Hobby Company - Hanomag Sd.Kfz.251/1

Having over 30 years experience as a plastic model builder, I have always found kits from Japan's Tamiya to be of the highest quality and realistic detail. Even though this kit has been around for a while, the German Hanomag APC is an excellent kit for both beginners and master model builders. With a few extra modelling supplies, you can build a complete diorama around this kit. So, if you are a beginner and want to discover the fun and joy building plastic models which can be displayed with pride, this is an excellent kit to start with.

Reviewing a kit like this is a bit difficult. Tamiya's 251/1 Ausf. C halftrack is a very old kit, dating back to the early 1970s. What was, at that time, state of the art, is very simplistic and toy-like today.

The kit is sharply molded in dark grey plastic, with silver-grey vinyl band tracks, and a selection of German soldier figures molded in grey-green. The kit has been packaged in several variations, and some boxings come with an additional four figures. Good assembly instructions and decals round out the box contents.

The kit builds easily and even the overlapping road wheels probably will not be a problem for beginners. Despite its age, the molding is not bad, and everything goes together properly. This version of the halftrack was widely used, so you have a lot of painting and decal options in the instructions. Note, that while you get Afrika Korps decals, the kit provided figures are best suited for Europe/Russia.

Now for the down side... There is so much wrong with the kit as far as accuracy goes. Even the name on the box is wrong. Hanomag was one of several companies that made the Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack. It is not the name of the vehicle. The kit proportions and dimensions are a little iffy... back in the 70s kits were not that faithful to the dimensions of the original. The body of the kit is depicted as being riveted, and large rivet heads line the edges of the main structure. While not inaccurate, the riveted body was very rare, as most of these halftracks were welded. I'm not sure if any of the riveted ones were built by Hanomag, either! The kit interior is very sparse and only vaguely resembles the real thing. The rear compartment seats are simplified and all of the storage bins, lockers, rifle racks, etc. that should be inside are totally missing. There is a large water tank between the front crew seats that does not belong there either. It was only used on the 251 Ambulance vehicle; but then the Ambulance had fittings for stretchers in the back, and not troop seats. The kit tracks have no detail on the inner sides, and the outer track detail is not the best. The kit figures are only fair by modern standards as they are really very generic and bland. The poses are nice, though, and they paint up well.

So that's it... sort of a mixed bag. it's a good beginners kit. But for a serious quality model, the 251 halftracks from Dragon or AFV Club are much better.

This is part of the great 1/35 series from Tamiya. It contains over 200 pieces, 3/4 of which are dedicated to the Sonderkraftfahrzeug itself. There are many tiny pieces, but good dimensional precision makes the assembly process reasonably smooth. Tamiya's tough plastic also keeps breakage to a minimum.

Tamiya supplies a mounting kit with 1/35 German 3.7cm Pak35/36 AT Gun, which allows a combination of the two kits into Sdkfz 251/10. I did not choose to build that because the soldiers are not designed to operate the Pak on the vehicle.

This kit is the same as Tamiya 1/35 German Hanomag Sdkfz 251/1. Somehow, Amazon staffers have not realized that they are identical items yet.