Sd.Kfz 222

by Warlord Games

I purchased this model just over a week ago as I lacked any recon vehicle for my Bolt Action German forces. Sure I could have gone with a Puma or an 8RAD but the 222 was a more common vehicle and saw widespread use.

The white metal parts had very little flash and I had them cleaned up in just a few minutes. The resin hull had no defects that I was able to detect. Construction was pretty straight forward and was made even easier by the assembly guide for the model on Warlord’s web site. Wheels went on no problem but the way the model is constructed they can only be put on one way and cannot be turned.

The trickiest part of building the model was gluing the wire mesh hatches together and then to the turret. This was easily enough done by clamping the two halves together while the glue dried. Then I figured out that the turret stayed together better when it was flipped over, and then I simply left it to dry, as shown in the picture below.

Total, it took me 20 minutes to put the model together. This is one of, if not the fastest build of a model that I have done so far. So the 222 gets a big thumbs up in that department. The most difficult and frustrating part of the build was when I broke the tip off my bottle of super glue.

Here is the finished model, propped up the cap of my old (excuse me, I mean vintage) airbrush can adapter while the glue dries thoroughly. 

Later that night I primed the model and then went to bed. The next evening when I had time I gave it two coats of Vallejo Yellow Tan. After the base coat had dried I came back and painted the green camo, so that the vehicle would match my Sdkfz 251/1’s that I painted last month.  Once the green camo dried I gave it a light wash of dark brown the painted the under carriage dark brown to make the whole thing look a little muddy.  While that was drying I started looking around for pictures of how and what markings were done on these vehicles. Once the whole thing had dried, I applied the water slide decals as you see in the photos. I don’t currently have any license plates transfers that I can use on this thing, but I am hoping to get some soon. As a result, I have not given it a second was of dark brown. So the decals may look a little too bright and shiny at the moment.

I also recently purchased some Vallejo pigments and used them on the 222 to give it that dusty look. The results weren’t exactly as I had hoped and I will have to do some more research to learn how to use it more effectively, I hope.

I have to say again that this was one of the easiest and quickest builds that I have done so far. Twenty minutes to build and not much more time to paint if you don’t count drying time.