Sd.Kfz. 10 w/3.7 cm PaK

Reviewed by Cookie Sewell

Summary

FirstLook

Early in the war the Germans came to the realization that towed antitank guns were vulnerable to enemy counterfire during emplacement and withdrawal, and so they began to experiment with making as many as possible self-propelled on tracked chassis. The limitations usually wound up being a lack of chassis more than anything else, and by mid-war they were using purpose-built platforms for these conversions.

One of the first of these conversions was the adaptation of the 3.7 cm PaK 35/36 Rheinmetall gun to the Sd.Kfz. 10 one ton halftrack. While the precise number of conversions is unknown, there appear to have been two types: one which bolted a pedestal mount down to the floor of the cargo platform and used only the upper carriage, and one which modified the platform to take two special mounts that held the axles of the original carriage in place. The latter had the advantage that the gun could easily be removed and put back on its wheels for towing, whereas the formed would need the complete lower carriage.

DML’s boutique affiliate cyber-hobby.com has now taken the Pak 35/36 kit (No. 6139) and some new mold sprues and their recent Sd.Kfz. 10/5 2 cm Flak kit (No. 6676) to create one of the latter conversions.

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As before this kit essentially combines proven components but instead of the Sd.Kfz. 250 road wheels it now adds new “Sd.Kfz. 10/5" dedicated road wheels and driver centers, something not present in the original kit.

As its predecessor did this kit has a totally new hull pan with individual torsion bars for the suspension and a complete engine and transmission assembly. But this kit only offers the two-piece tires and not the five-piece grooved variants from the later 250 kits.

The hood and grille are impressive as all vanes and louvers are molded open and clear, with the ones on the hood being very petite and neatly done (be careful as I would bet a thick coat of paint would block them up and ruin the effect). As before the first eight steps cover the engine, transmission, chassis and cab interior which is all quite detailed. Note that the directions covering the assembly of the rear body section (parts D22, D24 and D28 in Step 1) are not very clear, as it appears D28 is a forward bulkhead and D24 the rear one with D22 perched on top of both of them to create a seat-like structure. This isn’t clear until Step 9.

The complete Pak 35/36 kit is included as well as two new sprues with the mounts for the wheelless carriage and the new cargo platform body. It consists of a low floor, new fenders and a pair of carriage mounts among other parts.

Again the kit uses the tiny Magic Track links of two parts each. While they are nicely done and accurate, they are smaller than many 1/72 scale kits and very tedious to assemble.

Technical consultants on this kit were Thomas Anderson, Tom Cockle and Gary Edmundson.

Only one finishing option is provided: 13th Panzer Division, Eastern Front, 1941 (grey with license WH-632853). A tiny sheet of Cartograf decals, mostly instruments and placards, is provided.

Overall this kit is an option for “one tonner” fans.

Sprue Layout:

A 83 Sd.Kfz. 10/5 - fenders, hood, grille, chassis detail parts
A 15 PaK 36 - trails, wheels, details
A 12 PaK 36 - HEAT projectile, details
B 92 Sd.Kfz. 10/5 - suspension, engine, transmission, front seats
B 48 PaK 36 - gun barrels, carriage, shield, details
D 54 Sd.Kfz. 10/5 - rear body components
E 13x2 Sd.Kfz. 10/5 - road wheels
G 5 Sd.Kfz. 10/5 - 3.7 cm mounts
H 6 Sd.Kfz. 250 - drivers
N 192 Sd.Kfz. 250 - two part Magic Track links
V 4 Clear styrene
X 1 Sd.Kfz. 10/5 - Lower hull pan
MA 22 Etched brass.

Thanks to Freddie Leung for the review sample.