Tamiya

1/48 Sd.Kfz.250/3 Greif

Kit Number: 32550

Reviewed by  Chad Richmond, IPMS# 10346

MSRP: $30.00 Review kit provided by Tamiya USA (www.tamiyausa.com) Tamiya's 50th 1/48th scale military model kit is Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's armored command car the Sd.Kfz.250/3 "Greif", and it's a beauty. Somehow, it doesn't seem like there are 49 other 1/48th military vehicle kits out there, but I guess there are. This kit features a crew compartment interior, with radios, detailed front suspension and link-and-length tracks. There are three figures included in the kit; two crew members and Field Marshall Rommel. I just wish I was good enough at figures to do them justice. The kit consists of 148 crisply molded parts on 4 sprue trees. The only markings on the decal sheet are for Rommel's vehicle. And yes, there is a die cast part in this kit, too. There is small plate that becomes an integral part of the chassis and contains the axles for each of the road wheels. The construction would be a little easier if it weren't done this way, but it is really of no factor. Just a head scratcher. Other than providing some weight, there is no purpose to it. I didn't follow the construction sequence, and it didn't seem to create any problems. I actually built the kit in assemblies, which made final assembly quite easy. The only fit problems I had were when I glued the upper hull to the lower hull. The two side walls had fit in nicely, but trying to get the upper hull to line up the full length of the join and keep the lip that exists at that joint required some combinations of liquid glue, superglue and clamps. There are some small spaces at the bottom join of the upper hull at the rear compartment door, but a couple applications of Mr. Surfacer took care of that. The ten road wheels are cast in six pieces. The back two rows of wheels are cast as one piece, which makes the painting process quite interesting, but the finished wheel assembly looks really nice. The track links and runs go together very well, also, but it takes some patience and three hands. The fit is exact, so you have to get it right, especially on the left side. For some reason, that side fought me, but the end result was okay. I used Superglue to make the curved runs, but used Tamiya's extra thin glue for all the links. The fact that you can rotate the drive sprocket helps in the positioning and tension of the tracks. I used some sprue spacers to maintain pressure on the upper tracks until the glue dried. The only criticism I have of the tracks are the ejector pin marks that have to be filled. There are 100 of those, but a little superglue and some accelerator took care of those in short order. As I said earlier, there are three figures in the kit. You'll just have to take my word that they are very well done, and the fit is very good. They actually look better on the sprue than they would look if I painted them. You can take the Rommel figure and show to anyone who knows anything about WWII, and they will know it is Rommel. I hope this kit is but the first of the Sd.Kfz.250 series of vehicles that we will see in this scale. It was a fun build. My thanks to John Noack and Tamiya America for the opportunity to do this little gem.

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