I have always been a sucker for WWII halftracks and soft skins ever since I returned to the hobby, with Axis vehicles being a particular favourite. Over the last couple of years I have built a fair few Sd.Kfz.7 8 ton variants. Although Tamiya offer a selection they are pretty crude by modern standards so Dragon (D) and Trumpeter (T) are the only manufacturers to offer newer mouldings of this vehicle in 1/35 scale. They currently offer around eleven different versions between them. At last count both manufacturers offer twenty-six kits with both producing early and late towing vehicles as well as Flak variants. Both offer the same models with the odd variant being produced by just one. Dragon also offers combo packs including artillery pieces.
- Gun crew vehicles are available in initial (D), early (D & T) and late (D & T)
- Wooden bodied (Holzpritsche) versions are offered by D & T
- Self-propelled Flak versions carried four main weapons. The early and later armoured cab model 7/1 version Flakvierling 38, (D & T), and the three 7/2 versions; early and late Flak 37 (D & T), early Flak 41 (T), and late Flak 43 (D & T)
- Two kits that only one manufacturer offer is Trumpeter‘s 7/3 Feuerleitpanzer version which was used specifically at Rocket sites and Dragon offer the specific 1943 HL m11 version of the gun crew vehicle.
- Cyber Hobby released an early Flakvierling 38 variant in 2011 but I have no idea if that differs from the Dragon boxed kit #6525 of the same name that was released in 2009.
An early gun crew Sd.Kfz 7 in North Africa
As regards to builders, both the main ones were Borgward (designated HL) and Krauss Maffei (designated KM). The radiator housings received their emblems on earlier vehicles.
An early model Sd.Kfz 7/1 version Flakvierling 38
One variant that is missing from the range on offer is the earliest incarnation of the wooden cargo bodied (Holzpritsche) These were first attached to the 1943 Typ HL m11 which retained the old-style metal driver’s compartment. The Holzpritche bodied vehicles were a solution to save on limited and dwindling Nazi supplies of raw materials. The first Holzpritsche vehicles built of the final m11 design were installed by the manufacturer Saurer as early as November 1943 and this is the vehicle I am planning to build at the end of this build log.
Early Holzpritsche fitted to the Typ HL m11
With both Trumpeter and Dragon only offering the final versions of the Holzpritsche which included the revised and larger wooden cab I will likely have to combine elements of different kits. It would be made far simpler if just one manufacturer got things right, but alas, both do suffer from their own inaccuracies and issues. To this end I am going to first begin by building both the final Holzpritche versions to see what will work best. Once completed I will attempt to create the early version with the best of what both manufacturers can offer.