Revell 1/35 Sd.Kfz.10/5 & Flak 38 Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

The Special Vehicle (Sonder Kraftfahrzeug - Sd.Kfz.) 10 series was based upon a one ton halftrack design by Demag from the late 1930s. The basic vehicle could seat eight and served as personnel carrier and artillery tractor.

Specialty versions of this vehicle included:

• Sd.Kfz.10/1 - flame thrower vehicle
• Sd.Kfz.10/2 - chemical vehicle
• Sd.Kfz.10/3 - loudspeaker vehicle
• Sd.Kfz.10/4 - 20mm AA platform
• Sd.Kfz.10/5 - 37mm/50mm gun platform

Technical Specifications:

• Weight - 4.9 tons
• Length - 4.75m
• Speed - 65 kph
• Range - 285 km
• Engine - Maybach HL 42

Who would have thought Revell would produce a new-tool Sd.Kfz.10? I didn't - if there is a case of deja vu going on in the back of your mind, you're correct. Revell has re-issued Italeri's Demag D7 (Kit 0371). The sprues even retain the 371 kit number identification. Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not. The Italeri Demag kit a nicely detailed rendition of the Sd.Kfz.10, and I believe this kit has its roots with ESCI kit number 5018. No matter who's box the sprues are in, this is the only Demag D7 halftrack kit in styrene that I'm aware of at present.

Molded in desert yellow styrene, the kit is presented on three parts trees, two trees dedicated to the halftrack, one for the Flak 38 gun.

While the box says it is an Sd.Kfz.10/5, you can see in the table above that this variant carried a larger gun. While there are no absolutes with designators, this kit really represents the Sd.Kfz.10/4. Early versions of this variant were armed with the Flak 30 20mm anti-aircraft gun, but this was upgraded to the Flak 38 20mm AA gun as it was lighter and had a higher rate of fire. The kit comes with the Flak 38, but if you can scrounge a Flak 30, you can backdate your Demag.

The driver's compartment is The nicely detailed with the various hand and foot controls represented. While there is no engine provided under the hood (the bottom of the oil pan is molded as part of the chasis plate), the chasis provides some nice detail on the front-end suspension. The rear torsion arm suspension isn't visible with the road wheels in place, so there isn't much energy wasted on these details.

The track is legacy ESCI. It isn't rubber band, nor is it individual track link. ESCI made tracks a little easier by rendering flat sections of track as one part and only the sections that wrap around the drive sprockets and return rollers need to be rendered as individual links.

The Flak 38 is nicely detailed out of the box, though you can swap out the gun for any number of other detailed Flak 38 guns on the market. The sideboards on the rear platform can be raised for driving, or laid out to enlarge the platform for the gun crew. The outsides of the sideboards have racks for storage of the 20mm ammo cannisters.

Markings are provided for four examples:

• Heeresflakabteilung 277, 11.Panzerdivision, Heeresgruppe Sud Ostfront, Dec 1942 (Wehrmacht)
• 8.Panzerregiment, 15.Panzerdivision, Afrika Korps, 1941-42 (Wehrmacht)
• Panzerdivision 'Hermann Goering', 2.Abteilung Flakregiment, Polen, Winter 1944-45 (Luftwaffe)
• Unbekannie Einheit, Westfronte Ende 1944

Whether you buy this kit in this Revell/Germany release, one of the earlier Italeri releases, or even one of the classic ESCI boxings, this is still the only Sd.Kfz.10 halftrack on the market and will provide a nice counterpoint to the flood of halftracks coming from other manufacturers.