I finished building and painting a German Sd.Kfz 234/2 ‘Puma’ armoured car and 31 German Infantry. The Sd.Kfz 234/2 ‘Puma’ is produced by Roden and the German infantry are produced by Italeri. Both sets are in the 1/72 scale (20mm).
The Sd.Kfz. 234 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 234; translation: Special Purpose Vehicle 234) is a family of eight-wheeled armoured cars produced by Germany between 1943 to 1945. There are four variants of Sd.Kfz. 234: The 234/1 (open top turret with a 2cm KwK 38 L/55 autocannon), the 234/2 (enclosed turret with a 5cm KwK 39 L/60 gun), the 234/3 (open top superstructure with a 7.5cm K51 L/24 gun) and 234/4 (open top superstructure with a 7.5cm PaK 40 L/46 gun). The Sd.Kfz. 234 variant I built is the Sd.Kfz. 234/2, known as the Puma.
Sd.Kfz 234/2 ‘Puma’ Armoured Car sprue: side 1
Sd.Kfz 234/2 ‘Puma’ Armoured Car sprue: side 2
As a novice model builder, I ran into some challenges as I was building the Puma. I broke a few of the smaller pieces during the assembly process. Thus, I decided to take some ‘short cuts’ in building this model, by omitting some of the smaller details from the kit (i.e. the smoke launchers).
Sd.Kfz 234/2 ‘Puma’ Armoured Car: side 1
Sd.Kfz 234/2 ‘Puma’ Armoured Car: side 2
Italeri produces a soft plastic set of Elite German Infantry. These miniatures represent German infantrymen in the later years of the war, as reflected by the StG 44 assault rifles, the Panzerschreck and the Panzerfaust. There are 16 unique figures per sprue; the miniatures are sold as either a three sprue set (48 figures per set) or are included with the Battle of Berlin set (32 figures are included with the set). The miniatures I have painted are from the Battle of Berlin box set. Each sprue contains the following miniatures:
- Four soldiers with Karabiner 98k rifles (one soldier has a scoped rifle)
- Four soldiers with MP40 submachine guns (one soldier is wearing a peaked cap and a Fallschirmjager smock)
- Three soldiers with StG 44 assault rifles
- Two soldiers with MG 42 machine guns
- One soldier operating a mortar
- One soldier with a Panzerfaust
- One soldier with a Panzerschreck.
Italeri Elite German Infantry sprues
There was a minor defect on one of the sprues, whereby one of the figures was missing a hand. Thus, I painted 31 figures (instead of 32). I painted the previous group of Elite German Infantry as Waffen-SS troops, by using Eichenlaubmuster (Oak Leaf A) camouflage; a camo pattern exclusive to the Waffen-SS. For this group of figures, I decided to paint these soldiers as belonging to the regular German Army (the Heer). Therefore, I used a combination of solid German military colours (German Uniform Green and Luftwaffe Grey) and Splittermuster (Splinter pattern) camouflage for the uniforms.
Late War German Infantry (1): front
Late War German Infantry (1): back
Late War German Infantry (2): front
Late War German Infantry (2): back
Late War German Infantry (3): front
Late War German Infantry (3): back
Late War German Infantry (4): front
Late War German Infantry (4): back
Late War German Infantry (5): front
Late War German Infantry (5): back
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