SPA Modeler

Sd.Kfz. 250/3

Left: Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archives photo - 1942

Right: Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archives photo - 1942

Front: Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archives photo - 1942

Medium / Left: Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archives photo - 1942

• CREW: 6
  WEIGHT: 11,835 LBS
  DIMENSIONS: length 14ft. 11.5in., width 6ft. 4.6in., height 6ft. 6in.
  RANGE: 186 miles.
  ARMOR: 0.23 TO 0.6 inches.
  POWER PLANT: One 6-cylinder, Maybach engine developing 100hp.
  PERFORMANCE: Max road speed 37mph. Fording capacity: 29.5 inches of water. Vertical obstacle climbing capability: 6ft. 6.7in.

Ok, it's

time...

Welcome to the show! There will be plenty of popcorn and ice cold beer and the challenge of replicating what really looks like the splashiest, patchy paintjob ever, particularly on the right side which appears to be the result of three or four fast swipes with a mop. Maybe the entire vehicle was camouflaged that way. There is a lot of factory color showing through. The great mystery of camouflage continues.

Rear view - Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive - photo: Ernst A. Zwilling


Factory appearance - Bundesarchiv/German Federal archive - Berlin, 1942

Now add an aircraft kit strafing him on the run in a diorama.....

Hi Blacksheep, thanks so much for your reply. I definitely feel a more than subtle tug pro and contra with building one of Rommel’s command cars. I do have my sights set on building a P-40 at some point, and your comments made me think about this:

speedgraflex wrote:

Ooh this is an interesting build Bruce, really interesting!

But so small the 250/3 actually is, when looking at those people including Rommel himself there.. It's not a "big one thing"

- Kari

Kari, so nice to hear from you. My car—my personal command vehicle—is overheating again, so I am distracted, perhaps I should be building a model to combat the distraction, but I feel cabin fever is upon me. Soon I must leave the apartment.

Yes. You are right. It is a small armored vehicle. Small and fast. I am thinking mainly about the way the canouflage was applied to the vehicle. To understand this, I will take the information from Carlos (thanks again) and the evidence of the photographs and create a document in time specific to June 1942. I am also doing time specific with the other open projects—year, month if known.

So—there is factory color, camouflage color, unit markings, commander’s personal markings (one side red with white outline, the other side a white outline), a heavy, heavy, heavy coating of mud and the heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy coating of dust overall. I also am seeing a concentration of mud fore and aft which appears applied to further camouflage the vehicle from aerial attack. These areas are on the high sides of the vehicle as well as its hood.

I found this digital model online. The desert tan looks off to me. Ditto the areas of transition between base layer and camo. However the feeling of layering itself looks pretty good.

This project screams for oil paint weathering. Also these subsequently for the Africa campaign Dunkelgelb painted vehicles are an eldorado for extensive chipping and scratching techniques.

• red primer
• chipping fluid
• panzergrau
• chipping fluid
• dunkelgelb

For my also Dunkelgelb Panther I'm currently pondering about how I can achieve lots of tonal variation with the least effort. I have to work that out.
The Sd.Kfz.250 with its sloped surfaces offers oportunities for playing with light, its reflections, and of course streaking. And don't be tight-fisted with the pigments, they have to be all over it.

Just my impulsive thoughts when looking at the pictures...

I’d echo 90% of the above except for the Dunkelgelb. That color did not appear until early 1943. Braun or Braungelb.

speedgraflex wrote:Kari, so nice to hear from you. My car—my personal command vehicle—is overheating again, so I am distracted, perhaps I should be building a model to combat the distraction, but I feel cabin fever is upon me. Soon I must leave the apartment.

Auch! I really hope it's an easy (read cheap) fix, a broken thermostat or so...

- Kari