Allow me to use the brief historical background provided by the instructions, and if you think you are having deja vu, then you are.

"The armored scout car SdKfz 232 was produced in the 1930s for the German Army. Only a small number were produced, yet the experience gained with these vehicles made them a valuable stepping stone towards the development of later models. The 232 was used right until the early stages of WWII when it was replaced by more modern and efficient vehicles. It featured a three axle chassis with dual real wheels, light armor and a 20mm cannon."

The folks at Italeri are not slow when it comes to spotting trends, and one of the trends is to provide additional bits to a standard kit to give added value. In this case, they have taken the standard Sd.Kfz 232 Rad 6 armored car and provided the parts for an interior and an engine, something that is not given with the regular kit. Not a bad marketing ploy as those of you who have looked into the costs of these things can see that Italeri is just saving a step for you. No need to hunt up a set or two as the materials are included.

But let's take a look at the kit itself. I do believe this is a fairly recent kit for the level of detail and lack of those pesky ejector pin marks in all the wrong places points to a more recent mold. Yes, there are some of the latter marks on the inside of the fenders, but those are easy to fix and will keep the Penlight Police happy. Some of the suspension bits suffer from light sink areas, but again, easily fixed.

Not having seen the standard boxing, I have to assume that all the access panels are separate. One only has to bend the hinges to allow these panels to stay open. The kit comes with the usual plethora of 'stuff' that hangs all over vehicles like this. The turret includes the cannon and machine gun. I didn't see any additional stuff for the inside of this and while you can open all the doors to it, it will be rather Spartan on the inside. Also included in the kit is the large antenna array that fits on the vehicle.

What adds so much to this kit are several bags of resin and a fret of etched metal. These parts provide a floor, both driving positions and a full engine. Along with this are the usual boxes and other goodies inside the driving compartment. The engine is basically one piece with the intake and exhaust as well as starter to blue on. A radiator is also included. One of the two steering wheels is provided in the stowed position.  Seats as well as pedals and shift linkage are given in resin. There is a firewall onto which one places an instrument panel and some pedals for one end. This large firewall piece on my kit has a section broken from it. You see, the resin and etched pieces are nicely held in their own little bags as you can see from the image. However, this bag is placed in a rather oversized box where it rattles around. All this banging around undoubtedly caused the bit to break. I'd recommend to Italeri that they stuff a piece of bubble wrap in there to hold stuff in place during shipment. I should also mention that the resin is very nicely done as is the photo etch. A piece of acetate film has the instruments on it to go behind the etched instrument panel.

Instructions are excellent and should provide just what one needs to put this all together with no problem. Colors are provided by Model Master and generic names. Markings are provided for four vehicles, all in overall Panzer Grey with three of them from the first year of the war and one pre-war vehicle. In fact, they seem to be the same options as in the 1/72 kit, which I guess should be no surprise. Decals are well printed and should work quite well.

So there you have it. A very nice boxing of a most interesting armored car. If you want to have all the goodies in one spot, then this is a kit you should consider. One thing for sure, it will make a very nice model when it is finished.

October 2005