SdKfz 222 (15mm)

[Fitz]

This arrived on my doorstep this morning — a 1:100 scale (15mm) Zvezda SdKfz 222, a German light armoured car of WWII.

As always with these little Zvezda kits, it's a snap-together affair. This one was trickier than most to build because quite a few bits interlock, but even so it was a pretty simple kit to slap together.

Something I've found with most of Zvezda's wheeled vehicles is that the axle stubs are a little fragile, so I generally reinforce them by slathering the connection with a boot of 5-minute epoxy. That gives them enough strength to stand up to my ham-fistedness when they're on the wargames table.



Another modification I made was to chop off the turret's peg and add a couple of magnets to allow the turret to turn freely. It's not always necessary, but I thought it a wise precaution in this case because the barrel of the 20mm autocannon is so slender; I don't think it would stand up to some clumsy oaf trying to turn the turret by it against any sort of friction.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Another lovely model.

[Tim]

This looks really good, Fitz.  I've also found fragile wheels can be a problem in plastic models, in my case at 1/72 scale.  Interesting replacement of the turret peg.  I've always tended to spend a lot of time on the peg, or more usually, the wide turret ring and tabs for precisely the reason you do.  The rules I use for armour requires the turret to be turned to point at the target, so it's important that the turrets turn freely for some of my goofy friends!

[Helen]

Lovely work once again. I love the Sdkfz 222. I've another to build and paint for the desert, alas, its 1/56th scale.

Cheers,

Helen

[MartinR]

Very nice as ever. I also like the turrets to rotate freely, so I usually just pare down the peg a bit, and if necessary just put a bit of blu taking in the hole to hold it.