Model Armour

Sd.Kfz.250/10 NEU w/3.7cm PaK

Manufacturer: Cyber-Hobby

Scale: 1/35

Material: Styrene & Photo-etch

Serial Number: 6565

Price: TBA

Introduction

The 250 series of German halftracks produced by Germany during WWII, in a similar fashion to the 251 series being on C or D chassis etc., can be split into 'Alte' or Neu', with the bodywork being simplified in construction due to shortages of materials, machines to make or skilled workers to assemble.  The original series of 250 halftracks were released by Dragon a few years ago now, but have recently been reinvigorated by their updating to 'Premium Edition' kits, which included extensive retooled and new parts.   Now Cyber-Hobby have joined the party with this white box release of the 250/10 Neu sporting a3.7cm PaK.

Kit Contents

The kit is released as a 'White Box' edition, meaning limited edition and once it's gone, it's gone, and shouldn't be back again.  So far they've been good to their word, although most of the white box releases comprise bits and pieces from other Dragon kits, meaning that if you're really determined then you could build one anyway.  This one's no different.

Inside the box there are seven large sprues of their grey styrene, and also seven smaller ones.  A transparent sprue, separate lower hull/chassis, two decal sheets and a pair of brass width indicators complete the package.

If you ever built one of the old Dragon 250 kits, then you'll be immediately struck by the differences in this kit.  Although a lot of the old toolings are still provided on various sprues within the box, there are new parts to replace the worse of the old.  For example, a completely new lower chassis is provided with sidewalls already in place.  One thing that bugged me about the old kits was the separate sidewalls, which had to be cemented to the chassis. It wasn't difficult, but you had to ensure your alignment was perfect or it created problems later on in the build.  No such problems now of course.  If you look really closely, you'll see that there's not a lot of difference with regards to the lower hull, apart from the fact that the sidewalls are now part of the same piece, and that outer drive housings are now provided as separate parts too.  Of course, the most visible part of this area of the kit will be the running gear, so that gets a makeover too, with a completely new set of roadwheels, drive sprocket and idler wheel.   The drive sprocket is particularly nice, being built from three parts, an inner hub and two outer parts, one of which is moulded with the tiny cylindrical bearings to carry the track.  The two front wheels are also new and composed of 'slices' to obtain the best possible representation of the tyre tread pattern.  Each front wheel is composed of five 'slices', trapping the separate hub inbetween them.

Again, if you're familiar with the 251 series of kits from Dragon then you'll know that the Magic Track supplied with those kits are amongst the best injection moulded workable track around, and Dragon/Cyber-Hobby have supplied Magic Track with these that work in exactly the same manner.  The track is built from individual links that are held together by cementing a track pad between the two.  They are designed to be fully workable, and are a treat to assemble.

The steering assembly beneath the front of the vehicle is a little simplified, but does the job and looks reasonable considering the age of some of the components.  On the inside of the vehicle, we have a fully detailed transmission provided now, which was an area of concern for some modellers, with the rest of the driver's cab being reasonably well detailed too, although you might want to enhance the detail in this area of the kit and replace such things as the moulded in footpedals for the driver etc.  There are decals provided to represent the dash dials, but they may prove difficult to use since to be effective you'll have to remove the detail moulded onto the plastic dials.

For the inside of the fighting compartment we're given loads of detail to affix to the inside of the walls, such as spare vision block glass, MP40 brackets, ammunition for the MP40, Gasmask cylinder brackets etc., and also towards the rear a rack of ammo containers for the 3.7cm PaK gun, this consists of a row of 7 cans moulded in one piece with separate end pieces, so no option to have one open unless you have parts left over from the 251 kit that used these.  They're fixed to the right wall whilst a bench seat is provided for crew on the left.

All the on-vehicle tools in this kit, which are quite a prominent feature, are provided with moulded on tool clamps, and not of the 'Smart Series' kind either.  I find this a little odd considering they have gone to the trouble of providing brass width indicators.  These moulded tool clamps really need to be removed and replaced with some etched ones, and it's a pity the kit doesn't offer this option, even more so considering they offer etched replacements for the gasmask bracket etc., inside the vehicle?

The above fender stowage boxes are provided with separate doors should you wish to model them opened, and the inner surfaces of each door are detailed too.  There's also some rudimentary detail provided on the inner surface of the engine access hatches, although this is spoilt by some ejector pin marks, something we tend not to see on the newer Dragon kits, however, they're not that prominent and should be easy to remove and sand without damaging the surrounding detail.  For inside the engine compartment we even get a simplified engine, and although it's not bad as engines go, there's absolutely no detail whatsoever provided in the inner walls of the engine compartment, since this area of the kit wasn't originally designed to house an engine.  This shouldn't present too much of a problem considering what would be visible through even wide open hatches, although the engine could benefit from some extra detail added.

The 3.7cm Pak gun supplied is a bit ancient, and I'm really surprised that Cyber-Hobby never supplied a turned aluminium barrel for this.  Instead we're given a split two-piece injection-moulded one.  It's a fairly old kit, and completely unchanged from its appearance in the old Dragon 6139 250/10 kit.  It was also issued as part of the one of the first Dragon 251 kits (no.6224) and actually had an aluminium barrel with it!  It's fairly complete and accurate, although the shields provided are a little thick.

The small photo-etch fret provided in the kit, holds mainly brackets for the various things fitted to the inside of the fighting compartment walls as mentioned earlier.  It also has two nicely etched grills for the air intake on the engine compartment.

The marking options provided in the kit are as usual with Whit Box releases, minimal.  Only one option is detailed on the instructons, that of an unidentifed vehicle on the Western Front at sometime during 1944, although in addition to specific markings for this vehicle a generic number plate decal is provided too.

Conclusion

A very nice kit...with a little work!  The new additions such as the track and running gear make it much more attractive, although it's hard to explain some of the omissions, even on the grounds of cost?  Nevertheless it's a white box release and will in all likelihood sell out.  Deservedly so...I can't wait to build it!

My thanks to Cyber-Hobby for the review sample.

FULL BUILD: CH 250/10 NEU