Al.By

email: albyminiatures(at)aol.com

Sd.Kfz. 250 Neu

"Mauserwagen"

Disclamer:
This review was written in 2007 and only re-surfaced 9 years later.

1. Packaging:

Plastic blister.

2. Type of kit:

Resin. No decals provided.

3. Quality:

The resin is of a very high quality. It is quite soft and easy to work with. Generally, detail is crisp.

There is a nasty mold line on the MG42 and the casting of the Kar98k rifles that go inside the fighting compartment is poor.

The main components of the interior, the front and rear part of the floorboard fit perfectly. They do not even require glue, which eases painting and dryfitting tremendously. The breakdown of these parts is probably chosen to be able to offer other variants of the 250.

The fit of the upper hull is tricky, which was exacerbated by warping of this part and the rear hull plate. This warping is easily rectified when the parts are assembled as due to the thinness of the parts and the rigidity of the structure it will stay straight when glued together.

The tracks are pre-assembled. You only need to add the outer halves of two of the roadwheels. This eases assembly, but casting quality is slightly compromised.

The lower edge of the rear fenders/storage bins is slightly irregular.

The width indicators are very finely cast, but broken in my example.

All hatches and doors are closed.

4. Version

This is a rare variant of the Sd.Kfz.250. According to my references, it was a field modification made by the Panzer Lehr and 21st Panzer Division in Normandy.

5. Instruction sheet

The instruction sheet is very simple, but largely sufficient for the job. It consists of a single "exploded" drawing that shows where everything goes.

6. Decals and painting options:

No decals or painting instructions are given.

7. General Impression:

This was the best kit of the SdKfz250 neu at the time of writing (2008), but by the time this review was published (2017) it is difficult to find and surpassed by the MK72 kit.

Figures from AB Figures

8. References

[1] SdKfz 253, 252 & early 250, Archive Part 1, M. Kögel, Total Detail

[2] KIT (magazine) Vol 4&5/2000

[3] Sturm & Drang #3 (pp 102--103)

(Note that at the time of writing the Panzer Tracts books were not yet available.)

Article Last Updated:
30 November 2008
Comments:
03 November 2017