Brian O''Donoghue takes a look at the Hobby Boss Sd.Kfz 222 (1st Series)

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Thanks!

Nice review!

It's a kit I am thinking of adding to my collection... for those interested in building a 222 in Chinese service, this would be the kit, I think, as it is the earlier version with the older-style vision covers in front, etc. And of course, while the offered paint-scheme is GRAY, one can build and paint this one legit for Poland, 1939 or the Blitz 1940 - in the reg Brown over Gray scheme. IF you go for building it as one of the first series group as built and accepted for trials in 1935 - 36, you could really consider painting it in the "Reichswehr Buntfarben-Feuersicherlich-anstricht scheme used up through 1937!

IF one has the MG 13 available, this could be built as a very early version... probably any car built between 1935 and 1938 would have had the MG-13, as the -34 did not go into these until 1938+. (Of course, the -13 used ammo boxes... so you would probably need to make some racks or scrounge them from a Pz IA kit with interior...) And I HOPE that the kit provides the shorter KwK 30 and KwK 38 L/50 barrels, as the longer L/65 FlaK 30 and FlaK 38 barrels, while interchangeable with those shorter KwK barrels, were very seldom ever used on these things.

And it's actually pretty easy to covert these to "steered" wheel placement... as the steering was switchable by the driver from "all 4" to "front 2 only", you have your choice! In either case, simply cut horizontally through each of the little knuckles or joints in the affected front (and back?) steering racks and rearrange the pieces - and remember to also cut the ball joint at the wheel end of each stub-axel to reposition the wheel around the suspension arms. Of course you'll also cut lose and reposition the operating rod along the chassis IF you are having the rear wheels turned! And remember that the rears would be turned reciprocal and opposite to the fronts.

Seems like a lot of work - there are several little cuts to make and joints to re-cement - but it's really pretty easy and comes out looking GREAT! I know this because I did this to that Hobby Boss SdKfz 223 radio-car a while back.



Bob

Hi Bob,

Thank you it's a nice kit, in fact it's a very welcome release, I don't have a set of measurements for the KwKs but the supplied barrels do look short, see Image 5, for the sprue. It will be dream build for those who want to go the extra mile on detailing.

Brian

i love hobby boss kits..nice & easy.

Hi Brian, very nice kit. I like HB, normally they have good precision and lot of details.

Good to remark that the interior should not be painted in white.

Regards

I must say in Hobby Boss's defence that they have followed the example from the old AFV Interiors website. The museum vehicle was finished in white so you can see why Hobby Boss made this error. In fact the museum vehicle also has the mess kit in the same position there is a suspicion that it should be a binocular case.

Cheers

Brian

Hi Brian, 100% agree

Moreover, quite often the museum vehicles have been repaired and painted not according the original specifications, therefore they are not 100%-safe source of information.

It would seem that Hobby Boss have fallen into the trap of the unwary. To be fair it is a great kit, especially as it has so much detail. So I can easily forgive the minor errors.