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

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

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.