Plastic Soldier Company 1:72 scale Sd.Kfz 251/D Half-Track

 

 

I finished building and painting three 1:72 scale (20mm) World War 2 German Sd.Kfz 251 (Ausf D) Half-Tracks, which were produced by the Plastic Soldier Company; an UK based model manufacturer.  The Sd.Kfz 251 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251) family of half-tracks are the most common half-tracks produced by Germany during the war, with some 15,252 Sd.Kfz 251s and variants produced.  There are four main models of Sd.Kfz 251: the Ausführung (Ausf) A, B, C and D.  From these four models, some twenty-two Sd.Kfz 251 variants were created.

 

The Plastic Soldier Company’s Sd.Kfz 251 is the Ausf D model (produced from early 1943).  The Ausf D is characterized by the reduced number of angled body plates (roughly half those of the Ausf C model) and a simplified design; this was done to speed up the manufacturing time for each vehicle.  The Plastic Soldier Company’s kit allows you to create the standard Sd.Kfz 251/D1 or the Sd.Kfz 251/D10 variant.  The Sd.Kfz 251/D1 is the standard troop carrier (designed by carry 10 Panzergrenadier) and is armed with two mounted MG 42 machine guns; while the Sd.Kfz 251/D10 variant is armed with a 37mm PaK (Panzerabwehrkanone 36) anti-tank gun and a rear mounted MG 42.

 

 

1:72 Sd.Kfz 251/D Sprue (side 1)

1:72 Sd.Kfz 251/D Sprue (side 2)

 

 

The Plastic Soldier Company kit includes three easy-to-build (designed for wargamers) Sd.Kfz 251 vehicles and has extra components for customizing the vehicles.  I build two Sd.Kfz 251/D1s and one Sd.Kfz 251/D10 (37mm PaK) with this kit; the extra components allows me to give each vehicle an unique look.

 

 

Sd.Kfz 251/D1 (Side 1)

 

Sd.Kfz 251/D1 (Side 2)

 

Sd.Kfz 251/D1 (Side 1)

 

Sd.Kfz 251/D1 (Side 2)

 

Sd.Kfz 251/D10 37mm PaK (Side 1)

 

Sd.Kfz 251/D10 37mm PaK (Side 2)

 

 

I really liked the Plastic Soldier Company’s Sd.Kfz 251/D1 kit; the sprues were made from hard plastics and included several extra components allowing for customization and for kit-bashing future hobby projects with the left over bits (components).  I paid $35 Canadian for this set, which works out to less than $12 CAD per vehicle: an excellent price for a good quality model kit. I am planning to purchase more models from the Plastics Soldier Company and will post these in future blog posts.

 

 

 

Flames of War Fury WW2 Tank Combat Set

 

I decided to take a break from painting 28mm fantasy/science fiction miniatures and picked up the Flames of War Fury World War 2 Tank Combat set; a 15mm (1:100 scale) tabletop miniature game created by Battlefront Miniatures.  The Fury Tank Combat Box set is an excellent introduction to Flames of War and contains:

• 5 plastic tank kits (3 American tanks & 2 German tanks)
• A digest size rule book
• A quick start guide
• A core rules pamphlet
• Units cards for each of the tanks, plus two handy reference cards for the Movement Orders.
• Card stock terrain pieces & tokens
• 6 six-sided dice (in two distinct colours).

 

American M4 Sherman (75mm) Tank

 

American M4 Sherman (76mm) Tank

 

American M10 Tank Destroyer

 

German Tiger Tank

 

German StuG III Armoured Fighting Vehicle 

 

 

One of the benefits I gained from painting this set was doing research on these tanks and in World War 2 in general.  This, in turn, sparked my interest in learning more about the Second World War.

 

 

Quick Start Guide, Core Rules pamphlet and digest size Rules Book

 

 

One of the great features of this box set is how the rules are laid out, making the game easy to learn and accessible for new players.  The Quick Start guide provides easy to understand assembly instructions for the tanks and has an outline for an introductory game (Your First Game), to teach new players the rules.  The Core Rules pamphlet provides a reference sheet outlining the 3 phases (movement, shoot and assault) in Flames of War.  The digest size rule book provides the full rules to play Flames of War.

 

 

Tank Assembly Instructions

 

 

The Quick Start Guide provide clear, easy to understand, assembly instructions for the tanks.  As well, the tank sprues are packed with a lot of extra components, allowing hobbyists to build different versions of these tanks.

 

 

Cardstock Terrain Pieces

 

 

Miniature terrain could be pricey and time consuming to paint/build.  Thus, the cardstock die cut terrain pieces allow new players to jump into the game right away without the extra investment of time and money.

 

 

Tokens and Unit Cards 

 

 

The cardstock tokens and unit cards are additional resources included in this box set to aid in the gameplay experience.