Kit ref: 03207
Price around £11.99 GBP (Jul 2015)
Review by Geoff Coughlin
Thanks to Revell for supplying our review sample. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model stores. For details visit www.revell.de/en
Brief intro to the type
The Sd.Kfz. 7 was a half-track military vehicle used by the German Wehrmacht Heer, Luftwaffe and Waffen-SS during the Second World War. (Sd.Kfz. is an abbreviation of the German word Sonderkraftfahrzeug, “special purpose vehicle”. A longer designation is Sd.Kfz. 7 mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t, “medium towing motor vehicle 8t”.)
Development of the Sd.Kfz. 7 can be traced back to a 1934 Wehrmacht requirement for an eight-tonne (7.87 tons) half-track. Various trial vehicles were built by Krauss-Maffei from 1934 to 1938. The production vehicle first appeared in 1938 and was intended to be used mainly as the tractor for the 8.8 cm FlaK gun and the 15 cm sFH 18 150 mm howitzer. Production was stopped in 1944. The vehicle was made by Krauss-Maffei in Munich, the Sauserwerke in Vienna and the Borgward works at Bremen. Because of its heavy power, it often found use as a recovery vehicle
Initial assessment
You’ll find many reviews of these fine Revell kits all to 1:72 scale here in your SMN and all are worth a look if armour is your thing; especially in smaller 1:72 scale. This model dates back to 2012 and it matters not, this is an impressive little kit!
Moulding quality is to a high standard with very fine levels of detail across the board. The attached images should speak for themselves, showing the manufacturer’s completed model.
I simply offer a basic insight into this Revell kit that’s widely available now and this will be good news to all of you that are interested in armour modelling in this scale.
The package
Several sprues moulded in beige plastic form the basis of the model, a set of instructions, and small decal sheet make up the package.
Sprue trees
You can see that the tread plate is very clean and crisp, as is just about everything else. The detail is cleanly and accurately moulded onto the surface and will look excellent when spray painted and given a subtle wash and maybe filters (see your Techniques Bank for how to apply these weathering techniques) in keeping with the small scale. The moulded detail throughout is good and although I can’t give an opinion on accuracy, what you get certainly looks consistent with some of the images I have seen on You Tube and elsewhere.
The tools supplied are moulded separately from the chassis and this should please everyone and definition is sharp and crisp in this scale and this will aid accurate painting.
Other highlights include
The gun and separate trailer are highlights. The small details look fine for the scale and I can just see that they will look good after a wash and dry-brush.
It’s nice to see a one-piece barrel to the AA gun.
There’s no flash or excess plastic on any of the parts, so this will help build time greatly.
Decals
There’s a small sheet with the respective number plates and unit badges for the options contained in the kit. I notice that the quality looks good overall.
Versions are:
- Heeres-Flak-Abteilung 300 (motorisiert), 8. Armee, Heeresgruppe Süd, Ungarn, Herbst 1944
- 5. Batterie, I. Flak-Abteilung, Flak-Regiment 12, Italien, 1944
- 1. Batterie, Heeres-Flak-Abteilung 279 (motorisiert), 25. Panzerdivision, Heeresgruppe Mitte, Oder, Frühjahr 1945
- 1. Batterie, Heeres-Flak-Abteilung 279 (motorisiert), Russland, Winter 1944
Instructions
To sum up
Well, I really like this little kit, it is well detailed and when you open the box the parts say ‘build me!’
Recommended
Geoff C.
SMN Quick summary SMN Star Rating out of 5
| FEATURE | STAR RATING (out of five) |
|---|---|
| Quality of moulding | **** |
| Accuracy | **** |
| Instructions | *** |
| Level of detail | **** |
| Decals | **** |
| Subject choice | **** |
| Overall | **** |