Roden's 1/72nd SdKfz 232 (Fu) (8 Rad)

History

The SdKfz 232 was the command and control version of the SdKfz 231. It differed from the SdKfz 231 only in the presence of the "bow" antenna which was used for its wireless communications between cars. Normally these were used in the reconnaissance role. Production of the SdKfz 232 stopped in 1943 only because the SdKfz 234 (Puma) was introduced and found to be a much better vehicle.

The Kit

The Roden SdKfz 232 (F8) (8 Rad) consists of 112 injected parts, some in gray, the others in black. Decals exist for three different versions of the 8 Rad: (1) a machine from the Fallshirm-Panzer Division "Hermann Goering" in Italy, 1944; (2) a machine of the 5. "Wiking" SS Panzer Division on the Eastern Front; and (3) a machine of the "Hermann Goering" Motorized Brigade, Rumania. Decals appear sharp and and differ from the first release of this series (the SdKfz 231) in that the white and black of the crosses are separate decals, meaing those crosses - which had some problems in the earlier kit - will look much better this time around. Hooray for Roden! It definitely appears they listen to their customers.

There are 4 common sprues between the three vehicles so far released by Roden - two of them for the undercarriage and some smaller parts and one sprue that contains the main hull and larger pieces to adhere to the hull. The additional sprue(s) contain that which "defines" the vehicle. For the SdKfz 263 it was the new "mid" hull and radio antenna (which contains part for the extra armor in front of the vehicle); for the SdKfz 231 it was just the smaller turret that rotated; and for the SdKfz 232 the extra sprues are for the smaller turret and the radio antenna, plus extra front armor pieces.

Construction starts with building up the drive-train units. Each part of the suspension consists of six parts per differential with five more parts connecting each differential to make up a suspension unit. Four wheels are then added to each suspension unit to create the 8 Rad. The instructions show that a lot of parts aren't to be glued. From discussions with On The Way! owner Doug Chaltry, it appears that if you follow Roden's guidelines that the suspension will have some leaway, allowing the suspension to conform to non-flat terrain. This means that all eight wheels should remain flat on the ground at almost all times. An excellent show from Roden.

From there construction moves to creating the turret, something that doesn't appear too difficult. Roden allows not only the turret to rotate, but also allows the main gun to traverse. A very nice touch. With the SdKfz 232 you don't have to remove the "plates" where the radio antenna go into since the radio antenna is meant for this version.

Now construction moves to adding all of the small parts to each fender. Having built the SdKfz 231 I didn't follow the instructions on this aspect. Instead of adding the smaller parts to the fender before adding the fenders to the body, you definitely want to add the small parts after the fenders are on the body.

Moving on, the instructions now have you glue the two hull halves together, followed by the smaller pieces that are glued onto the hull..