Model Armour

Sd.Kfz.260 Kleiner Panzerfunkwagen

Manufacturer: Dragon Models

Scale: 1/72

Material: Styrene

Serial Number: 7446

Price: TBA

Dragon:

"The new family member is the Sd.Kfz.260. Like other types such as the Sd.Kfz.222 and Sd.Kfz.223, this particular variant was based on an Auto-Union 801 chassis and it was powered by a Horch 8-cylinder engine. The Sd.Kfz.260 was designed specifically as an armoured, but unarmed, radio communication vehicle. Some 493 examples were produced from 1940 till 1943. Used by signals units, they provided mobility and some degree of protection. A standard crew comprised four soldiers, and the little vehicle was capable of reaching speeds of 85km/h and it had a range of 310km. The 3,815kg Sd.Kfz.260 was fitted with an Fu.7 medium-range radio set connected to a rod antenna. The Sd.Kfz.260 was eventually replaced in service by halftrack radio vehicles."

Kit Contents

The kit contents amount to three small sprues of grey styrene, plus separate slide-moulded, one-piece upper and lower hulls. Construction is simple even for this scale, with various components such as drive shaft and front and rear axle nicely detailed and installed onto bottom of lower hull. The lower hull has some detail moulded integrally, such as a simplified representation of the engine and suspension components. The spare wheel and crew escape hatches are also supplied as separate parts allowing some options for detailing, although the escape hatches have no detail on their inner surfaces. The vehicles four wheels are provided with separate, optional curved triangular caps. There is also a separate stowage locker and the front and rear mudguards are all provided as separate parts for greater detail.

The anti-grenade screens that close in the open top of the vehicle are moulded as solid parts, which is sort of understandable at this scale, but is still very noticeable, and I'm sure will prove so even after painting. Replacing them with some sort of fine mesh, even if you could find one fine enough would prove difficult because of the shape of the screen, although it should be possible and would improve the look of the finished model immensely.

Unusually for this scale, various items such as tools, lights and even width indicators are all provided as separate parts too, and there's even tiny front and rear Notek lights. There's even a crew seat provided for inside the model, although it's heavily simplified and cannot be seen unless a crew escape hatch is left open. Just don't leave it fully opened.

There are two colour schemes illustrated on the back of the instruction sheet. One grey, one with two-colour camouflage scheme over dark yellow. The small decal sheet included contains a choice between two types of national crosses and a selection of single digits from which license plate numbers can be constructed.

Conclusion

The things they can do at this scale! The only thing about this one I would worry about if I was building it would be those anti-grenade screens. Then again, it is 1/72^nd scale, and if you do a really good job of painting it, it just might look ok. Overall the detail is superb, and a nice addition to Dragon's expanding range based on this chassis.

My thanks to Dragon models for the review sample.