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Hobby Boss - Wheels or Tracks?
SgtRam
Staff MemberContributing Writer
AEROSCALE
#197
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Ontario, Canada
Joined: March 06, 2011
KitMaker: 3,971 posts
Armorama: 2,859 posts
Posted: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - 08:59 AM UTC
Pre-war brought some inovative thinking when it came to vehicles, now Hobby Boss is release a little of that innovation.



Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!
lespauljames
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England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: January 06, 2007
KitMaker: 3,661 posts
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Posted: Friday, June 22, 2012 - 08:01 AM UTC
this is really good news i have always wanted to recreate a photo that my grandads uncle took in NA depicting a Allied soldier performing a mocking Nazi salute atop the vehicle. any idea on the price? J
panzerbob01
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Louisiana, United States
Joined: March 06, 2010
KitMaker: 3,128 posts
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Posted: Friday, June 22, 2012 - 08:56 AM UTC
Yeah!

This oddity was indeed a between-wars innovation... one which apparently did not long survive (in production, anyway) its contact with the real thing

Folks often seem to say things like "necessity is the mother of invention"... here, I think we're really talking more about "idle hands make for (expensive and needlessly-complex) mischief"!

It IS on my to-get list. ALWAYS has been, ever since I first saw a pic of this thing in some old book oh, about 50 years ago.

FYI: a built example of this kit has recently been posted for sale on eBay. Looked pretty OK - actually really neat as a kit. Seeing the build did raise a question for me... maybe someone out there will have some answer:

Take a look at the wheel positions on the build (on eBay, or...). Looks to me like the wheels are hung pretty close to the tracks... was there any ability to steer this thing on its wheels or did it pretty much need to roll along in a more-or-less straight line? I don't see how it could turn much inside the turn-radius of the Titanic, given as there seems little clearance for turning wheels...! Perhaps this thing had 4-wheel steering, like the SdKfz 222?

Bob
retiredyank
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Arkansas, United States
Joined: June 29, 2009
KitMaker: 11,610 posts
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Posted: Saturday, June 30, 2012 - 07:26 PM UTC
Wheels and tracks? Talk about the best of both worlds! The only information I can find points to its use as an artillery observer and being more prevelant in the African theater of operations.
Bob: I see what you mean about the wheels. The box art shows the front wheels to be turned very slightly. This leads me to believe(if Hobby Boss did their homework) that only the front wheels turn. Of course, this may be the reason why only 140 of them were produced. The Germans were prolific with their armored cars, during the war. Enough so that there is one in the background on the box.
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