Zvezda

1/35 SdKfz 251/3 Ausf.B Mittlerer Funkpanzerwagen

Kit Number: 3604

Reviewed by  Grant DeRue, IPMS# 42477

MSRP: $32.95 Distributed by Dragon Model USA Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Have you ever built a model kit that challenged you a whole lot? In the end, you were happy with the result, and you learned a lot of new skills. When a kit challenges you, you also learn what not to do. This happened to me a whole lot in this build. This kit is a B model or the second iteration of the 251 halftrack. These models were manufactured earlier in the war. The /3 stands for the vehicle being a communications vehicle.

What is in the box? Upon opening the box, you see a lot of parts. You also see the two-parts-per-link individual track links. It appears that Zvezda has engineered this kit to be built up into many other of the Ausf. B variants. Approximately 567 styrene parts are included in the kit. Not all of them were used to build this model. I left some parts off, and some of the parts included in the kit are meant for other versions of the 251 Ausf. B halftrack. The directions are black and white and 4 pages with print on the front and back including a parts diagram, assembly instructions, and painting and decal diagrams. I found the directions easy to read. Decals are included for three vehicles (two gray halftracks and one dark yellow halftrack). In the directions, two decals are called out for dash board details that are not included on the decal sheet. The dash board is difficult to see when the vehicle is finished. Part Issues: For the number of parts included in this kit, inevitably there will be problems. I'm listing them first, only to get them out of the way in the review. When I opened the box, I found 3 broken parts. The star antenna (part F7) and the external jerry can holders (part B5 x2) were broken and not used for the build. The star antenna being deployed was an option for this build. I left the antenna stowed. The jerry can holder could have been pieced together, but I liked the look of the early style rear doors that they were being mounted to. I left these off. The prominent engine vent doors (parts D9 and D10) both have large sink holes that were very difficult to fill/remove. The upper ½ of the crew compartment (part E16) was bent inward on the front face. I used heat to bend this part back. The rubberized track pads (part A3 x120) all have sink holes. I did my best to fill all of these in. This part happens to be very visible on the kit. The rear number plate decals included in the kit didn't match the shape of the number plate parts (parts F9 and F10). To keep the model out-of-box, I cut and shaped pieces of sprue to fit the decals. These parts were then glued to the kit parts. The Build: Starting the build, I decided to leave the engine vent doors and radiator vent door open. This would require the engine and radiator to be built, painted, and weathered. I pretty much followed the flow of the printed directions when building the kit. This means that I started with the kit engine. It took me 8 hours to build, paint, and weather the engine and radiator. After finishing the engine, the chassis and running gear minus the tracks were then painted and put together. I then began the tracks. It took me 11 hours to remove the tracks from the sprues, clean them, fill them, paint them, and then place them on the kit. When reviewing the kit directions, I made the decision to build this individual tracks as "workable." This is where I went wrong. It would take really precise glue to make this happen. My advice is to build these tracks unpainted without the rubberized track pads, use liquid cement to temporarily place the track links onto the kit, paint the metal track parts, permanently place the links onto the kit, and then place the painted rubberized track pads onto the kit. I'm betting that using this method will cut track build time in half. I then placed the body onto the chassis and finished the kit per the directions. This is where I went wrong. I placed the left side lower hull (part E14) slightly forward of where it was supposed to be, and this messed up the geometry of the entire kit. I used a lot of filler between the upper hull and the lower hull and the upper the fenders and the kit hull. If you dry fit things carefully, it is my belief that filler won't be needed. Since there were some fit issues due to my misalignments, I created a see-through effect from the crew area into the engine bay. Not wanting to see daylight above the firewall I closed the engine vent door. While I was closing doors, I closed the radiator vent door also. Paint and Weathering: I painted the exterior of the kit Tamiya German gray. I painted the interior of the kit Tamiya dark gray (lighter than German gray). I used washes of Tamiya acrylic dark yellow and Testors enamel rust to add contrast to the kit. Dot washes of oil paints were used to break up and lighten the German gray base coat using blue, green, ochre, burnt sienna, and white. Dry brushing using a mixture of Naples yellow and titanium white oils was performed to highlight the higher areas of the kit hull. Brick red Mig pigments were used to add dust to the vehicle. I used a lot of pigments on the road wheels. Decals: Of the 7 decals that I used, 3 of them weren't happy with the Microscale products when placed over Future Floor Polish. These 3 decals wrinkled more when setting solution was added to them. The other 4 decals went on without problem. All of the decals were in register and opaque enough to cover the dark gray base coat. Conclusion: Every time that I build a Zvezda kit, I want to build another one. There aren't photo etched parts or turned brass barrels included in these kits, but you get a great kit for a low cost. This kit looks like an Ausf. B halftrack, and the frame antenna looks fantastic. It took me 46 hours to complete this model. 8 hours were to complete the engine and radiator (which now can't be seen). 11 hours were spent on the track links. This kit challenged me, so I would not recommend it to a beginner. If you take your time, you will have a really neat looking radio half-track that will look a lot different from other things in a kit collection or on a contest table. I'd like to thank Dragon Models USA and Zvezda and IPMS/USA for the privilege of building this review kit. I'd also like to apologize to Zvezda for not having this kit complete for the IPMS Nationals as planned. Let's just say that my first attempt at painting wooden seats didn't work out well at all. I used a good amount of Easy Off oven cleaner to remove the paint and start over.