SdKfz 251/1 Ausf B used by Maj.Dr. Joseph-Franz Eckinger

I am currently building this vehicle.
There is are a lot of uncertainties, differences of opinion and questions about this version, so I think I have the benefit of the doubt and build it this way.
It is based on a vehicle used by the 1.Pz.Div during Barbarossa in Letland '41, being the commandvehicle of Oberst-Leutnant Arthur Kopp, Regimental commander of Pz.Abt. I.




Comments are welcome!

Very nice- I look forward to seeing progress on this one. I assume you're doing "guesstimates" based on photos as opposed to working from specified documentation, right? it looks close enough for me.

A bit (very) late respons.....

But that's because I got frustrated with this one!
Every time I had build something I came across a photo showing me that I was mistaken. After 4 or 5 rebuilds I quite had enough...... for a while. And yes, I am working from photo's, bits and pieces of information gathered from around and put together.. plus a lot of guessingwork!!
But I have sunk my teeth into this one again, all be it that I am digging up information about this vehicle and it's "owner" as well as more information about the division it belonged to and the operations it was involved in.
Building will be continued soon!!!

I have been working and reworking this one several times now. As I said before new information kept on turning up. The researching is done now, now that I know what, who, when and where.
The what is a modified Sd.Kfz. 251/1 with a maptable over the driverscompartment, additional armor and additional radios added.
The who is Maj. Eckinger, commander of 2. Bat, 1.Schützenregt. 1.Pz.Div.
The when is late June 1941
The where is the proximity of Aiviekste trainstation, Estonia.

The build so far:
Additions are e complete new radioset layout, rebuild frontseats and figures of Eckinger and a staffmember.
Radioset:


Rebuild seat with the original kitpart on the left:


Figures:


Vehicle interior:

The interior is mostly done and painted. There will be more personal gear littering the interior and I am working on a driver for the vehicle.
After I had finished the radiosets I found some drawings, showing that I made a few mistakes... Why is it that one allways finds out afterwards???

Posting an update on this build is long overdue, so here it goes!!
Things that got done so far:
1) Trying to get the top and bottom of the hull to match.... ==) it wasn't that easy, but with a little help from tape, clamps, spacers and tons of putty I kind of pulled it off! :_|
2) Adding the new driver and some more goodies to the interior. The Bundle on the left is a home made Y-strap with gear.
3) Adding new extra side armourplates. Tho old ones turned out to be to small and one got killed in the proces...
4) Getting the basic vehicle allmost complete with some add-ons from Dragon, sucg as headlights, directionindicators (scrabbleword, 3x wordvalue) and later on tracks. The Zvezda ones are murdereous to your nerves!!! ==)
Here are some more pictures:

And some more updates:
The tracks have been added as has the basiccolour in vallejo german grey, which is quite dark!
You can also see the beginning of the base the vehicle will be put on.
just a few more paintingsessions and I can add one more completed build to my collection!!
Here's what it looks like now:


Here's a piece of the railway I am going to use as a base for my 251.
It has been placed on a simple wooden board, edges sanded smooth and painted with Tamiya's red brown and flat black. The rolling surface has been done with Andrea's gunmetal. After that I filled in the rest with very fine stones and added a first black wash.
I still have to touch up the metal with some black to get a straight line and then add a lot more washes varying from grey to brown and rust. When that's done I can bring out the powders and dust the whole thing up!

And the final part, so far:
I added a few details to the vehicle to give it a bit more life.
First the little flag at the rearantenna. It is made up of 2 printouts glued together with added decals. And when posting the pictures I noticed that I have to touch up the divisional insignia.


The interiour:




The vehicle, base and alternative positioning of the figures:




shoot!!