German Sd.Kfz. 234/3 ’Stummel’, Heavy Armoured Car (75 mm StuK 37)

Milicast 1:76 Scale Vehicle Review

The heavy armoured car painted in a two-colour camouflage pattern with olive green disruptive stripes over the dark yellow base colour. The vehicle is from the collection of Patrick Storto.

Contents

• Sd.Kfz. 234/3 s.Pz.Späh.Wg.

Evaluation

• Scale model with excellent detail.
• Good choice of subject, the Sd.Kfz. 234/3 is unique in this scale.
• Intermediate level of difficulty, 47 parts.
• Very good casting quality. There was no problem with airholes or resin bubbles. A few rivets were cast as pinholes, but the reviewer did not consider this a significant problem.
• The kit is reminiscent of the Matchbox Sd.Kfz. 234/2 (Puma), but closer inspection reveals more accurate detailing in the resin kit.
• The illustrated instructions were helpful, but not always clear in regards to the exact positioning of some parts. The open fighting compartment is difficult to model correctly without reference to a photo of the vehicle’s interior.
• Good value for money.
• Compatible with Fujimi, Matchbox, Nitto, and VAC-U-CAST.

• The gunner’s seat required some work, it may not have been cast correctly.
• The front roof plate seemed much to big, and the reviewer decided to replace it with a piece of sheet plastic.
• The gun mounting had to be filed and adjusted to achieve a good fit.
• The wheels proved difficult to align with one another, and some fidgeting was required. The model turned out a bit wobbly at first, but the situation was easily corrected by rubbing the vehicle over fine sandpaper until the bottom surfaces of the wheels were even.
• Decals are not included, they will have to be scrounged from another kit, stenciled or painted by hand.
• Scale model kits of open-topped fighting vehicles really call for crew figures to complete the scene. Milicast offers separate vehicle crew figures in this scale, and it might have been a good idea to include them in the kit.

The finished kit is a solid and well crafted model of the Sd.Kfz. 234/3 armoured car, a valuable addition to any model collection.

Patrick Storto

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– Published: 1997 – Updated: 23.05.2007
© 1997-2012 by IDL Software GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany. All rights reserved.