1/48 Tamiya Sd.kfz251/1 Ausf.D Half Track - United States Army - Germany 1945

 

Depicted as a vehicle captured by the US Army in Germany, 1945 and pushed into service as an ambulance. 

This kit was built as an entry for the 2024 NSW Scale Model Show's Panzer Tracks Trophy.  The theme being "In Enemy Hands".

The Kit

• Tamiya 1/48 Model Kit German Standard Personnel Carrier Sd.kfz251/1 Ausf.D - Kit No 32564 

I originally bought this kit for the figures which I used on my Marder III build.  But after looking through Captured Panzers: German Vehicles in Allied Service: 39 by Kagero publications there was a cool US operated half track that was perfect for the 2024 Panzer Tracks Trophy.

Aftermarket

• Some resin bits from the spares box
• Figure from the 1/48 Tamiya U.S. Airfield Fuel Truck (Kit No. 32579)
• The Stretcher was scratch built from evergreen sprue and tissue paper dampened with white glue.

The Build 

Construction is straight forward although, due to the open compartment there was a bit more work than a subject with a turret. 

Painting and Weathering

I first painted the model Tamiya Dark Yellow 2 from the LP range (LP-55).  The Dark Green was Mr Color 70 and the brown was Tamiya Red Brown (XF-64).

All the markings, bar the "USA" were painted on. I tried to make the white a little translucent so you could see original underlying paint.  The USA were decals from the decal sheet that came with the book.

Weathering was done almost entirely with pigments. I have three pigments mixture, light , middle and dark.  These mixes are made up from a number of different pigments of different shades.

Streaks were done with a damp brush loaded with a liquid pigment mix .  Likewise, the splatters were the same liquid pigment mixes flicked on the model  

  

The Base

The base was made from insulation foam. I then covered it with artists texture paste mixed with Tamiya Texture Paint Soil Effect Dark Earth.  The above described Pigment mixes were applied and set with Tamiya X20A.  The Tufts are from various manufacturers.  Vallejo gloss acrylic was used for the really wet mud and semi gloss for the slightly dryer wet mud (if that makes sense).

The Figure

The figure was from the 1/48 Tamiya U.S. Airfield Fuel Truck.  He was painted with various Vallejo acrylics.  A wash of Mr Weathering colour Stain brown and then some dry brushing finished him off. 

Sure, there is no story here but I'm not a subscriber to idea that “the scene must tell a story” in modelling.  I've only ever seen a few pieces that I think tell an obvious deep story.  I just like adding a figure or 2 to armour models as it gives a sense of scale and gives my an excuse to try paint little people. 

Conclusion

This far from my best work but it was a fun little project.  The mud is a little monotone and it needs another figure to give the existing one someone to talk too. That said, my modelling philosophy is that not every model has to be a potential competition winner and it's fine just to slap things together.  That's what I did here.

The Photos

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