Lately I’ve begun adding prime movers to my growing collection of 1/35th-scale anti-aircraft guns. During the course of researching German half-tracks, I discovered a photo of a vehicle which has thusfar defied identification. The photo, on page 81 in Hans Seidler’s Luftwaffe Flak and Field Divisions 1939-1945, shows what at first glance seems to be an Sd. Kfz. 7, with Luftwaffe license plates, towing an 8.8cm Flak 18. (Seidler dates the photo to 1942.) On closer examination, however, one notes something very odd about the arrangement of the drive sprockets and road wheels. The sprockets, 8-spoked wheels and idlers appear to be those of the Sd. Kfz. 7, but the arrangement is the same as for the Sd. Kfz 250, with only four interleaved road wheels per side; from the front, an innie behind the drive sprocket, an outie, innie, outie, and the idler wheel. The superstructure on the vehicle appears for the most part to be that of the Sd. Kfz. 7, but the drive sprocket is set well aft of the driver’s seat, and the fender is shortened commensurately.
Does anyone out there know what this is? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Bish and T26E4. There are 8 holes in each road wheel. These most resemble the pattern marked “Sd. Kfz. 6” in the diagram linked to Mr. Chow’s reply, but there are only four road wheels, in the same arrangement as for the Sd. Kfz. 250. In Herr Seidler’s photo, the superstructure is only visible from the cutout for the driver’s seat aft. What can be seen of the superstructure does resemble that in Bish’s photo, with two full-width bench seats behind the driver’s compartment. The drive sprocket, however, was centered just below the driver’s seat, and the front end of the fender was shortened accordingly.
Would that I could simply scan and post Seidler’s photo. As an author/illustrator, however, I can’t bring myself to take that liberty.
The only thing i can think of is that it is some sort of field modification. This was not uncommon in the German army, often due to lack of spares or the need for a certain type of vehicle that wasn’t built as standard. The SdKfz 7 and 250 look very similar and i would imagine it would not be hard to the mechanics to fit parts from one vehicle to a different one.
Thanks again, Bish. I may be on the way to finding an answer. According to one website, a four-wheeled version of the Sd. Kfz. 6 was produced in 1935-1936.
Click on the Specifications tab, then scroll down to Suspension. This also shows a shorter track.
Unfortunately, I have yet to find further images of this early version. It might be possible to convert one of the Trumpeter kits to this configuration, but I suspect that a great deal of maor surgery would be involved.
