume, but it lacks any sort of close-up detail photos, which must be obtained elsewhere.

And Other German Heavy Reconnaissance Vehicles This book has been printed in both English and German by Schiffer and Waffen-Arsenal. It is primarily a collection of black & white, wartime photographs, many of which I've not seen elsewhere. It covers all versions of the 234, including some experimental ones. There are several scale drawings included, some beautiful side views from Hilary Doyle, and some not-so-beautiful 4-views not credited. The only color views are on the covers. Although I'm not normally a fan of the Schiffer series of books, this is one of the better 234 references available.

One of Militaria's earlier releases, this book has no English except for the photo captions. It covers all 8-wheel German armored cars, including the Sd.Kfz. 231 series and ADGZ, in addition to the 234 series. For Polish speakers, there is a comprehensive discussion on the development of the 8-wheeled armored cars, and the book is illustrated with numerous high quality black & white photos of experimental vehicles, prototypes, and the armored cars in action. Very nice scale plans are included, as well as several color walk-around detail photos of a 231 preserved in a museum. As with most Militaria volumes, several very nicely done color profiles round out the book.

Sort of a sister volume to the previously described Panzer Tracts book, this one specifically covers the Sd.Kfz.234 series in much greater detail than the Panzer Tracts survey. There is an in-depth developmental history of the series, with several wartime black & white photos, many of which I've not seen in other volumes. The heart of the book are many black & white walk-around detail photos of the 234/3 and 234/4, both wartime and from a preserved museum piece. This is another must-have book primarily for the interior views.

This book has some of the best color walk-around photos of all those listed on this page. The book is completely bilingual, Polish and English. It has a short description of the design, development and operation of the 234 series, illustrated by a handful of wartime black & white photos, all of which have been seen in other volumes. The majority of the book is composed of full-color walk-around detail photographs of the 234/3 and 234/4 preserved at the Bovington tank museum. As an added bonus, there are also several pages of color detail photos of a PaK 40 preserved at the Munster tank museum, though this collection is not as comprehensive as that in the Armor Photo Gallery volume specifically covering the PaK 40. Very nice four-view scale plans are included of the 234/3 and 234/4, in both 1/35th and 1/72nd scales. Another must-have book for building these kits.

Photosniper #20 One of the first books I bought for this vehicle, this is still one of my favorites for a couple of reasons. The text is entirely in English, and describes the development history of the series in great detail, though it repeats much that is found elsewhere. I think the majority of the history of this vehicle has been researched and described by T. Jentz, and is copied in most of these other reference works. There are only a couple of black & white wartime photos, none of which are unique to this book. Very nice scale plans are included for all versions in both 1/35th and 1/72nd scales. The walk-around detail photos (in both color and black & white) are of the 234/4s in the Munster and Patton museums, and are much more numerous and helpful than in the previous book from Progres. Gorgeous color profiles of each vehicle type are included along with the real bonus of this volume, a sheet of superb decals in both 1/35th and 1/72nd scales. See the Preview of this book for more information on the decals.