Sd.Kfz. 263 - 6 rad

Manufacturer: MarS (Kit No. 7208)

by Augusto Versiani - augusto.versiani(at)pobox.com

I do not need to repeat here an evaluation of the kit, since it can be seen in a review in another place in this site, and I agree entirely with it. I must only add that I noticed two imperfections that can be credited to poor quality control during packing. Instead of two braces that hold the antenna on the tower I received only one. On the other hand, they included two barrels of 20mm cannon (not used in this version). Also it lacked the back hook and the machine gun that had to be used in this version.

This is only my second experience with a kit in resin; the first one was the Alby Steyr, and I must say that this model from Mars was much more difficult. Practically all the parts, including the small ones, come attached to resin blocks. The hull and the chassis in particular were very difficult to separate. Follow some photos of the different ways that I used for this tedious operation. It consumed great part of the time for the assembly.

The assembly of the chassis and the axles was time consuming and the rank of the wheels was laborious as the wheels do not come with a locating hole, and each hole must be drilled manually. It can compromise its final alignment.

The solution that I found was to make bigger holes than the tip of the axles, fill them with white glue and, after waiting until they started to dry, install the wheels and line up them. A delicate job, but it allowed all of the wheels to touch the ground evenly.

As I said before, I lacked a brace for the support of the antenna, so I used the 20 mm barrels for this end, and the result was good.

The antenna was a little warped in the front part. The final assembly of the antenna was O.K. but I must inform that it is sufficiently fragile. I stopped counting the number of times that I broke it. But the disruptions always happened in the joints, and were possible to repair.

The front headlights did not have braces, thus I made new ones with steel wire.

The lateral headlights were far too large and therefore I substituted styrene rod. The rearview mirror on the right mudguard is in the kit but the instruction does not make mention it. I used brass wire to make its support as well as the antenna guides.

The front wheels were too far inside the mudguards, but I accepted it as the axle was too fragile to try any correction.

The painting was done with Tamiya acrylic paints and an oil wash, and final touches were with pastel chalks. The decals are from TL Decals, as well as the one of the flag for air recognition, which was applied on aluminum foil.

Conclusion:

The details of this kit somewhat compensate for the difficulties in the separation of the resin blocks, and the final result attracts attention for the general quality as much for the size of the proper kit. Even though we will soon see versions of this model in injected plastic, I doubt that they can reach the quality of this model.

Recommended for those who already have experience with kits in resin.