Sd. Kfz. 11 with PAK 40 - 1:72 Italeri

[Paul A H]

Sd. Kfz. 11 with PAK 40

1:72 Italeri

Designed according to the familiar pattern established by the Heereswaffenamt (German Army Weapons Agency) during the Weimar Republic period, the Sonderkraftfahrzeug (Special Motorised Vehicle) 11 was one of the most widely used prime movers available to the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. Over 9000 examples were produced between 1938 and 1945, and the vehicle saw service in every theatre in which the Wehrmacht fought.

Designed as a prime mover for medium artillery pieces ranging from the 3.7cm Flak 43 anti-aircraft gun to the 10.5cm field howitzer, other variants were developed for carrying ammunition, and the basic chassis was also used as the basis for the Sd. Kfz. 251 armoured personnel carrier. Powered by a 4.1 litre liquid-cooled six cylinder Maybach engine, the Sd. Kfz. 11 was capable of over thirty miles per hour and had a range of over 150 miles. As well as towing artillery pieces, the vehicle could also carry up to eight troops.

In common some other 1:72 AFV kits that find their way onto the shelves of the model shop in an Italeri box, this model was originally designed and manufactured by another Italian firm, ESCI. Despite dating back to (I believe) the early 1980s, the moulds look to be in good shape and the kit certainly looks quite promising on the sprues. Moulded detail isn’t quite as sharp or well-defined as a modern tooling from, say Dragon, but it looks pretty good nonetheless.

The kit is comprised of almost 160 parts spread across four sprues. Two sprues hold the parts for the Sd. Kfz. 11 itself, one sprue contains a set of link and length tracks, and the fourth is a self-contained sprue holding the parts for the 7.5cm PAK 40 anti-tank gun along with three crew members.

Construction of the Sd. Kfz. 11 looks quite conventional and should be pretty straightforward. The overlapping main wheels are quite nicely moulded. The distinction between the wheels and the tyres could be a little sharper, however, which may make painting the tyres a little trickier. The drive sprockets and idlers are moulded as single pieces, as are the steerable front wheels. As a result, the tyre tread patterns are a little oversimplified, but nonetheless acceptable for the scale.

As mentioned above, the tracks are of the link and length variety. ESCI were early adopters of this style of track, and as with most of their kits, these are really nice. I greatly prefer link and length tracks to the rubber band variety, so I’m a happy bunny. The ladder chassis is quite nicely represented, and features such as the bottom of the engine and the gearbox are moulded in place.

The one-piece floor pan just sits on top of the chassis, and the panels that make up the crew/ammunition compartment just slot into place. A basic interior is included, comprised of bench seats in the rear, and a gear stick, handbrake, steering wheel, dashboard and seats in the front. A windscreen frame is included, but you must provide your own plastic film for the glass. Two crew members are provided – another reminder that this is an ESCI kit. I wish more manufacturers would include crew with their models and in my experience, really good figures are hard to come by in 1:72 scale.

The 7.5cm Pak 40 anti-tank gun is just as nice, if not nicer, than the Sd. Kfz 11 itself. Okay, it’s not up to the standard of Dragon’s unbelievably detailed version, but it’s pretty darn good nonetheless. The muzzle brake will need to be drilled out as the barrel is a solid piece of plastic, but other than that it’s a nice piece of moulding. The breech block is nicely detailed and there are separate control wheels for traverse and elevation movements. Three crew members are provided, including a spotter in the prone position.

Three options are included on the decal sheet and illustrated in colour on the back of the box:

• 21^st Panzer Division, Normandy, France, 1944. This vehicle is finished in plain Dunkelgelb;
  
• 5^th Werfer Brigade, 71^st Werfer Regiment, Cassino, Italy, 1944. This vehicle is finished in a more interesting scheme of Dunkelgelb, Olivgrun and Schokoladenbraun; and
  
• 4^th Panzer Division, Kursk, Russia, 1944. This vehicle is finished in a mottled Dunkelgelb and light grey camouflage.
  

The decal sheet is obviously tiny, but appears to be well printed.

Conclusion

I’ve always had a soft spot for the old ESCI armour kits. They are usually fairly rich in detail, and the link and length tracks are excellent. In many ways they were ahead of their time, and I think they can still hold their own today. I like the inclusion of crew figures too, and I wish other manufacturers such as Revell would follow this lead. Overall this is a nice little kit which has much to recommend it.

Review sample courtesy of

[John_W]

I remember building this around 28 years ago!

The crew is nice but are DAK and wearing shorts.

The one I built had "rubber band" tracks in it though. Lovely little kit though.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Unfortunately the PAK-40 is modelled in full recoil and requires some fairly major messing to sort out.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Sgt.Squarehead