Huibs 1/76 SdKfz 234 project

[huib]

Dear friends,

I'm going to start a small project: building all four main types of the German heavy armoured 8x8 reconaissance car SdKfz 234, based on two ancient kits from Airfix and Matchbox. It concerns the follwing four vehicles:


SdKfz 234/1, Heavy armoured reconnaissance car armed with 20mm gun.


SdKfz 234/2 "Puma", Havy armoured reconnaissance car armourded with 50mm anti-tank gun.


SdKfz 234/3 "Stummel", Heavy armoured reconnaissance car armed with 75mm howitzer.


SdKfz 234/4 "Pakwagen", Heavy armoured reconnaisance car armoured with 75mm anti-tank gun.

The SdKfz 234 was a development from the earlier SdKfz 231, 232, 233 and 264 series of 8x8 heavy armoured reconnaissance cars. The Germans were pioneering in this type of 8 wheel armoured cars that combined off-road capability with fast on-road speed, ease of maintenance and fuel economy compared to tracked or half-track vehicles. Not only were all 8 wheels driven, also steering took place on eight wheels at all times. The vehicles contained two driver positions, one fore and one aft, enabling it to drive both forwards and backwards full speed. Quite convenient for an armoured car that as a result of its main task could get involved in nasty situations. It could back out immediately at full speed without having to turn the vehicle.
Lightly armoured but heavily armed, the SdKfz 234 armoured cars could pack a punch. As a result the could not only be used for aggressive reconaissance and probing the enemy, but also for flanking, screening, skirting and force protection.
The heavy 8 wheel armoured cars were used in the reconnaissance batallions of the German panzer divisions. The vehicles were produced from december 1943 until the end of the 2nd Worls war. Due to production problems as a result of material shortages and allied bombardments only a few hundred of them were produced.

[JurgenH]

Hello Huib
I still have two fender molds left for the 234. Take a look at Progess, it's listed under Heavy Metal Predator. Let me know if you want them. I'm curious to see what tires and rims you'll use. You've picked up an interesting topic there. Straight from the Airfix BS. I know exactly how much work that involves. Let's wait and see.

Jürgen

PS:
If you have any questions about the 234, it's definitely easier to search in German. I've also done some searching myself and found some rare pictures of the 234.

[huib]

Thank you very much Jürgen! Yes I've found your SdKfz 234/3 build already. A nice source of inspiration. I'll use the fenders and wheels of the Matchbox/Revell kit to improve the Airfix kit.

[huib]

Airfix and Matchbox

For this series of builds I'm gonna use two ancient kits: The Airfix 1/76 SdKfz 234/4 "German Armoured Car" and the Matchbox 1/76 SdKfz 234/2 "Puma".
Here they are:


A nice but misleading boxart. The image suggest a scene in North Africa, but this vehicle was only built from the end of 1944 when North Africa was not a theatre of war anymore.


The colour instructions at the back are quite dubious too.


The contents are typical 1960's Airfix: messy sprues, chunky parts and little and incorrect detail. Moreover the fenders in this kit are totally wrong. They are bluntly copied from an incorrect museum restauration of this vehicle. So I look forward to do a few corrections.


And the Matchbox kit.


With much better colour instructions on the back. And the inevitable nice Matchbox vignet.


Much better organised but very crowded Matchbox sprues from the 1970's. Moulded in two colours of plastic as was the norm with Matchbox kits of this era. Notwithstanding it's age this is quite a good kit, altough it also needs some tinkering.


Revell still issues the old Matchbox moulds and for a very reasonable price. I am going to use some Revell Puma's to improve the Airfix kits.

[huib]

Matchbox SdKfz 234/2 Puma: Hull and suspension
I start with the Matchbox Puma. Apart from a few improvements this first build will be quite OOB


The hull consists of two simple halves to be glued together. But with the fenders I started already to do a bit of tinkering: I built the storage box and opened one of the hatches.


A problem with the Matchbox kit is that the wheels are too high in the fenders, which does not only looks wrong but also making steering impossible. I tried to improve that by lowering the suspension 1mm. I hope that is sufficient.


Fenders positioned.


A small seam has to be closed, I see on the picture now. And then on with adding tools and storage boxes. The kit is well equipped with tools and jerrycans, but still can have a bit of improvement.

[JurgenH]

I'm curious to see what happens next. You have a PM.

[huib]

Thanks, Jürgen!

Hull and Turret
The hull is elaborated with tool boxes, Jerrycans, tools, etc.


Most of it is from the kit, but some were scratchbuilt, like jerrycanholders, a lever....


....a jack, a crank, width indicators and a few other things.


The turret parts are sprayed black on the inside. The hatches are too small to show some interior.


The turret and gun further constructed and detailed. Especially the inside of the hatches. But also the barrels and the smoke dispensers are drilled open.


Ready for the spray cabin.

[Santi Pérez]

Great start to this new project, huib. I will follow it closely.

Santi.

[huib]

Thanks, Santi!

Sprayjob
On to the sprayboot


Black primer and light gray preshade


Base colour Dunkelgelb from AK.


Camouflagepattern with olivgreen and red brown.


And, on first sight little difference with the picture before, small details painted with the hairy stick.

Now for decals and weathering.

[MABO]

An interesting project to follow the building of 4 related vehicles. Great job so far!

[huib]

Thanks, MABO!

Decals and weathering


The neat Matchbox decal sheet. I choose for the nice bright red numbers on the right side. This concerns a well documented Puma that was captured in working order by the British in Normandy in 1944, and that was sent to England for evaluation. According to Matchbox this Puma was part of the 9th SS-Panzerdivision Hohenstaufen. But strangely enough Matchbox includes the Hohenstaufen emblem, but also WH (ie German army) license plates. This confused me. First I selected some SS license plate from my sparebox, but then I discovered on reference photo's the vehicle really had WH license plates. This speaks against it being part of any SS-unit. So I omitted the use of the Hohenstaufen emblem as well as the SS license plates.


Decals in position.


After that a whole proces of weathering, inclusding a filter, several washes and drybrushing in different colours. The process was finished by some chipping with a pencil and a matt varnish.


Dirt on the underside.

Now on with the wheels.

[huib]

Wheels and last details

The end is near!


Roadwheels and sparewheel painted and weathered.


Wheels glued to the hubs and twisted a little on the axles to create a slight steering position.


That looks much more lively than all wheels straight in line.


Two antenna and the sparewheel to add.


And an open hatch for the storage box.


The vehicle is ready. Now for the vignet.

[JurgenH]

Hello Huib
Yes, it looks like you're in the home stretch. It's great what you've done with that little box. You didn't copy the open flap from me, diiiiiiid you?
Jürgen

[huib]

Thanks, Jürgen! Yes of course I copied that open flap from a good source of inspiration.
Now on to the last bit:

Base
Characteristic of the old Matchbox 1/76 military vehicle kits from the 1970's is that always a small diorama base or vignet was included. As a young boy I used these to built ruined villages on my miniature battlefields. It's pure nostalgia to build them again.


The three parts of the base glued together. The street lantern included is modified with a piece of transparant sprue. And I found an armoured vehicle commander in my figures box.


I added some debris around the crater and primed the lot.


Painted and weathered.


Finished!


Final pictures in the Gallery soon..

[huib]

Final picture

SdKfz 234/2 Puma
Normandy, June 1944
Matchbox 1/76



More pics in the Gallery

[MABO]

The figure is cool. Do you have an idea of the brand?

I share the nostalgia for the Matchbox bases.