Backyard Blitzkrieg: Custom Armor Hobbies SDKfz 250

[tmanthegreat]

About four years ago, I purchased a pre-built and painted 1/6 scale Armor Hobbies SDKfz 250 model from the now defunct online store Toychest and Collectables. The model had the wrong shade of gray and was a bit bland, so this past week, I decided to do a repaint and customization of the vehicle.

My modifications included painting the vehicle in a darker (more accurate) Tamiya German Gray, adding the mud and weathering effects using airbrushed Tamiya Red Brown and Flat Earth colors, installation of the exterior rack for the gas can, installation of a bench seat and stowage box in the interior, and installation of cleats to secure the stowage and tools. The Balkenkreuz markings are hand painted using stencils I made (my first attempt at that!). The end result is still a bit simplistic compared to the professional builds that have been done with the Armor Hobbies SDKfz 250, but the vehicle looks much better than before and I'm happy with it. For those interested in getting this kit, the basic Armor Hobbies SDKfz 250 kit can still be found at Monkey Depot for about $150, though it's increasingly hard to find the various aftermarket accessories that were made for it...

Below are some pictures of my model in action in my backyard, including a couple shots of it paired up with my Dragon prebuilt 1/6 scale Panzer II model.

Enjoy

[1958Zelda]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing

[Axis Nightmare]

Well Done!

Still kicking myself for letting a custom one get away at that show. I rolled the dice and lost. I went back on day two when they have prices slashed and are making deals but it was gone. I have the kit which is very bare bones stark and needs a lot of extras to get it up to combat ready so I know how much work went into yours. Didn't know Phil packed it in at Toy Chest and Collectibles but I'm not surprised. He was really depressed at that last show here in February. He wasn't selling anything but he also didn't have much to offer. He had recently downsized and changed his online store.

Not much crew space in that little halftrack. Are those all Dragon figures?

Again, really nice job! Very inspirational.

Dennis

[pickelhaube]

Very cool I have some what of a 1/6 collection as well . I was this close [-- ] to giving up on 1/18th scale and started collecting 1/6 th armor.

This is what I ammaseed in 1/6th scale then stopped and got back into 1/18 .

Yes I was this close to giving up [-- ]

3 x Sdkfz 250 -1 built 2x kits
2x panther kits
1 x tiger 1 kit
2x Sherman 105 kits
T-34 built
Sdkfz 222 built
Sdkfz 247 built
Sdkfz 251 built and torn back down
Kette krad w/ trailer
6x Stuarts ( down from 19 )
Stuka dive bomber RC

[tmanthegreat]

Thanks for the kind comments everyone

Dennis, yes those are all Dragon figures. I can't remember which ones for the most part, but I know one of them are from the late 1990s, or at least that's where the uniforms are from. And I was bummed to see that Toychest and Collectables had gone... I got a number of figures and parts from them over the years and was actually looking them up to see if there was anything I could use for the halftrack, because as you noted, the standard Armor Hobbies SDKfz 250 is very much bare bones. I got mine a bit after the initial heyday when all the aftermarket parts were available for it, so had to make due with what I could make myself, given that I couldn't find parts as easily...

And Pickelhaube, that is quite an impressive 1/6 armor collection you have - especially the larger tanks like the Tiger and Panther! All that has to take up a lot of room... My collection is a bit more modest but still takes up a bit of floor space in my study.