Milicast 1/76 Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf. D

[ntrocket88]

Another of life’s little frustrations for 1/76 Luddites like me, is getting an Sdkfz 251 for Normandy. This should be easy since Matchbox/Revell and Fujimi have both produced examples for years. Unfortunately, both chose to offer the Ausf. B version. Only a few hundred Ausf B. were produced in 1940 before being replaced in January 1941 by the Ausf C, of which around 4500 were made before it too was replaced by the radically revamped Ausf. D in June 1943. Converting a ‘B’ to a ‘C’ is not too taxing but I tried making two Ausf. D from Matchbox Sdkfz 251 years ago, and am not anxious to repeat the attempt! Especially not since I want a fair number of them for wargaming… So I decided to bite the bullet and buy some resin ones from Milicast. The good side of their kit is the remarkable level of detailing on both the exterior and interior. They are also reasonably close to scale (just a fraction small perhaps). They have been relegated to Milicast’s Battlefield collection and so are simplified considerably and come as a solid lump of resin with only the superstructure roof and MG’s being separate parts. Unfortunately, that also means that substantial amounts of reconstruction are required to overcome molding limitations with the front wheels and lower track sections.

I decided to make three at the same time to shorten the build time. Big mistake! Filling, filing and sanding are my least favorite modeling activities (and these need a lot of it), so it has taken me a lot longer than it should to finish, as I kept getting fed up with them. I decided to completely replace the front wheels and axles, as the wheels were a little misshapen and the clean up around the mudguards is a lot easier with the wheels removed. I had two old Matchbox versions in the spares box, so I just used the whole wheel assemblies from those. For the last one, I scratched the axle from Evergreen square-section rod and cast two wheels from a Matchbox master. The tracks required a lot of cleanup and I had to rebuild the lower parts, especially the rubber track pads from sheet. Very fiddly, very time consuming! For the interior, I only added the gear shift, hand-brake and whatever third lever was for, from brass rod. I also fully painted and weathered the interior first, before fitting the superstructure roof. In common with the Matchbox and Fujimi versions, the front MG shield is substantially too small. I scratched replacements from 1/20 scale drawings in Panzer Tracts 15-3.

The finish is based on three photos of two Sdkfz 251 from the 1st SS Panzer Division in Normandy. I used decals from Aleran (number plates) and Archer. The other two are (still) having finishing touches but I will add them shortly...


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D BLF[/size]


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D LF


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D RF


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D RR


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D RHS


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Front


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Top


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D RR2

[ShaunW]

It's good to see more of your builds Neil. I am also surprised at the lack of injection moulded D models of the 251 from the major players in the smaller scale and I can imagine why you are not keen to repeat the exercise of conversion again! Great work though and thanks for taking the time to explain the build process, which sounds like it was a bit of a bind at times

[ntrocket88]

Thanks for the comment Shaun. Much appreciated.

I look some photos of how this kit looks when you get it:




And after cleaning up, first with the Matchbox replacement wheel assembly:


And with cast wheels and scratched axle:

[ShaunW]

I've never built a resin kit but I can see that, obvious cleaning up aside, the medium results in quite a crisp looking model that can form the basis for further work to make a detailed scale model (albeit quite a lot of work by the sounds!) or be built OOB for wargaming purposes. Quite pricey though I would imagine compared to an injection moulded plastic kit (sorry but I can't help but think of the price, I am a tightwad Yorkshireman after all ).

[ntrocket88]

...Quite pricey though I would imagine compared to an injection moulded plastic kit (sorry but I can't help but think of the price, I am a tightwad Yorkshireman after all ).

I understand - having lived in Sheffield for three years! They are pricey - about £15 vs. maybe £8 for a Revell one. Still cheaper than Dragon though! I only seem to be able to make 7-10 models a year so not so bad if I think of it that way

[JohnRatzenberger]

I have the Milicast BB080 Churchill AVRE. I haven't touched it yet due to the amount of clean-up needed. The sides/suspension/tracks, in particular, do not seem to be squarely mounted and I am not sure how to correct that - it may be more than my usual hot water tricks can handle. If I could get past that, I think it would make a nice model. All my other armor resin has been in 1/35, with many pieces, and I'm quite used to building that.

