Medium Fire Support Vehicle, Sd.Kfz. 251/10 Ausf. C
ESCI 1:72 Scale Vehicle Review
The medium fire support vehicle, Sd.Kfz. 251/10 Ausführung C, was the Zugführer (platoon commander) vehicle of the Panzergrenadiers of the German Wehrmacht. The ESCI 1:72 scale model is based on an Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. C with additional parts for the 3.7 cm PaK 36 anti-tank gun.
The conspicuous gun shield of the early versions of the Sd.Kfz. 251/10 was replaced from the Ausf. C onwards by a halved shield which helped reduce the telltale silhouette of the command vehicle; a significant improvement that ESCI appears to have overlooked. This oversight can be rectified by carefully cutting the shield down.
It is important to remember when buying second-hand ESCI models, that kits from the 1970s were still equipped with polyvinyl tracks. These older model kits were revised between 1984 and 1988 and released in the newly introduced “Red Box” packaging, which contained beautifully detailed polystyrene track segments and individual track links to replace the troublesome polyvinyl tracks.
The medium fire support vehicle, Sd.Kfz. 251/10 Ausf. C, is a must-have for wargamers interested in raising a Panzergrenadier platoon.