"Sdkfz 251/3 Ausf. D" Topic

The Sdkfz 251 is a converted 1/72nd PSC kit with scratchbuilt radios and mast holders.

The crew are AB and Lammercraft. The seated figures are body chopped and given plastic legs from some of the PSC crew figures.

So quite a bit of fiddling with this one, the first of 8 PSC 251s Im currently working on…

Lots more pics here;

ww20mm.blogspot.ie

Very nice, I like the subdued camo finish!

Piers,

That looks lovely, looking forward to seeing the others posted.

i agree, very nice… how and what style did u use to get that camo look, im currently doinig a 251. what colour did you undercoat and was the mani colour middlestone?
Mike

The base colour is Tamiya Desert Yellow.

This goes on as a very orangey looking yellow, but when filtered with the Mig Tan filter, gives a very nice Dunkel Gelb. The camo overspray was done using Tamiya JDF Green and Hull Red, sprayed very lightly with a 50-50 mix with thinners and at high PSI to get a very slight, almost transparent look to it.

Lots more to come… Hopefully tonight I will finish off the flammenwerfer one and the engineer variant.

Piers that is a lovely model, and thanks for sharing.

I am loath to nit pick, particularly as you demonstrate a level of painting skill I can only dream of, and am more than happy to be shot down in flames here, but are you sure the butt of the rear MG42 should be black? – weren't they made of wood right until the end? I know the ones in use now by the Austrians have poly butts but I reckon they are retrofits?

Again, would be interested to hear if I am wrong and you have heard of stamped metal butts being used!

Its not black its brown!

Though the pics colour is crap… Too dark.

But as an aside, they did make some bakerlite ones which were virtually black. Top MG42 in the pic below;

Look nice! Perhaps I could try building one of those as a company commander vehicle if I end up buying more of the PSC halftracks.

I just finished building a box of these PSC 251/Ds and IMO they set a new standard in 1/72 wargames kits. Now we need the /Cs in 1/72 with a conversion kit…

Lovely model there Piers and also looking forward to seeing more of this group – you are really making me want to buy more of them !

Nice work as usual Piers. I'm using the Army Painter Desert yellow as my base followed by a sepia wash. I then over brush with 50/50 Vallejo Dunkel Gelb (which is way too green by itself)/Dark Sand followed by Dark Sand highlights.

I just finished building a box of these PSC 251/Ds and IMO they set a new standard in 1/72 wargames kits.

Having recently done the same, I have to pretty much agree – these are a joy to assemble, and with all the crew, stowage and ATG options bring it some nice versatility.

Hmmm, could there be any chance of convincing PSC to add a few radio bits (to use for the 251/3 variant) when they crank out the 1/72 conversion kit? Since the 37 mm ATG option is included in the main 1/72 kit, there could be some room left on the conversion sprue (as opposed to the 15 mm version, where the ATG was on the conversion sprue and not on the main kit).

There will be a PSC 1/72 conversion kit.

…and soon I may have some previews of resin conversions kits for the PSC 251s… But I cant say anymore on that just yet…

Nice and reasonably priced resin conversion kits might also be welcome.

Since the 37 mm ATG option is included in the main 1/72 kit…

People may have seen me banging on about this before but the 37mm PaK in the 251/D box is slightly problematic as my research suggests that for 251/10 Ausf D it should probably be either a low profile left side only shield, or no shield at all, as opposed to the full sized PaK shield provided.

Now the nice little PSC 37mm gun is moulded with a fairly solid block of plastic around the barrel that acts as a locator for the full sized shield. This makes it quite difficult to convert to either of those other versions.

My compromise was to cut down the height of the shield, making a low profile full shield. It doesn't look bad but I believe it is only strictly a correct variant of 251/10 Ausf A-C.

Yes… The shield should be the cut down version for the Ausf. D, generally only on the one side of the gun.

Pretty easy conversion though but I know what you mean about the locating mount for the sheild. I replaced mine with a 28mm Panzerbusche for a little bit more novelty…

Of course if you want to be truly exact, you also need to remove the barrel ring from the end of the PSC 37mm as that is only a feature of the Soviet 45mm…

Hi Piers,

I noticed you had dodged the tungsten ban and gone with the sPzB … ;o)

I decided that the locating mount on the gun would make removing the right side and top of the shield too awkward so keeping the full shield and just lowering the profile was a compromise of accuracy. Looks good from the left hand side though !

I did the same mate… But wasnt happy with it.

Then I saw several pics of 251/10s with 28mm's added, apparently a few got them as a variant instead of the 37mm and as I have several lying about unloved… I stuck one on!

If I'd had my wits about me I would've grabbed an Esci 250/10 from the bargain bin at the last swapper and nabbed it's PaK – would've been perfect ! Oh well….

do you use two colors of pigments or just one? and if i recall correctly you dont fix them right?

I use two pigments and always fix them… Otherwise them come off.

If I'd had my wits about me I would've grabbed an Esci 250/10 from the bargain bin at the last swapper and nabbed it's PaK – would've been perfect !

Trying to assemble one of those at the moment, I would say that the gun is about the only good thing on that model – the vehicle itself is something of a pain to put together. The included crew are OK, though.

That said, I am looking forward to the PSC 250/1 (whenever that will be released) in order to be able to field more than one of these halftracks.

I just bought a box of these; one has turned into a 251/17 (ersatz), another is becoming a 251/23 and the third is having a French APX turret added:).

They are lovely models; easily the best of the "wargames kits".

YES, PSC 250's I want some !

I know Piers has already mentioned in a previous post, they are sort of in the system.

Trying to assemble one of those at the moment, I would say that the gun is about the only good thing on that model – the vehicle itself is something of a pain to put together.

Yep. Most of those Esci Jerry HTs are a bit of a pain to assemble but fantastic for pinching bits off for kitbashes (radios, flamm, pioneer bridges, etc) if you can get 'em cheap.

…one has turned into a 251/17 (ersatz), another is becoming a 251/23 and the third is having a French APX turret added

Nice variations…!

What do you use to fix them?

Thanks for the correction Piers!

Simo,

Mig Pigment Fixer…