MGM:s 1/72 Sdkfz 3 Mannschaftswagen

In the Versailles peace agreement, that ended World War One, the seven Divisions of the (much reduced) German Army was henceforth expressly forbidden to have tanks or even Armoured Fighting Vehicles. There was, thogh, a loophole of sorts. Each of the Divisions were allowed to have armoured wheeled vehicles for the purpose of transporting personell - the name for these was Mannschafttransportwagen, MTW. They were not to be used as Fighting vehicles (they were not to have any armament).

A vehicle intended for this purpose was designed 1919 by the firm of DMG. They were then built by Daimler. Many of its part were identical to those used in the Armoured Car built for the police forces, the so called Schupo-Sonderwagen/21. This explains many similarities between the two vehicles. It was given the formal name Sonderkraftfahrzeug 3 (Special Motor Vehicle number 3).

It was not a very successful vehicle. It weighed 10.6 tons, had a crew of nine, a range of some 350km, a maximum armour of 12mm and a maximum speed of 45 km/h. It had four-wheel drive, but because of its weight and comparatively weak motor (only a 4 cylinder watercooled Daimler M1574) the SdKfz 3 had very poor off-road capability. In fact, it was pretty much bound to the roads. This, and its lack of armament, meant that the usage for the vehicle wasn't that big. A few were converted to Radio vehicles, and also, during maneuvers, in spite of regulations, they were sometimes equipped with a single MG 08.

I have found know information on how long these vehicles were in service, but we know that the very similiar Daimler/21 Schupo-Sonderwagen was used at least up until 1936, at that at least one was destroyed during the fighting in Berlin 1945!

Click on the pictures to see large versions

The kit comes packed in ziplock bag with a yellow paper header, typical of MGM. The kit itself consists of some 20 parts, all done in light yellow, hard resin. The moulding is quite adequate, and in parts excellent: you can find quite a number of impressive undercuts. The details are sharp and the amounts of flash is small. There are some moulding plugs to be removed, for sure, but they are not that big or akwardly placed. 

As far as I can see, the kit is right on the money when it comes to accuracy. If there is something to complain about, it's that all the angles aren't perfectly 90°, but I don't think it will be noticable in the finished kit. Also, a rather queer thing about the kit is that many of the rivets are rather long. It is not a big problem, but it will require you to do some some careful sanding to get them down to more scale-like appearance. Still, it's much better than the really bad, blobish-looking rivets you get with some kits. Anyway, I'm impressed that the master maker has managed to capture this monster so well, considering that the shape is SO complex, with many akward angles and small plates.

A problem, is that the kit comes without any instruction, just a simple side-view plan. Again, it's not a big deal, at least not if you have some reference material on the real things. (Which is pretty rare I'm afraid. Kaufhold-Rolls excellent book Die Deutsche Radpanzer im Ersten Weltkrieg have a small chapter on the SdKfz 3, and some really nice photos.) But most of the assembly is pretty straight forward.

When it comes to camo and markings, the info is even more rare. We know that the Reichswehr issued a decree in May 1922, stipulating that all armoured cars should be given a multi-colour camouflage (buntfarbiger Tarnanstrich), using the colours Green, Grey and Brown. The SdKfz 3, like other all other Reichswehr vehicles, also had a number plate, were much like the one later used by the Wehrmacht, e.g. RW · 7160, black on a light (probably white, background.

The kits of MGM can can be bought through through Smallscale.de, 7th Company or Blitzkrieg Models.

Michael Gohres of MGM is a brave and competent man, who does not always run with the crowd, but has issued some very nice kits of unusual vehicles and guns. Keep it up! And the quality of these kits is getting better and better all the time. This applies to this kit of the SdKfz 3 as well. You will get a very good replica of a very ugly and brutish-looking vehicles! Recommended!