History

During World War the German military relied heavily on half-tracked vehicles and the Sd.Kfz.250 was a light armored version. Smaller than the Sd.Kfz.251, the 250 was used an armor personnel carrier and to equip armored reconnaissance unit. The Sd.Kfz.250 was used as a platform for many variants, including the mounting of various weapons, and in this case the 5cm PaK 38. While there is not a lot of information, or references to the this model, it seems the Sd.Kfz.250 NEU with the 5cm PaK 38 was used in small numbers by the Wehrmacht. In 1944 a number of these vehicles were captured by Yugoslavian resistance and put into use, with some remaining in service till the 1960’s. As there seems to be only remaining example of this vehicle, there are some that believe there may have been even fewer built. The fact that some survived in service till the 1960’s was stated on reference and I can find no other information to confirm, nor deny this information.

The review

For some time now Cyber-Hobby has been re-boxing Dragon kits, with some unique configurations. This kit is a re-boxing of the Sd.Kfz.250 and the 5cm PaK 38 into a unique vehicle. Being a “White Box” offering from Cyber-Hobby, this means this will be a limited edition kit.

Opening the box, there are 13 sprues molded in grey plastic, and a new lower hull molding for this kit. Also in the kit are two small frets of PE, two metal clearance markers, a small sprue of clear plastic for view ports, a generic sheet of decals, and two small bags of Dragon Magic Track. You will find quite a few parts left over for your spares box, as for example the entire Dragon 5cm kit sprue is supplied.

The instruction sheet is the typical Dragon folded paper. There are total of 17 steps that follow the typical build flow for a vehicle of this type. Being that Dragon instructions can be a bit tedious at times, it is highly recommended to test fit multiple times during the assembly. As noted above there is a small addendum sheet included to for the PE fret. Also be careful to watch for parts that will need to be cut and/or drilled, as majority of the vehicle is from a generic kit and will need to be modified in some areas.

The plastic molding is very well done, with no flash jumping out at first glance. The details are well done, to excellent on some parts, including the radio face and the seats, which have a realistic look to them. There are no ejector marks that I saw that should show after construction.

The kit contains a full interior being an open top vehicle, and it looks to include some nice details. There is also a motor to fill the engine compartment. Some of the parts that would be new for this kit would be the mount for the PaK 38, which looks to be very well done. The PaK 38 is the Dragon kit, with one piece plastic barrel and two piece flash suppressor. While most of the gun assembly looks good, it does contain the plastic gun shields, and are a little thick. These would look great if replaced by an aftermarket PE set.

As for the 250 itself, it is from another kit, some sanding of location molding on the inside will need to be done to clean up the inside. There are six ammunition boxes included for the interior, but no extra 5cm rounds to decorate the interior.

The upper hull will need to be cut to fit the gun, and hope you are good at curved cutting. The exterior, while sparse, looks well done, and the inclusion of the driver clearance markers in metal, will add to the look. The road wheels look great and the front wheels are the 5 piece sandwich assembly that I find the tread detail to be a just little soft.
As for the PE, of the two frets, one contains the engine intake grills for the front hood and some strapping. The other fret, which comes with its own little instruction sheet, contains some extra tie town brackets, a nice addition for exterior detail. The clear sprue provides for the view ports, that can be build open or closed. And the inclusion of the Dragon Magic Track should add some great look treads for the completed vehicle, but you will need some patience to put these together.

The decal sheet provides the white crosses and generic plates and numbers to create the license plates. The instructions include marking for one tri-colored camouflaged vehicle from an unknown unit. Throughout the instructions there all some paint callout with reference to the typical Aqueous, Mr. Color, and Model Master that seem to be standard to Dragon

Conclusion

Overall, the Cyber-Hobby kit is a nice rendition of a unique vehicle, and will be a great addition to any collection. While the kit will build a nice model out of the box, there are a few areas that could use a little extra work, i.e. the gun shield and front road wheels. It still looks to be a very enjoyable build.