[ntrocket88]

I have the Milicast BB080 Churchill AVRE. I haven't touched it yet due to the amount of clean-up needed. The sides/suspension/tracks, in particular, do not seem to be squarely mounted and I am not sure how to correct that - it may be more than my usual hot water tricks can handle. If I could get past that, I think it would make a nice model. All my other armor resin has been in 1/35, with many pieces, and I'm quite used to building that.

Sounds like you might have to cut them off and reset them. Your mission, should you choose to accept it.... ! My experience with Milicast is that their Premiere Range kits are reasonably well molded, but once they transfer the kit to the simplified Battlefield Range a lot more effort is required to get them close to injection molded kit quality.

[ntrocket88]

And here is the second one. Not very exciting, just more of the same, I know. But I am determined to get them done before the end of the year so I can start with a clean slate.

Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr2 BRR


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr2 LF


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr2 LR


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr2 LHS

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Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr2 RFTop


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr2 Interior

[ShaunW]

Nicely done Neil, looks like it means business on the Normandy front. Keep at them, not long until the end of the year. I'm also trying to finish the Apache Longbow, which is currently cluttering my work bench, before year end - I'm fed up of looking at the same model and want it done!!

[JohnRatzenberger]

I have the Milicast BB080 Churchill AVRE. I haven't touched it yet due to the amount of clean-up needed. The sides/suspension/tracks, in particular, do not seem to be squarely mounted and I am not sure how to correct that - it may be more than my usual hot water tricks can handle. If I could get past that, I think it would make a nice model. All my other armor resin has been in 1/35, with many pieces, and I'm quite used to building that.

Sounds like you might have to cut them off and reset them. Your mission, should you choose to accept it.... ! My experience with Milicast is that their Premiere Range kits are reasonably well molded, but once they transfer the kit to the simplified Battlefield Range a lot more effort is required to get them close to injection molded kit quality.

Yes, I was thinking I'd have to do that. I think I saw some Premiere kits and assumed their whole range was the same. I'll find out because I have a "small" order en route - their 2-pdr portee amongst others.

[ntrocket88]

And finally... the third one! This was supposed to be the first, but I had an accident. I was shaking a bottle of Vallejo paint and it slipped out of my hand, hit me on the forehead and smashed into the completed model. It destroyed the front MG (I had to replace it with one from an old Matchbox kit), removed the filler around the roof top and chipped all the paint in that area. It hurt too!


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr3 BRF


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr3 LF


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr3 LFT


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr3 LHS


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr3 LR


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr3 LRT


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr3 RF


Milicast Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D Nr3 RRT2

[JohnRatzenberger]

I hope it had the deceny to chip the paint realistically

[Dirkpitt289]

Nicely done.

[ShaunW]

Another great piece of work Neil. I presume that the figures are from a wargaming range - are they white metal or plastic?

Sorry but I had to laugh at your accident. The last time that sort of thing happened to me was many years ago shaking a can of olive drab paint. Little did I realise that the lid was not properly secured until I noticed the streaks of paint on my shirt, which was an old one anyway and then, horror of horrors, on the wallpaper of the room. It looked like a piece of modern art. Fortunately at the time I wasn't married!

[ntrocket88]

Thanks once again for your very kind comments guys.

I hope it had the deceny to chip the paint realistically

Not unless I wanted it to look like the crew dropped an anvil on the roof!

...I presume that the figures are from a wargaming range - are they white metal or plastic?...

Actually no. They are from two old Matchbox Sdkfz 11 and 7.5cm Pak40 kits. They came with two sets of three seated figures each and I cut one figure separately from a third set one to give 2 + 1. I added the helmet covers using white glue and smoothed the pockets out and added bulk with filler on the four figures with smocks. The other five were painted with the M1944 'Pea' pattern (same cut at the normal uniform), also used on the trousers for all nine. The feet had to be cut off and the backsides trimmed to get them to fit too. I am trying to make a mold to duplicate them for all my other 251 - actual and planned.