Italeri 1/35
Sd.Kfz.232 6 Rad German Armored Car

Background

The Sd.Kfz.232 6 Rad armored scout car was produced in the 1930s for the German Army. Only a limited number were ever produced, yet the experience gained with these vehicles made them a valuable stepping stone towards the development of later models.

The 232 was used right up until the early stages of WWII when it was replaced by more modern, efficient armored cars. It featured a three-axle chassis with twinned rear tires, light amour and a 2cm cannon.

The Kit

The kit comes in a tray and lid type box. The box art shows a 232 passing a vehicle that is burning in the background. It has the letter “G” on the front, indicating Guderian’s group.

One side panel gives a short history of the vehicle in 6 languages including English. Another side panel shows 3 color photos of the finished model.

Inside the kit are 4 trees of dark green plastic parts, the decal sheet and the instructions. None of the parts trees is cello-bagged. This is one of my pet peeves with Italeri kits. They should cello bag stuff. Invariably, you find parts floating around that have broken off the sprues due to friction against other trees in the kit.

Large letter A parts tree holds the vehicles frame members, the top and bottom sections of the hull, fenders, turret parts, the headlights and some under-body panels etc. (17 parts)

Large letter B tree holds the banister type radio aerial, grill, drive shaft, tools, doors, hatch lids, etc. (71 parts).

There are 2 identical letter C parts trees. These hold the wheels, leaf springs and other small fittings. (37 parts per tree) One part, on just one of the two trees, is indicated as being a spare/excess on the parts tree drawings.

The instructions consist of a large single sheet that accordion folds out into 10 pages.

Page one begins with the short paragraph history of the vehicle in 6 languages (including English). This is followed by SOME USEFUL ADVICE, this time in 11 languages.

Page 2 has the parts tree drawings on it and also a listing of paint colors suggested from the Model Master line.

Pages 3 through 7 give us a total of 11 assembly steps.

Pages 8 and 9 give us 4 painting and marking schemes. All are in over-all panzer gray. These drawings are done as 4-views.

• A 232 of the 2 nd Panzer Division – France 1940
• A 232 of the 3 rd Panzer Division – France 1940
• A 232 of a unknown unit – Poland 1939
• A 232 of an unknown training unit – Germany 1937

The panzer gray color is called out as a RAL number too

Page 10 is Warnings of possible hazards in the kit (like small parts that may be swallowed by children etc.) in no less than 20 languages (including English). This is followed by a coupon that you can send to Italeri if there is a part missing or some other problem with your kit.

The kit is crisply molded and no flash appears. I think it will really make up neat and I like the banister type radio aerial array on top of it. It really makes it looks salty.

Conclusion

My only gripe is the price. It is way too overpriced. Almost double what I paid for a comparable sized kit from Italeri, the last time I purchased one of their kits. Is this greed I see setting in with them…sheesh. There are no figures in the kit either, although the box art would lead you to think there might be one in there. Also some clear headlight lenses would have been nice. There just is not almost 40 bucks worth of plastic in this kit.

I purchased my kit in the vendor’s room at the recent IPMS Region V contest.