Barcode: 0 89195 60488 0
Case Pack: 24 pieces per carton
Box Size: 6.1" x 3.1" x 2.8"
Germany made heavy use of armored halftracks in WWII. The most numerous was
the Sd.Kfz.251, with 15,252 units produced by the war’s end. The final version
was known as the Ausf.D, which was produced from early 1943 onwards to simplify
and speed up construction. It did so by halving the number of angled plates
needed to form the hull. The famous Sd.Kfz.251 halftrack has appeared in Dragon
Armor’s 1/72 line of military vehicles models before, but now it comes in a
new guise, that of the Sd.Kfz.251/22.
This particular Sd.Kfz.251/22 variant mounted a 7.5cm PaK40 gun in what was
formerly the halftrack’s troop compartment. Production commenced in December
1944, the aim being to increase as rapidly as possible Germany’s inventory of
self-propelled antitank guns. The mounted gun could traverse a total of 38o,
and elevate from -3o to 22o. Part of the roof was removed to accommodate the
cannon, and there was also room for 22 ammo rounds in the rear. The Sd.Kfz.251/22
was operated by a crew of four men. This is Dragon Armor’s first depiction of
this impressive-looking weapon, and it is expected to be an extremely hot item
in the 2011 collection. The fully built-up model is portrayed in the colors
and markings of 79.Pz.Artillery.Regt, a unit of the 7th Panzer Division. After
magnificent successes under General Erwin Rommel in France, this famous “Ghost
Division” spent most of the war fighting on the Eastern Front. The actual vehicle
the model is based on fought in Gdynia, Eastern Pomerania, in present-day Poland.
