At last, you can replace Tamiya's decades-old SdKfz 7 8-ton halftrack - Trumpeter has released a state-of-the-art model! While it's listed as an early variant, it's better described as a KMm11, the most numerous version. Early on, each side of the vehicle had four road wheels. Later, on the KMm11, that number increased to six, which is what Trumpeter's kit depicts.
The fully detailed chassis and engine-compartment parts have excellent surface detail. The kit features a multiple-piece molded body, individual link tracks, and soft vinyl tires. Doors for the rear-storage compartments can be posed open or closed.
Surprisingly, there are few ejector-pin marks on the body panels although they mar some of the smaller parts.
The photoetched-metal parts are thicker than aftermarket substitutes - several require annealing before forming. The instruction booklet offers few painting guidelines, but there is a full-color painting-and-markings sheet for the four versions accounted for on the decal sheet.
I began assembly with the chassis, making sure to keep it square. Some steps are a little odd, such as installing the gear-shift levers in Step 1 only to fit the floorboard over them in Step 21. The part numbers are reversed on the track-tension arms (parts A17, A18). If you leave these unglued, you can adjust them for tight track fit later.
You can build the front axle so the wheels pivot. But once you add the steering linkage, which requires glue, the wheels will be locked in position. I left off the running gear until finishing the main painting and weathering.
Deviating from instructions, I next assembled the main body. Be careful - the main floor supports' locations can affect fit. The rear-storage area has several compartments, but the kit only provides a jack and a couple of jerry cans. The seat cushions are molded with a crushed appearance; most photos show them smooth.
Fit of the body panels and doors was good. The body side panels, however, are too thick for the real vehicle.
The well-molded tracks can be built to work. The drive sprockets, though, have problems. On the real vehicle, drive teeth are positioned at the front of the flat surface of the drive-sprocket tire, meaning the left and right drive sprockets are different. Since Trumpeter has made the drive sprockets identical, with teeth in the center of the tire facets, the track links do not lie flush with the tire.
During final assembly, minor fit problems arose. There was a slight gap on the hood joint, so I glued the hood in place (covering the engine detail). The rear-stowage basket interfered with the folded top (Part H12). I removed its locating pins and moved it slightly forward. The seat-back cushions (Part H11) were too short to fit over their locators, so I trimmed the locator lugs. I also replaced the pioneer tools, which were way too small.
It took me more than 30 hours to build Trumpeter's halftrack to match the dimensions in David Doyle's
Standard Catalog of German Military Vehicles. It was challenging, but the model looks good and is a great improvement over the old Tamiya kit.
Read more
model kit reviews.