Hanoswag! Jael reviews the Rubicon Hanomag upgrade kits

The Sdkfz.250 and Sdkfz.251 halftracks, collectively known as “hanomags” after their manufacturer Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG, are an iconic element of the Wehrmacht, transporting Panzergrenadiers to the battlefield as well as serving in more specialized battlefield roles. While the troop carrying version is well known, the halftracks were modified to fill the gap in recon companies by the obsolescence of the sdkfz.222 light armored car, as anti tank and infantry support vehicles, as armoured ambulances, as bridge-laying vehicles, and a host of other applications.

I’ve never been a fan of using the standard Hanomag in its armoured transport role – I’ve always felt that the cost differential between a truck and the Honomag was not justified by the increased protection. However, I’ve often considered running some of the specialized variants in games.
Rubicon have produced a number of add-on kits for their base 250 and 251 halftracks which modify the original kit – in this case we’re looking at the Sdkfz.250/9 and the Sdkfz.251/9, which are the armoured recon and infantry support variants respectively. 

The first thing I’ll point about these upgrade kits is that they rely on following part of the instructions from the original kit and part from the upgrade kit. There’s a certain level of confusion inherent in this, so read them carefully! The upgrade kit for the “stummel” infantry support version is the more complex of the 2 as it contains 2 upper hulls as well as the armoured superstructure and gun mount. There is a mistake, or more correctly an oversight in the instructions which caused me some furrowed brows in particular. I had initially ordered the base kit and the upgrade, but had ordered the 250 rather than 251 chassis. While I had a built 251 sitting around, the way the gun is integral to the upper hull meant that I could not simply mount the gun on an existing hull. Or so I thought, until I came to realize that late production 251/9 models used the same superstructure as the 250/8. This is not clearly indicated on the instructions which suggest that this hull/gun arrangement only applies to the 250/8.

This is important because I wanted my Hanomags to be as modular as possible, able to serve as either transports or specialized vehicles. Ultimately, however, this was not to be. While the variants are similar enough at first glance, there are enough differences to prevent you simply magnetizing elements and swapping them out.

the base kit for the sdkfz.250 went together in usual Rubicon fashion - a straightforward and logical build. As you can see in the second photo, I painted the interior before attaching the upper hull. Next to the upper hull is the mount for the turret for the 250/9 variant. Sadly it's not really possible to modularize due to the way the parts are designed.

The 250/8 (stummel) variant was the most straightforward of all the build options as the gun superstructure sits neatly on top of the base kit. In fact, you could imply magnetize this and swap it out for use as the transport version when required. As mentioned earlier though, I've never been a fan of this option in-game as the relative expense and 5-man transport option is not all that appealing.

To get around this, I took an existing Sdkfz.251 chassis I had sitting around and mounted the gun superstructure. Note that this is a warlord chasis and the rubicon upgrade kit i designed to fit the Rubicon base kit. This means that there is not an exact fit between the two, so you would either have to fill and sand the gap prior to painting, or a I will do with this version (given that it's already painted), disguise the gap with some foliage. Built in this configuration it represents the late production variant - note that the upgrade kit gives option for the early and mid production variants in which the gun was mounted inside the compartment rather than in the raised superstructure.

I opted to build out the Stummel kit as a 251 rather than a 250 for the simple reason that it's sneaky cheese the rules for the 251 allow an 8 man squad to be transported. I feel that this is a better use of the precious vehicle slot.

With the 250 chassis I elected to build the 250/9 variant, which replaced the Sdkfz.222 light armoured car and similarly sits in the armoured car slot of your platoon selector. This is a very simple upgrade, really only consisting of the turret and top-plate which encloses the interior.

Painting followed my usual method for late-war German vehicles:

1. Airbrush base coat of Vallejo dark yellow primer

2. Airbrush modulated coat of Vallejo middle stone, mixing in a small amount of a lighter colour on the upper surfaces to give an illusion of depth

3. Airbrush the camouflage colours   

4. Apply several coats of MIG productions tan filter for 3-tone camouflage. this darken and blends the underlying scheme

5. Apply chipping around areas likely to be worn and scratched

6. Seal with gloss varnish and apply enamel washes

7. Matt varnish

So, the Rubicon upgrade kits are well worth your time. For the Sdkfz.251, my suggestion would be to buy the Rubicon "Stuka zu fuss" version and magnetize the rocket frames, and build the late production Stummel mount and magnetise that also. that way you would have 3 possible variants (transport, stuka and stummel) from the base kit and upgrade.