| donlowry | 22 Jul 2009 2:37 p.m. PST |
I have an old 1/76-scale Airfix German 8-wheeled armored car with a 75mm anti-tank gun. But the odd thing is, it's not the late-war sdkfz 234/4 AC. It has the chassis (or at least the fenders) of the earlier sdkfz 231-233-type AC. Was there ever such a beast? In production? or 1-off? Or did Airfix just dream something up? |
| Richard Humm | 22 Jul 2009 2:43 p.m. PST |
The 234/4 preserved at Bovington at that time had no mudguards. Airfix appear to have based their kit on that vehicle, then added mudguards based on photos of the 231/2/3 series. Have a look here link for a diorama showing how this might have happened (French text). |
| John Armatys | 22 Jul 2009 2:51 p.m. PST |
It is a well known oddity – the norm was to assemble it without the mudguards, or scratch build your own. Alternatively you can use the hull as tha basis of an early 8-rad armoured car – as long as you are not too fussy. Nowadays you could try using the Matchbox Puma mudguards, or buy a conversion set from Matador link |
 Silurian  | 22 Jul 2009 3:43 p.m. PST |
I've just made this kit with my son. A nice build, but an oddity indeed.
I remember a quick fix from an old Airfix magazine that entailed linking the two mudguards with a couple of bits of plasticard. Pretty simple and makes it a closer (but not close!) approximation to the original. |
| Patrick R | 22 Jul 2009 3:46 p.m. PST |
Airfix trawled all the UK museums for tanks and airplanes to copy. They often would copy the model as it was in the museum at the time, which explains the lack of exhaust covers/mudguards/rommelkiste on the Tiger etc. |
| The Monstrous Jake | 22 Jul 2009 3:58 p.m. PST |
I still have mine, which I built in 1978 according to my log. I scratchbuilt the fenders, didn't get it quite right but it turned out better than the fenders supplied in the original kit. |
| Ditto Tango 2 1 | 22 Jul 2009 6:34 p.m. PST |
Thanks to the previous posters for the background on the model – I had no idea, I'd always thought it was just bad model engineering. Airfix really did their best and for many of their kits, the results were really good. Anyway, here's what I did with mine. – I made it into an early 8 wheeled AC. Not military modeling competition quality but good enough for wargames: link
--
Tim |
| donlowry | 22 Jul 2009 7:33 p.m. PST |
Ditto Bird: I think you did a great job on the conversion! RH: That's an explanation that I had not thought of -- but it makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, I assembled mine years ago -- or maybe my son did (I used to pay him to assemble kits for me -- he got some cash and I avoided the drudgery). I do have an unassembled Puma kit. I'll see if I can get the original fenders off without breaking anything else. Thanks, guys! |
| Monophagos | 23 Jul 2009 12:10 p.m. PST |
My understanding is that there was a short 75mm L/24 on the vehicle with these mudguards…….. |
| Fred Cartwright | 23 Jul 2009 12:59 p.m. PST |
My understanding is that there was a short 75mm L/24 on the vehicle with these mudguards…….. Not strictly true. There was a short 75mm on the 231 series with those mudguards, but the hull is not quite right for that. It is the 233 – picture here – link
There was a short 75mm on the 234 chassis – the 234/3, but it has the other mudguards as per the Matchbox Puma. Italeri do the 234/3 in 1:72 scale. Here's a picture of the 234/3 – link |
| James Forrest | 25 Jul 2009 2:00 a.m. PST |
It is acknowledged as a hybrid (ie mistake) in one of the old airfix modelling books back in the 70s. You need to cross kit it with the matchbox Puma as already mentioned. |
checks out the Panthers for D-Day: Germans.