Italeri Sd.Kfz.253 conversion in 1/72

Start: January / 2008 Current state: painting

 


After topping-off the crew pit, I turned a ring to serve as the main (round) hatch aperture. It is not absolutely faithful, but you know these crews... A secondary (rectangular) hatch was made from plastic and glued over the roof. The hinges were made from pieces of styrene strip and rod. The engine grilles come molded with wires represented in one direction only, so I scribed the perpendicular ones with a hobby knife:


The 253 was a very polyhedrical thing, with lots of corners and edges. I was planning to simulate the weld seams but dropped the idea very fast (recovering from AMS, remember?). I then shoved off all the window hatches and opened the driver's window to pose that hatch open later. I also added a number of external details like tool holding belts and inspection panels. The kit holes for the mudguard poles were too wide. I filled them with styrene, sanded flush and drilled new holes to accept syringe needle lengths that will receive the scratchbuilt poles later.


New window hatches were made from plastic. I repositioned the main lights while a Notek light was sourced from the Academy Opel Blitz.


I then turned my attention to the radio stuffs. After all, this is a radio car. The antenae support is a modified part from the kit (part 22A). A protection shield was vacuumformed and sanded to match the slanted surfaces of the vehicle. This was a difficult task since the angles of the edges in contact to the vehicle surface must be such that the walls of the shield remain vertical to the ground. The antenae was designed to fold on a protective rail. I built the rail from strips of styrene and glued it in the proper position.


The work on the aft area included a new crew entrance door handle, a rain guard, and the elimination of locating holes. At his point, I hadn't decided yet what kind of stowage the vehicle would carry. Factory Sd.Kfz.253 had a couple of holders to roll a cable around. I built and installed only one (the upper one), since I was thinking on installing one of those field-made fuel can racks on the lower side. More on that later.


On the lower part, I added just a few details, around areas that would be more visible, basically under the front mudguards. Since the traction wheels had a very loose fit, I inserted a length of brass tubing all the way through the chassis, and press fitted the kit wheels to the tube ends to provide a tight fitting to these parts. Worked like a charm...


Still on the lower area, while glueing of the rear suspension, I noted a number of problems. First, one of the axles of the travelling wheels was incomplete, like if the plastic hasn't filled completely the mold cavity. I added a small length of plastic rod and trimmed it to the proper size. The other problem is related to the alignment of the aftmost wheel axle - the one of the follower wheel. When glued in place, it rests aligned to the travelling wheels. That would result in all the wheels (except the traction ones) aligned to the ground. Looking at the photos, it is clear that the follower wheel used to stay slightly above the travelling wheels, not touching the ground (not as much as the traction wheels, but still quite visible). I decided to reproduce that by simply cutting off the aftmost axles and re-glueing them about 1mm higher.


The steering suspension system was very simple in the kit, although the leaf spring is very well molded. During one the countless dry-fitting runs, I noted that there is a problem with the instructions of the kit. During step 3, if you glue the front axle ends (parts 2A) as indicated, you will have the steering wheels assembled way ahead of their correct position. The solution is simply to flip these parts 180 degrees, so that the wheel attachment points remain aligned to the axle of the suspension arc (part 3A). That will produce a much better positioned steering wheels, but the fictitious, chunky shape of the part 2A will be visible. To remedy this, I sawed a good portion of parts 2A and added the prominent suspension arms. The final aspect is quite improved, specially if you are going to show the wheels in a steered attitude. The prominent semi-circular lower armor plate was made with a simple piece of aluminum shaped around a brush handle.


The 253 (and 250 and 252 as well) had two lateral removable guards. The right one was used as stowage compartment while the left one gave acces to the exhaust system. I reworked both kit parts with reinforcement strips. An exhaust pipe end was included in the left guard, while the right one received some photoetched details. The main upper hatch was scratchbuilt from plastic discs and decorated according to the photos, including photoetched hinges from spare frets. The drivers window hatch received the arms of the retracting mechanism. The kit wheels are very poor. I tried to improve them, but all I got was a pair of 'american style' wheels. I will try to replace them soon...


Continuing with the smaller details, I made an antenae with stretched sprue and a small length of bulb filament at the base. The standard tools include a scratchbuilt axe, and the kit's pickaxe and shovel, the later with a new handle. The jacks was improved with plastic bits and photoetched details. The new mudguard poles were made of 0.3mm brass rods with small blobs of carpenter's glue at the end (they still have to be bent to their final shape). I inserted one of the kit's rear mirror in one of the poles. I also made a small bucket to be placed somewhere (still figuring where...). The towing pin, which will be glued to the plug at the rear of the vehicle, was carved from a solid block of styrene, with minor details added later. A chain made with the cooper wire trick adds a lot of interest to this part.


Finally, some more details were prepared before painting. I made a jerry can rack holding my own resin fuel cans, as well as wood block made out of real wood cut to shape and stained with commercial wood stains. A towing cable will find its place hanging between the front hooks. I made it from fine cooper wires, while the cable ends are streteched plastic tubing glued to 1/35 scale chain links.


I resumed the work on this little tractor, as my youngest daughter called it, priming everything with automotive acrylic primer and checked for major faults. I left some small photoetched parts to be added just before the base camouflage.


Some remaining photoetched parts were finally attachec, right before the base camo. Due to my lack of experience on the subject, I had a hard time trying to find a suitable Panzer Grey color. My first attempt with a mix of Tamiya acrylics looked like Patrick Depallier's six wheeled Tyrrell. The model was bathed in caustic soda to remove the paint, and I tryed again, this time using Revell #78 lightened with Revell #5 for scale effect. It looks like a pre war Panzer Grey but I liked it. Once dry, I added even more white (#5) to the mix and applied some fading to the center of the flat areas.

Technical file
Kit:	- Italeri #7034
Additions:	- A few photoeteched parts from left-over frets
Basic colors:	- Primer: Acrylic automotive primer. - Panzer grey: mix of Revell #78 & #5
Notes:	- The original kit is a Sd.Kfz.250/3. The conversion to a Sd.Kfz.253 was scratchbuilt.

Rato Marczak © 2008