AFV Club kits aren’t as widely recognised in New Zealand as the likes of Tamiya, or even Italeri and Dragon, but if you’ve never built one you’re missing out. Their Sd.Kfz. 251 armoured halftrack series are amongst the better kits available and this one is no exception. The Sd.Kfz. 251/17 Ausf. C was built for the Luftwaffe as an anti-aircraft vehicle mounting a 2cm FlaK 38 gun in the rear bed with the sides modified to be wider and hinged so that they could be dropped down. There is a little disagreement however over the official designation of the Sd.Kfz. 251/17 Ausf. C with some sources giving it as simply 2 cm Flak 38 auf SPW to distinquish it from the Sd.Kfz. 251/17 Ausf. D which did not use a modified body with the folding sides. Whatever the case the Command version replaced the gun with a range of communications equipment and a large frame antenna, and that’s the one we’ll be looking at today.
This kit comes in a large tray and lid type box and consists of seven large and one small sprue as well as the upper and lower body halves all moulded in a dark green plastic. It also includes a PE fret for the engine grilles, two resin parts, a sheet of decals, and two single piece vinyl tracks.
The mouldings are clean and the detail is sharp, knockout marks are all on areas that won’t be seen and there are no prominent mould seams, just the usual very fine ones that seem to be inevitable on standard injection moulded plastic. In a lot of cases you have to look hard to find them. There are some small, delicate parts so good quality side cutters or a sharp blade is in order but other than that assembly is easy and the instructions are very good, being clear, thorough and easy to follow.
The chassis is made up of the floor, two separate sides and the base plate to which all the individual suspension swing arms are attached. These can be fully articulated if desired. There is a separate axle for the idlers and separate final drive housings for the sprockets. The front axle is very well represented and the front wheels are made as two halves each with very good tread detail. The detail is very good, all the parts being clean and sharp, with just some small injector pin sinkholes on the backs of the road wheels to be removed. The tracks are single length vinyl “rubber band style” whic are very good looking, but still lack the natural sag of individual link tracks.
The body is a very simple construction and includes sepaerate engine cover hatch doors which include internal detail though there is no engine included. The rear doors are also very well done and the vision blocks are positionable. The fold down sides are moulded very thinly so they look close enough to scale thickness though the hinges would look a lot better if replaced with photo etched ones. The tool clamps are also a little lacking in detail and could do with replacing with PE ones.
The MG34 is very nicely detailed as is the mount and shield. You actually get two MG34s in this kit as well as two MG42s together with folded bipods for each, several lengths of ammo belt and two drum mags. There are also two sets of triple rifle rack mounts for the exterior of the vehicle to hold six Kar 98K rifles, with eight rifles included for this. These racks are very nicely done though the front part where the barrels are clamped in could use the addition of the lower clip.
The fenders require the removal of moulded on locator ridges for the storage lockers that won’t be used on this version. This will require a bit of skill and care to get the finished fenders looking flat and unblemished as these ridges are quite prominent and cover half the fender. The fenders are also a little on the thick side scalewise, though this tends to be a problem inherent in all plastic injection moulded Sd.Kfz. 251 kits and can really only be remedied with patient scraping and sanding or by replacing them with photo-etched fenders. The forward side stowage lockers, which are moulded closed, could also use better hinges and the addition of latches.
The interior is very straight forward, consisting of just the forward compartment and the radio setup as there are no troop seats in this version. The dashboard is a good looking representation though again I wish manufacturers would include decals for these. The levers and pedals are all very nicely moulded and quite delicate, and the seat backs include finely moulded spring detail. Small jump seats are added to the back of this version with the option to install them either down or folded away, with both options having very delicate supports.
MP40 sub machine guns and mag packs are included for the driver and co-driver though no other personal equipment is stowed on the inner walls of this version, and oddly the instructions would have you fill the holes and not install the drum mag storage racks and ammo bags in the back corners. I can find no interior photos to indicate if these should stay or not though logic would say that if they are removed from here they must go somewhere else for use with the MG34 mounted at the front. Personally I would keep them in. There is also no spare barrel holder for the MG34, and there was often also a lafette tripod stowed in the vehicle for deployment outside of the vihicle.
The radio pack included is very nicely detailed, including photo-etched straps, and looks very good once together. For some reason the seating and under-seat storage lockers for the radio operators is provided as two resin parts but these do look good and only require a light clean up. The large frame antenna is suitably fine so care needs to be taken when cutting it away from the sprue. The only thing I would have liked to see added here would be the inclusion of a wiring guide for between each of the radio sets and the sets and the antenna. Unfortunately you’ll need to come up with that yourself if you want to add the wiring.
A point to note. As there are no known interior photos of wartime Sd.Kfz. 251/17 Ausf. C Command vehicles a lot is based on speculation and interpretation from other vehicles. AFV Club have opted for a central, lateral radio arrangement with an empty space in the rear where you can either add some of the extra radio sets or a folding map table ( that one you’ll need to build yourself ). They have also opted to exclude the rear MG on the anti-aircraft mount and the internal ammo for it, though most photos show this gun to be in place. So there is a little leeway to allow you to set this up as you please, and some versions I’ve seen keep the left rear bench seat and mount the radio longitudinally along the right rear wall leaving the centre open.
Decals are provided for two vehicles, both in use by the Hermann Goering Division, which isn’t surprising as the Sd.Kfz. 251/17 Ausf. C was only issued to this unit. No painting guide as such is provided, just to paint both options “dark grey”. You could however paint one in DAK colours as several of these vehicles saw service in Tunisia in the final part of the desert war.
At the end of the build you will find yourself with a lot of left over parts as several of the sprues included in this kit are generic to all of AFV Club’s Sd.Kfz. 251 range so you’ll end up with several radio sets, seats, weapons and various external parts when you finish. So don’t panic if you find yourself with a lot of sprues with parts still on them.
This is an very nice kit with a very good level of detail. The Dragon/Cyberhobby version pips it in a few places with a bit more detail and the addition of individual link tracks, but as that may not be a strong selling point for some people this kit should still be given due consideration, particularly as the Dragon version has it’s own issues with the interior, as well as being a limited edition Cyber-Hobby white box kit. An interesting and unusual vehicle with a limited service history, well presented in a kit that builds up beautifully. What more could you ask for.
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