Leichter Panzerspähwagen Sd.Kfz.222 rebuild

[mark lawson]

Moin moin Martin,

Thanks for your comments, I see what you are talking of this mainly affects the rear mudguards; I will have a look at the amount of work involved in moving the mudguards slightly.

[mark lawson]

My latest update on the Sd.Kfz.222 build is of the spare wheel and mounting bracket used on the Ausf B, 5 series which is what the Armortek kit is, the wheel was profiled on the outside and inside removing the square edges and rounding them, the mounting bracket was crafted from steel and bolts as the real item onto brackets attached to the Panzeraufbau, when the spare wheel is in place this detail won’t be seen so one wonders why I bothered, the real vehicle stowed the tarpaulins for the vehicle in the centre of the wheel along with anything else the crew could stash this was then mostly covered with a canvas cover over the spare wheel.





More pictures can be found on my Facebook page Werkstatt - 5

[mark lawson]

Tonight’s update on the Sd.Kfz.222 build, is the jack block and mounting brackets, on the Ausf B, 5 series the jack was mounted on the right rear mudguard and were held in place with leather straps which have not yet been fitted.




More pictures can be found on my Facebook page Werkstatt - 5

[yves mouton]

Hello,

Nice work Mark
Regards Yves

[mark lawson]

Bedankt voor je reactie Yves.

[Maarten Schutjes]

Great craftmanship Mark!

[mark lawson]

Bedankt for your comments Maarten, craftsmanship may be too strong a word I see my work only a reasonable representation of an Sd.Kfz.222 people such as Bodo Langbehn are true masters.

[mark lawson]

I wanted to add a little more detail to the Sd.Kfz.222 wheels as I felt they would benefit from more work, understanding which variant 222 you have is key to completing the model more accurately the Armortek Sd.Kfz.222 is the Ausf B, 5 series on this variant the wheels no longer had the triangular armour plate so this could be removed and the centre hub can then be machined into the wheel with the correct bolt detail, the centre nut is a castle nut I made I also made the outer plates for the centre hub which resembles a washer, the wheels have x6 bolts x3 sit on the inside of the outer cover and can only be seen from the side and x3 are visible on the outside later 5 series variants had x4 bolts showing on the outside and possible another x4 on the inside, the work to profile the wheels was done on 2 machines the radius was cut on a lathe, kind use from Lee Sellers of Newthorpe models the rest of the machining was done on my mill, the outer plates and castle nuts were done on my own lathe.

These are the wheels before modiforcation

First job was to simply remove the tyres from the wheels before the machining can be done.

[mark lawson]

Its been some time since I did any updates on the Sd.Kfz.222 build and of cause we have had the fiasco with Photobucket but I’m happy to say I now use PostImage for my pictures now.
Not sure if I covered the side stowage bins in previous posts, I opted to use the standard bins but add some details including hinges and catches this adds much more detail and saves replacing them.

[Stephen White]

Mark, it's great to see a quality build thread, there are all too few on the Forum. Will this model represent a specific vehicle or the generic Ausf? It's looking great either way. I hope when you get to the markings that the two new Knowledge Base Topics might be useful. All the best. Stephen

[mark lawson]

Thanks Stephen, unfortunately owing to the nature of Aufklärung abteilung there are few pictures in the theatre plus I also want to depict a vehicle from Normandy and found only 1 picture of a 17th SS vehicle heavily destroyed so not much help with markings and also I don’t do SS, the next problem is trying to confirm who had Sd.Kfz.222 at this time I know Pz Lehr 130 had them in early 1944 but changed to the 234/2 Puma as did a few other Aufklärung abteilung, I could depict a vehicle from a much earlier time but then they would come from the series 3 or 4 Ausf A and the Armortek kit is the series 5 Ausf B or they are in the wrong theatre.

If anyone is interested in the Aufklärung abteilung there are two books packed with many pictures; “Scouts out” and “Tip of the Spear” by Edwards, Pruett and Olive, unfortunately the books are Americanised using American terms and rankings, both books cover a wide range of Aufklärung vehicle’s some in colour

[mark lawson]

So now the work on die Turm (turret) begins, for this there will be a number of upgrades first will be to enlarge the turm front as the 5 series Ausf B had a taller front than sides, there are a few ways this can be done but I chose to remove the front and replace it with taller new panels.




Next was to remove the side vision ports as early 5 series Ausf B had the vision ports but late models had them removed there were also a few such as the Littlefield Sd.Kfz.222 5 series Ausf B which had a plate welded to cover the opening, quite when this was done is unclear according to Jentz this information has been lost, I chose to build my version with a late model turret without turret openings.


This is the Littlefield 5 Series Ausf B with plates welded over the vision ports


These are some wartime pictures of 5 Series Ausf B without the vision ports in the turret





Last job was to install the communications hatch which was missing from the kit.


Next job is to enlarge the turret ring.

[Michael Röder]

Hello Mark!

Nice Work.

It is very interested to see/read your posts.
I like detailed vehicles.

Greetings from Germany

Michael

[Steve Norris]

Mark
Nice work on the 222, very good references for when I get round to doing mine.
Regards
Steve

[mark lawson]

Grüße aus England and thanks for your comments Michael, I only build a reasonable representation of the Panzerspähwagen.

Steve, I’m sure your build will be far better than mine, I have started work on the gun and mount which will take a lot of work.