One thing the German Military did often and did well was to mount guns on half-tracks, particularly FlaK guns which were also used against ground targets. The Sd.Kfz. 7/2 took the Sd.Kfz. 7 half track as the start point, added a 3.7cm FlaK 43 and armoured the cab. These were then used to support armoured units in air defence though the gun was also extemely potent against lightly armoured vehicles.
This kit from Trumpeter contains both the Sd.Kfz. 7/2 and the Sd.Anhanger 52 Ammunition trailer and is not one for the novice modeller, containing some 867 parts, including individual link tracks but excluding photo-etched parts. In the large tray and lid style box you get a total of 14 sprues moulded in light grey and another six sprues moulded in brown for the track links. There is also the armoured cab, three vinyl tyres, a length of cord for the cable, a length of copper wire, three brass photo etched frets and a small sheet of decals.
The level of moulding is very good with just some minor flash to deal with as well as the usual seemingly unavoidable light mould seams. The level of detail is excellent, with the engine in particular being a small kit within itself. One thing that struck me upon opening up the kit ( aside from how much of it there was ) was that several sprues appear to have missing parts. At first I though pieces had broken away in transit but I soon discovered that these have actually been cut away. It seems that in a rather wierd move that rather than just leave unused parts on the sprues to go in the spares box that Trumpeter actually goes through and cuts them away. I found that a rather odd thing to do.
The chassis on this is so nicely produced it makes you want to come up with an excuse to display it uncovered. It seems such a shame that so little of it will be seen. The frame is made up of individual members so care is needed to make sure the alignment is straight. The springs are moulded in two halves, front and back so they have no sink holes and maximum detail. The cable winch assembly is equally nicely detailed and while I prefer picture hanging wire over the included cord for making the cable it’s still a very nice touch and does actually look quite good. The chassis also includes very well detailed compressed air tanks, the fuel tank, transmission and exhaust pipe. Not exactly part of the chassis as it’s attached to the cab assembly but the dual battery pack is also included.
The wheels are again nicely done with vinyl tyres which have the correct tread. The steering comes with some very nicely detailed steering linkages, though the wheels are fixed in the straight ahead position. But they aren’t too difficult to articulate if you want to position them turned. The road wheels are a single piece per wheel and are cleanly moulded with nice sharp detail. The manner in which they assemble makes painting them separately and then adding them at the end a good idea.
The sprockets are equally well done though there is a slight misalignment of the drive rollers. These interlock with the tracks and in the kit are aligned with the centre of each flat section of the sprocket wheel where the track sits as it passes over. This prevents the track from sitting properly and they need to be rotated about 10 degrees so that the drive roller lines up about 1/4 of the way along the flat part of the sproket wheel. This is relatively easy to do, if a bit fiddly, and requires you to remove about one third of the leading edge of each intersecting section of the outer ring allowing the outer ring to be rotated a little further around. You’ll then need to fill the resultant small gaps at the trailing edges of each tab. It isn’t that hard to do but it’s annoying having to do it.
The tracks are a lot of fun, three pieces per track link, 54 links needed per side and five sprue points to clean up per link . For those who don’t want to calculate that it means 324 very small pieces to clean up and assemble which can become a bit mind numbing, but do it right and they remaining workable and they look good enough to make the effort well worthwhile.
The engine is a little kit on its own, almost 40 parts and is just crying out to be displayed somehow being the best representation of the Maybach HL62TUK engine currently available in plastic kit form. For some reason it doesn’t include any drive belts though so you’ll need to add your own. These belts are a thick rubber with a blunt ’V’ profile and I found a rubber band to be the best material to use. You’ll also of course need to add your own wiring ( if you check our photo reference pages for the link to Toadmanstankpics you’ll find suitable reference photos ).
The front end is well moulded with the bonnet made to be positioned down with separate sides that can be left off. These have nicely done separate handles and latches. With such a nice engine it’s a shame they didn’t decide to offer the option of having the hood opened up. It would be easy enough to do this yourself but you would need to add your own hinge details. The grille is also not opened through which proabably doesn’t matter if you add the frontal armour, but it would have been nice to have this opened up to be able to see the radiator behind it.
