Thinking of doing a German Half Track in the future. They were so common in the war. Who make the best kit? I see several from various manufacturers, Tamiya, Dragon, etc. Looking for decent build with reasonable level of detail. Will possibly do Fruilmodel tracks. Not too concerned about figure quality, probably won't even use them.

I like the Dragon ones the best, followed by AFV club. I also have some Tamiya ones which basicly fall together themselves, but they are not as detailed as the others imho.There is also a lot of etch and detail sets available for all of them.

Stay away from Tamiya's Ausf. C kit. Although it does go together well (from what I remember), the interior is bogus for an APC. They mistakenly modeled the interior from the Ambulance version. The interior of their Ausf. D kit is more appropriate for an APC.

AFV Club and Dragon although both apparently have build issues on some versions, I've only built one AFV Club 251/1 D so far and no issues. Tamiya will go together easy but have less detail (note the issue above about the Ausf C). Zvezda Ausf B is a B on the outside but has the wrong interior from a C so if you want an accurate B steer clear.

If you want an Ausf A then ICM are bringing one out this year.

Generally, AFV Club has the most accurate shape but Dragon offers some better detail options. It comes down to what you like, want to build, and how you feel about the kit.

The AFV Club's Sd. Kfz. 251 Ausf. C and D kits are more dimensionally accurate than Dragon's, which are a bit narrow. AFV Club's interior floor parts may take a little filing to get them to fit snugly.

Tamiya's Ausf. D is very accurate dimensionally, but has missing front axle detail for steering.

Zvezda'a Ausf. B is a challenge, with an inaccurate interior, based on an Ausf. C. Upper body panels should slightly overhang the lower body panels, but they butt instead (ICM is going to release a new kit soon, and hopefully it will be better). Eduard's PE set for the Zvezda kit actually includes correction parts for the troop seats. Zvezda's road wheels on the tracked section have odd hubcaps. The tire is smaller and the wheel rim larger on the front axle, but this is correct for an Ausf. B.

Perth Military Modelling Site (pmms.com) has detailed reviews, if you take a look.

Suggest to build one from Dragon and AFV Club each and see the differences yourself. They are both very good Sd Kfz 251 kits, can choose different variants. My favorite variant is Sd Kfz 251/22 Ausf. D (Dragon #6248 or AFV Club #35083).

Paul

For Gerald's PMMS site suggestion, use this URL instead

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/

Specifically, look at these five SdKfz 251 comparison articles:

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/comparison.htm