Now isn’t that title a bit of a mouthful, it’s even bigger if you extend that title out to it’s full extent, Mittlerem Schützenpanzerwagen Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251/9 Ausfuhrung D ( 7.5cm KwK 37L/24 ) Kanonenwagen.
This kit comes in a large tray and lid type box which is a little overkill as there’s isn’t that much to this kit so the large box just exaggerates the empty space inside making it look like there is even less than there is. What there is, is four dark yellow sprues, two of which are the same, containing the vehicle and a single figure plus two single piece vinyl track lengths.
The moulding quality is, as always with Tamiya, excellent with only minimal clean up of the usual faint mould seams and knock out marks. One thing that needs to be said right at the start is that this kit shares no heritage with Tamiya’s much earlier Sd.Kfz 251/1 “Hanomag” kit which was woefully lacking in detail ( not to mention some serious inaccuracies ). This is a totally new kit instead and it definitely shows.
There really isn’t a lot to this kit as Tamiya have simplified the detail down into the minimum number of pieces, so if you’re looking for a quick and easy build that is a bonus, but if you like a lot of detail and small, delicate parts then conversely it isn’t.
The hull tub is a single unit, as is the floor which includes the gun mount and seat base as part of it. The track suspension comes as two parts, one per side, that attach to the lower tub as panels. The front suspension is a little more detailed and if you’re careful with the glue can be made sothat the front wheels can be turned. The front wheels themselves are a single moulding of the outer wheel and tyre with an inner wheel and an internal hub that allows the wheels to turn once assembled. The tracks are Tamiya’s traditional single length vinyl “rubber band” style tracks.
The interior is a vast improvement over the earlier “Hanomag”, being both better detailed and more accurate. You get a well moulded driver’s seat and rear wooden bench seat, the correct detail in the drivers area and the radio in the rear beside the ammo locker. The ammo locker is a single piece so if you want to open the top up and show ammo inside you’ll need to do a little DIY there. The radio is very good as is the MG42 on the rear anti-aircraft mount.
The rear doors are moulded as one so would need cutting in half to model open. They have quite good looking locking bars moulded to them though to get the best detail these should be cut away and rebuilt, partly as one problem these always have is they never extend past the door edges as they should so as to actually hold the doors closed.
The gun is also a little simplified in the parts department, but what you get looks well detailed and assembles into a very nice looking piece, complete with the basket for catching the fired shell casings ( though no empty cases are provided for it ). The barrel is moulded as a single piece with a hollow muzzle so no join lines to contend with and the breech block can be modeled in the open or closed position which is a nice touch, though if you do it in the open position you’d need to then drill the barrel completely through unless you added the end of a shell in there.
The single figure is depicted with a paintbrush painting the side of the vehicle. He wears the enlisted overseas cap and an SS SPG Panzer Jacket. He is very well moulded with a good looking face, and at 50mm tall is a good size unlike some of Tamiya’s older figures which suffered from being too small.
Due to the running gear coming on two identical sprues you get a few spare parts including a spare drivers seat, a spare MG42 and a spare vision block.
Decals are included for three vehicles – 2nd Armoured Division : 24th Armoured Division : 12th Armoured Division. These are all Heer units so you’d need to come up with a good explanation for why the figure is wearing a Waffen SS jacket.
There are definitely better kits of the Sd.Kfz 251/9 available in terms of level of detail but this one still builds up into a very nice looking model and with a bit of invested time and effort it can be tweaked into a very good one. As it is it builds up quickly and easily with very good fit and finish and is till a worthy kit.
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