Sd.Kfz. 251/22 Ausf.D
Dragon Kit No. 6248
1/35th Scale
Construction feature by Terry Ashley

Please note that only those parts needing assembly to show the sit of the PaK40 in the 251 hull have been used with many just spot glued to hold in place while larger items like the upper and lower hull are held together with tape for the purpose of this assembly. Any alterations needed to parts for a good fit have been done to ensure that what you see is what you get.

The lower hull, floor, instrument panel bulkhead and hull sides were assembled without issue and the side bolted flanges attached prior to fitting the forward PaK40 support bulkhead (part L15).
Just a quick note on the instructions as they are a bit vague in fitting the flanges and support bulkhead with Step 8 showing to attach the flanges and Step 11 showing the support bulkhead fitted into place without any indication of the orientation of the bulkhead or how it aligns to the flanges. The support bulkhead has to be fitted with the side featuring the H beams facing forward with the plain side facing to the rear and mounted on the forward edge of the flanges. Also the side flanges require the bolt heads on the forward side removed so the support bulkhead will fit properly and some additional trimming was also required.

While checking the fit of the flange and support bulkhead it became apparent that the Dragon flanges have the incorrect contour at the bend and also the bolts are not mounded centrally as they should be and as I had already glued the flanges in place the locating recesses on the support bulkhead required trimming.
Firstly the bend recess was enlarged to match the contour of the Dragon part and the upper and lower recess were enlarged slightly to fit between the side flanges, you could of course trim the flanges instead of the support bulkhead but it is probably better to trim the bulkhead to keep the flanges intact and test fitting to see if any additional trimming is needed would be advisable?

View of the Dragon hull flangers as compared to the AFV Club parts (right image)
and the minor trimming needed to get a good fit against the hull flanges in the Dragon kit.

The fit of the forward driver’s hull panel and the new top panel with cut-out for the gun both fitted precisely to the upper hull and the PaK40 mounting fitted snugly in place without any trimming, the top hull was then attached before moving on to the gun.

Obviously all the other parts such as driver’s seats, controls and interior ammo boxes and seats would also be assembled before attaching the hull top as per the instructions.

View of the gun mount attached to front mounting bulkhead

View of upper hull and top panels in place showing good match up with the internal gun mount

The PaK40 assembly went without any problems, but one thing I will warn is that at the bottom of the rear gun shield are two large attachment lugs meant to fit to the front of the gun mount but look for all intense and purposes like big sprue attachment points which I duly cleaned off only to find when it comes to the fitting the gun shield that the bottom has no where to go, so watch this when removing the shield from the sprues.

Another problem is with the small cut-outs in the lower corners of the gun shields are cut too high up the height of the shield, this can be seen when looking at photos which show the cut-out comes up three quarters of the distance between the bottom and middle shield bolt but the cut-out is up level with the middle bolt on the Dragon Shield.

View of the gun mount without the shield to show the height in relation to the hull

View of the gun mount with the shield in place showing the cut-out extending too far up the shield

The final verdict:
Taking into account the issues identified above the PaK40 sits at the correct height when fitted to the internal gun mount but the oversized cut-out on the gun shield may give the impression is it sitting higher, but if you check the height of the cradle in relation to the hull top shows it the sit is okay.

I hope this brief build has been of assistance in answering this particular question and highlighting a few other issues?

Return to first look review of the 251/22.

References:

SdKfz251 Ground Power Special GALILEO Publishing Co.,Ltd	Schutzenpanzer (Armored Personnel Carrier) Ryton Publications ISBN: 1930571291	Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf.D Model Detail Photo Monograph No.22 RossaGraph ISBN : 83-89717-60-3
SdKfz 251 Militaria in Detail 001 ISBN: 83-7219-061-5	Sdkfz251 Osprey New Vanguard 25	German Halftracks 1909-1945 Spielberger Book 6
SdKfz251 Wydawnictwo Militaria No.12 ISBN: 83-86209-06-2	SdKfz251 in action Squadron Signal #2021	Sd Kfz 251 Tank Power Vol.VI Wydawnictwo Militaria No.215 ISBN: 83-7219-215-4

Page created 28 November 2004