Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - 08:56 AM UTC
Pre-war brought some inovative thinking when it came to vehicles, now Hobby Boss is release a little of that innovation.
Some details on a new release from Hobby Boss. In store now, or to be release in the very near future, the German Sd.Kfz.254 scout car. The vehicle was designed in Austria as a artillery tractor. When Austria became part of Germany in 1938 the tractor was adopted into the German army, with about 140 made. This would be one those odd vehicles that you just have to have in your collection.

82491 - German Sd.Kfz.254 Tracked Armoured Scout Car

As for availability, the recent announcement with details was this month on the Hobby Boss website, stating a release date of May 2012. I have yet to see it available yet, but I would presume it is out there some where.
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Comments

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
JUN 22, 2012 - 08:01 AM
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
JUN 22, 2012 - 08:56 AM
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.
JUN 30, 2012 - 07:26 PM
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