1:35 Sd.Kfz. 251 - Corrected Road Wheels (Late Type Cap 2) (for Border Kits)

The most widespread German armored personnel carrier

The medium half-track vehicle of the Sd.Kfz. 251 range accompanied the German army from the campaign of 1940 until the last weeks of the war and became literally a symbol of motorized infantry. It came into being in four main stages of development and in dozens of purpose-built modifications, from a command vehicle through an ambulance version to a carrier for rocket launchers. The last stage received a simplified welded hull with angled faces, because wartime production needed to save hours of work, and it was in this form that the most examples were built.

The wheel hub as a dating clue

During series production the shape of the hub cap of the road wheel changed as well. Modelers distinguish two late renderings, because the difference between them is clearly visible on a finished chassis and helps place a machine in the right period. This set carries the second of them, that is the later variant of the cap.

The castings and their preparation

The subject for the shapes is a real wheel, not a simplified plastic part, so the recesses between the spokes have sharp edges and the bolts around the circumference are legible individually. The set is tied to the kit of the Border Model brand. The gates are cut off with a fine-toothed saw, the surface is leveled and the surface is freed of grease before painting; only then does the base hold as it should. Anyone building a vehicle from the last year of the fighting should add a corresponding set of tracks to the wheels, because the combination of a late cap with an older type of link would come across as contradictory in the result.