Italeri 1/35th Sd.Kfz. 10 DEMAG D7By Vic Mattes |
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Background
The Sd.Kfz 10 D7 is an 8-seater half-track gun tractor. It was built by a variety of companies throughout the Second World War. The Italeri version, obviously, is modeled after those from the Demag Company. Highly versatile, over 25,000 were built and used in all theaters by the Germans. Aside from use as a general purpose personnel carrier, the D7 was used as a chemical vehicle, loudspeaker vehicle and as an antiaircraft gun vehicle with a 2-cm, 3.7cm or 5cm AA gun mounted in the back.
The Build
This kit is a fun build. No real issues were found and many choices are available to one with a creative mind. It is important to keep the orientation of the model in line with the instructions to ensure the right piece goes on the right side as it is not always intuitively obvious (or maybe it’s just me). There are many choices within this model that it behooves the modeler to read through the instructions first and decide which options to utilize to support the desired outcome (which I didn’t do and kludged at the end).
My
intent was to assemble the vehicle then paint it. It worked ok as I wanted
an African appearance but that may be difficult with a more complex paint
scheme. I was planning to use mud as the camouflage but after I painted
the vehicle sandgreb, it became apparent that wouldn’t
make much difference so I altered plans and tried a more traditional African
paint job.
I built the model using the approach the instructions laid out. I found the instructions very helpful as long as you kept the model oriented with the instructions lay-out unless you have good spatial orientation. I did make two changes to the build and both involved the running gear.
Steps 1 through 5 pertain to the assembly of the vehicle body. Some choices over whether doors are up or down but other than that, pretty straight forward. Steps 6 and 7 assemble the half-tracks and it is here I diverted from the instructions. While many have built incredible models by assembling the model completely and then painting the running gear and tracks, I have yet to achieve that technique. I prefer to paint the running gear its primary color then paint the ‘rubber’ on the road wheels before assembling the tracks. So I skipped steps 6, 7 and 8 and continued with the body build with 9 through 12 (13 if you want the top down – I didn’t so I didn’t go there) before tackling the tracks and wheels. With the body complete, I painted the entire vehicle, including road wheels and such, sandgreb. A better option would have been panzer grey when you consider the camo approach I originally wanted but such is life – live and learn. I have tried a new approach to painting the rubber on the road wheels recently in using Polly Scale Weathered Black and have been very pleased with the result. It beats the newness of ‘rubber’ paint or the starkness of NATO Triple Black that others have recommended. Assembly of the road wheels can be difficult as it is a tight sandwich with all the wheels on the track support. One nice thing is that each track is its own unit that is then glued to the body.
With
the road wheels complete, I moved on to the tracks. The tracks are a series
of individual and grouped sections which lend to assembly on the road
wheels in a coherent manner. I airbrushed them red-brown and then washed
with a heavy burnt umber wash. Once dry, the track pieces were rubbed
with an eraser and then dry-brushed with Polly Scale Old Silver. Once
dry, the tracks were assembled on the road wheels.
Before the tracks were attached to the body, I made a mud from Squadron white putty, metallic thinner and Model Master mud paint. I applied this to the bottom of the vehicle as well as the wheel wells. This is why I had not attached the tracks and wheels before. A mild brushing of mud was also applied to the road wheels and tracks as well as the wheels. Once dry, the tracks and wheels were attached to the vehicle.
At this point the basic vehicle is complete and all that is left is the personalization desired by the modeler. I dug through my extras and found a 55-gallon drum as well as various boxes, guns and bags to throw into the vehicle. I actually consider this the fun part of the build where one can go nuts.
It
was at this point that I made a trip to my favorite local hobby shop…
actually only one left. It started with no impact to this build but I
saw a 20mm Flak gun from Tamiya that was begging to be towed by the D7
so I had to. That is the gun you see in the pictures. To me it just makes
the build complete. The gun was subjected to the same mud treatment as
the D7. Once dry, the entire assembly was dusted with African Earth Mig
pigments although I wasn’t as pleased as I had hoped.