1/35 Sd.Kfz. 251/17 Ausf. D with 2cm Schwebelafette

This type, and all the test prototypes, covered around 500 vehicles, including 486 -according to some sources /17 and /21. Normal provision for each Panzerdivision was around twenty-one in the armored infantry battalion, one in the regimental engineer company and seven in the armored reconnaissance company.

Sd.Kfz.251/17 – Schützenpanzerwagen (2 cm): (244 built). Early machines had unmodified Ausf.C and D bodies, and the 20 mm (0.79 in) gun had only 80° of traverse. They were pioneered by Grossdeutschland. But the main production type was the Luftwaffe-Flakausführung, with extended side made of folding panels. Even folded, the gun still had a 360° traverse. The 20 mm (0.79 in) KwK 38 was mounted in a small turret and had a pedestal mounting. They were built on the Ausf.C only and usually 4 Flak vehicles were led by a command version, without the gun but with a FU-10 radio and frame antenna, and two MG 34 or 42s for close defense.

Later on, the version evolved. Auto-Union A.G. of Chemnitz built a prototype (on the Ausf.C) followed by perhaps a dozen or so hybrid vehicles (on the Ausf.D), with a completely open rear and reconstructed driver compartment. In late 1944, a late model with the standard D body was equipped with a Schwebelafette or “gliding cradle” in a boxlike construction. Production figures remain unknown, perhaps 15 in all which served on the Eastern Front by November 1944. The 20 mm (0.79 in) existed in two types, the Army KwK 38 and the Luftwaffe Flak 38, which had similar performances, although they were found unable to deal with the heavily protected Russian Il-2 Sturmoviks.

Model from Dragon with some add ons and small changes. Painted with acrylics paints.