DAK recon patrol

Background

The Sd. Kfz. 222 armored car was used by the Germans on all fronts from the invasion of Poland till the end of hostilities.  Based on the same chassis as the Sd. Kfz. 221 and 223, it was powered by a 75 HP Horch V-8 engine, which gave the 4.8 metric ton vehicle a top road speed of 80 km/hr.  The vehicle had 4-wheel drive and 4-wheel steering.  Armed with a 20mm cannon and co-axial mg-34, its weapon mount allowed use against both air and ground targets. The three man crew consisted of the commander/loader, gunner, and driver.

The 222 is found in many photographs from the North African Campaign, where it is invariably festooned with the crew's gear and jerry cans in field added mountings (as seen above).

Model

The base model is the Tamiya Sd. Kfz. 222. If built from the box, it depicts a late-production vehicle. Though old, it is still an accurate and well detailed kit. I added parts of the Eduard and Show Modelling photoetch sets, an aluminum Jordi Rubio KwK38 barrel, interior parts from the old Tamiya SdKfz 250/9, items from the Tamiya Pz IV OV equipment set and their new Jerry can set, and various scratch built parts.

To convert to a mid-production vehicle and add an interior, the following changes made to the kit:

(Of course, interior photos from Jacques Littlefield's restored vehicle only became available after I'd glued the hull together!)


The model was painted a base of Gunze Sangyo acrylic Dunkelgrau, and then the markings added. The Balkenkreuz were sprayed on using Eduard express masks. Although the design I wanted weren't in these sets, I was able to mix and match some parts to get them. The tactical marking is a rub-on transfer from Archer. Over this was unevenly oversprayed a Gunze mix approximating faded Gelbbraun (RAL 8000).

Weathering was accomplished by very lightly sanding along edges to bring out the underlying grey, followed by application of Bragdon Enterprises self-adhesive Weather System "dust bowl brown" powder (which I recommend, it's easier than grinding up chalk!).

Diorama

The diorama is entitled "AM gefallt Herr Eidechse nicht!". This loosely translates to "Mr. Lizard doesn't like AM!", with AM being the potted meat provided to the Afrika Korps by the Italians, and which appears to have been disliked from private to general. In this case, a piece lies on the ground near the lizard - who won't touch it!


The figures are from the Dragon "Deutsche Afrika Korps" set (6063). Flesh was painted with oils, and the uniforms with acrylics.  The base is wood with Celluclay over it. To this was added sand and stones from the yard. Gunze paint was used for the base, along with more Bragdon weathering powder to tie everything together.

References

See the bottom of my Sd. Kfz. 222 interior page for vehicle references. Additionally, I used:
1. Afrikakorps 1941-43, Williamson and Volstad, Osprey Elite Series, 1991
2. Afrikakorps in Action, Culver and Volstad, Squadron/Signal Publications, 1979
3. Afrika Korps (Tanks Illustrated #17), George Balin, Arms and Armour Press, 1985
4. Rommel's Army in Afrika, Dal McGuirk, Motorbooks International, 1993
5. DAK (Koku-Fan Illustrated #66), Bunrin-Do Company Ltd., 1992
6. Wehrmacht Heer Camoflague Colors, Tomas Chory, Aura Design Studios, 2000
7. Armor of the Deutsches Afrikakorps, Tom Cockle, Concord Publications, 2000