My next armour build is one i have been looking forward to. As i am sure many know, i have a bit of a fetish for the Sd.Kfz 251. And of all the possable variants, i have 2 favorites, the Stuka zu Fuss and the /9.
I’ll be adding an Eduard PE set and i also have this from Verlinden.
While it says its for the tamiya 251/9, it could be used on any of their 3 251 Ausf D kits. The only pars which relate to the /9 are some ammunition and wicker containers. The only thing i will be useing it for is the engine as the Eduard set covers the rest. I’ll also use a set of Dragon magic tracks from the spares box.
I also have the spares box to hand and a dragon 3 in 1 kit thats includes a /9
I started off with the hull floor. having done an AFV Club and Dragon 251 recently, its clear simpler but less detauled the Tamiya kit is. The ammunition bin in the rear left corner was replaced with the one from the Dragon kit which allows the option to have the box open. The rear seat was replaced with an AFV club one from the soares box but it had to be trimmed a little.
With that the floor was fitted into the hull and the hull sides detailed. Unlike the otehr brands, Tamiya moulds the lower sides onto the bottom of the hull. Which means less chance for me to mess this up.
And the hull top had a few pieces added. I cut out the engine hatch doors and added the inner rim from the Verlinden set.
And then the gun. I had thought about replacing this completly with the Dragon gun. But on checking, it turns out that the /9 Ausf C and early Ausf D have a differant gun to the late Ausf D. While i could have modified the Dragon one, the detail in the tamiya kit with the PE means it would not have been worth the work. I did replace the barrel with a rifled metal one from RB.
And finally a few of the bits left off for painting. On the kit drivers set i cut off the seat back and replaced it with a Dragon one. And i learnt on my last 251 to leave off the IP until afer painting.
So now to get the inside primed up and painted. I am goign to take a different approach to weathering on this, so will see how that turns out.
Thanks Eric. I have not checked the track yet, but i am sure the Dragon one’s have more than is needed. I will put a small strecth together in a day or so to make sure they fit over the drive sprocket. I do have a few Fruil sets so can use one of those as a fall back if i have to.
Thanks Griffin. I am lucky in that i am able to get a lot of bench time. And apart from pottering around in thegarden, i don’t have any other hobbies to distract me.
These were indeed intended to give the Infantry their own direct heavy fire support. They were formed into heavy gun platoons of the heavy companies of Pz Gren battalions. They used guns taken from early StuGs when they were replaced by long barreled versions.
Bish, I can’t wait to see the posts from this one. I have learned so much just checking your posts out. Great start! You going to do one of your world famous bases to go with it?
I am actually planning on slowlying down my build ratre now i don’t have dealines to worry aboiut. I want to concentrate on improving the finer detaisl and especially the figures.
Carlos, being tamiya, iamnotexpecting any major issues except those which might be caused by the AM or more likely the clot building it. The Verlinden engine willmost likely be the biggest issue.
Time for me to do a bit of catching up. First job on the list was to get some paint on. German dark Yellow of course.
Then a bit of light weathering. I was reading the article of the nashorn buld in the latest issue of the mag and liked the effect. So instead of dot filtering i applied a light overall wash useing MiG Brown Wash. This was followed with some dry brushing and light chipping.
I also got to work on the engine bay adding the PE from the Verlinden set.
This was given a coat of German red primer.
And finished off the rear seats.
I did some test fitting on the engine as i did not have high hopes it would fit well, and it didn’t. So i trimmed it down a bit before painting.
Almost ready to get the top on, just needed to add the finbal parts to the inside. I used the radio frame from the Verlinden set. It seems a bit big, but the Eduard one was to smal for the kit radio and i don’t like the PE one they supply, its just to flat. So i will live with the larger one.
I used some AK engine oil and engine grime on the engine and in the bay.
Then time to put the lid on and mask up for more painting.
And i got to work on the base as well. I used some strofoam to build up one side, covered with paper mache and put the edging on so its now ready for staining.
And thats all for now. Hopefully won’t be so long again.
