Sd.Kfz 234/4 "Pakwagen"

Roden 1/72 Scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

Summary

A Brief History

The Sd.Kfz. 234/4 Pakwagen was the last of the eight wheeled Armoured Cars built before the war in Europe came to an end. It was essentially a “Puma” with the turret removed and a Pak 40 Anti Tank Gun fitted in its place. Only about 89 of this model were produced.

FirstLook

This, the last of the eight-wheeled armoured cars from Roden, has been a long time coming but there is a reason for it. They've been waiting for their Pak 40 Anti Tank Gun (Kit No 711) to be ready as one of the two sprues from that kit is an integral part of this one.

I am told that all of these armoured car kits from Roden have some shape problems but quite frankly I'm willing to overlook these as they have given us a range of vehicles that we have never seen before in Braille. I'm not enough of an expert to tell if they're not totally accurate in every dimension, but I do know that the detail level is high with even some interior fittings supplied. They are also quite buildable and, when completed, really look the part.

As well as the Pak 40 sprue, there is one for this kit alone along with the other three which are in all of the Sd.Kfz.234 based kits.

On entering the end-opening box with the attractive and inspiring art-work, you will find five plastic sprues sealed in a clear plastic bag.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Two of these sprues are identical and in black plastic and are two of the three generic 234 sprues. I don't know why Roden persist in this black plastic. It doesn't seem to serve any purpose. It just makes it harder to see any detail in the plastic such as defects that need to be attended to before painting. These carry the wheels, suspension and many of the small interior and exterior detail parts like jerry cans, tools, seats and steering columns. There are no sink marks or other imperfections on these sprues. The third generic sprue, in tan plastic, is the basic upper and lower hull, guards (fenders) and other small external items. The three sprues mentioned so far are the two identical “A” sprues (Black) and the “I” sprue (Tan).

“F” is for this kit alone in tan plastic and carries the gun mounts and armoured shields that surround the fighting compartment.

“H” is from the Pak 40 kit, also in tan, and has all the parts for gun and shield. There are some sink marks on either side of the gun breech which should not be a problem to fix and I could not find any others. Some ejector pin marks are visible on a few areas but again will not be noticeable once the model is constructed. A small amount of flash is noticeable but like the sink and ejector pin marks will not cause any head aches. The close defence machine gun in my kit was bent but not broken. The four larger equipment boxes in the guards can be modelled open but the guards themselves will require thinning above the wheels. Detail on all sprues is up to the standard we've come to expect from this manufacturer.

There are only two colour schemes, both identical late war three colour jobs, one from General Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army, Battle for Prague, May 1945 and one from the Battle for Berlin, last days of April-early days of May 1945.

The small decal sheet has separate black and white crosses and number plates for only one of the vehicles.

Conclusion

As I mentioned above, I do not consider myself expert enough to pick any inaccuracies but at least we now have a complete range of 8 Rads and if they've inspired some other model manufacturers to do even better well, thank you Roden.

Recommended to all Braille Armour Nuts.
 

Thanks to JB Wholesalers for the review sample.