The armoured cab is also very well done though on this particular kit it arrived with one of the finer bottom rails broken as the strengthening piece moulded to prevent just that happening had bent in place. There are also a lot of injector pin sinkholes on the inside of the cab that will need filling/removing. There is one slight annomoly with the cab in that most period photos show one of two types of cabs. Most show the cab sides and doors made up of two joined panels with a clear overlap at the centre join where they are riveted. Others ( mostly DAK vehicles plus an Sd.Kfz. 7/1 in a museum in Brussles ) show the sides and doors made of a single sheet of armour bent at the centre to create the upper angle. These do not have the horizontal row of rivets. The cab in this kit appears to be the single piece armour type but with the row of rivets that belong on the two piece doors and sides. So it needs to either have the horizontal centre row of rivets removed or the plates changed to look like two separate plates with the top overlapping the bottom at the join ( the photos below should show this appearance ).
The cab interior is well apponted with a very nice looking dashboard. Mounting the upper to the lower requires a little patience and dexterity to get all the levers, which are attached to the transmission, to come up through their respective holes which has to be done before the steering wheel, steering shaft, and dashboard are added. The bench seat is very nicely done though it could use a little fabric texturing added, and if you want to depict an in-use vehicle they could use a little reshaping to look more like a well used seat. Under this seat is where you will find the dual battery pack.
The rear platform in this version dosn’t get the otpion of wooden or mesh fold down sides that the Trumpeter Sd.Kfz. 7/2 with FlaK 37 gets, and oddly it also doesn’t get the better looking slated mesh that the FlaK 37 version and the Sd.Kfz. 7/1 both get. Instead it gets a flat, diagonal type photo-etched mesh that doesn’t look at all correct as the mesh used on these was a deep lattice type of mesh. And to add to the oddness this is marked as “Sd.Kfz. 7/9″, the 7/9 version being a V2 launch command vehicle that didn’t have mesh sides at all. Other than that the deck gets a very nicely done tread pattern and crew bench seat, as well as some very nicely done latches and ladders. The spare wheel sits between the platform and the chassis though it can’t be seen as there is no option to have the access door at the rear of the platform modelled open.
The 3.7cm FlaK 43 gun again doesn’t get the option of photo-etched shields that the 3.7cm FlaK 37 version gets though the shields for this are well done other than having a few injector pin marks to fill or remove from the inside surface. The detail is very good with a lot of small parts included so care will be needed. The barrel is a single piece with a hollow flash hider with all the correct detail. it still does look a little chunky and the holes will need opening up so it may well be worth simply replacing it with a good AM barrel. When assembled the gun can be elevated and traversed if wanted and the Lafette feet fit into the locating pins on the deck well so the gun could be left loose until the very end and treated as a separate kit when the painting is done. A travel lock is also supplied which can be done in the travel or deployed position, and five ammo clips, each with eight 3.7mm AA rounds are supplied for use either in the gun or in the stowage bin. I would have liked to see the inclusion of a few extra ammo boxes as wartime photos show these vehicles frequently carrying the long ammo crates on the platform both to use as seats and to have extra ammo on hand.
The trailer is well made, cleanly moulded and well detailed and is a quick and simple kit within itself. It does however suffer from one major accuracy issue in that it is an Sd.Ah. 56/57 ammunition box mounted onto an Sd.Ah. 52 trailer. Not a major if you don’t care as it still looks good, but it that sort of thing is an issue then you’ll need to either build an Sd.Ah. 56/57 chassis for the box, or an Sd.Ah. 52 box for the chassis. Neither of these would be a simple task as there is very little acurate references for either other than an assortment of wartime photos, though the Sd.Ah. 52 box would be the easier task as it looks more like a larger Sd.Ah. 51 with an added stowage box on the rear.
The decals in this kit come as a wee bit of a letdown after all the other beautiful detail as they only provide decals for the dashboard and some generic numbers, no unit markings or vehicle identifications. A single paint guide is provided together with a colour guide for use with Mr. Hobby, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya, and Humbrol paints.
It’s tempting to make comparrisons between this and the Dragon kit of the same vehicle, but each has its own pros and cons, this being the cheaper of the two kits and, innaccurate or not, the trailer is included which is a big bonus where-as the Dragon kit is more accurate overall. So the best suggestion would be to read the reviews on both and make up your own mind. But make no mistake, even putting aside the major inaccuracies with the trailer and the sprockets this is still a very good kit. The level of detail is excellent, the finish is good, and it looks stunning when finished.
