SdKfz 251 Ausf D with APX french turret

SdKfz 251 Ausf D with APX french turret - case report

Tankers!!
As you guys have noticed, I love rare and real things. One of my greatest joys is to find a photo of a vehicle with unique characteristics to try to reproduce in scale.

And this new project fits well within this profile ...

This original photo shows a Sdkfz 251 Ausf D with a french turret APX, from the Renault R-35 light tank, in Free French hands. Notice the typical German 3 shades camouflage, with the Balkan cross semi-erased on the sides.

SdKfz 251 with french turret - Font: Book Century Tracks n°2

The pic not show the type of gun, but the commander cupola is in German standard, ie, with "cut" on its top. The turret seems to be in panzer-gray. This detail, plus the cut in the top of the commander´s cupola, suggest that was part of an R-35 captured or was part of one of the bunkers that used obsolete tanks turrets as "strong points".

So, come on ...
Let's try to build this odd-ball! First of all, a 3 view draw:

A color profile:

SdKfz 251 with french turret profile- Font: Book Century Tracks n°2

I´ll use this models: The SdKfz Ausf D Falke (without IR device, of course...), from AFV

AFV kit 35S38

And the APX turret from this kit:

Heller Renault R-35 light tank.

I will not "sacrifice" the Renault´s kit . I'll use the turret's left of this project: Renault R-35 with T-26 turret:

Based on a George Bradford drawing

Renault R-35 captured with conical T-26 turret

But, returning to the project, begining the building ...

SdKfz 251 booklet

SdKfz 251 hull

SdKfz 251 wheels...

I continued the project in this weekend. Building the interior...

Dry-run with upper hull:

To do the turret´s deck, I print the blueprint in scale. I copied the image to Corel-draw and extended the pic to fit in scale.

The upper-hull in comparison of scale drawing

I used an 1mm thick plasticard to do the turret deck. The ring of turret was cutted from an old Heller´s scrap hull.

The Renault turret, with commander's cupola cutted as a German standard.

APX turret

Another dry-run

Turret deck: interior view

Assef, a great friend and excellent military modeler, asked me if the turret would move or not. Good question, Assef...

Assef´s avatar

I have been searching on the subject and found that APX turrets had manual movement via a simple crank mechanism.

APX turret - rotation device

And I think anyone who has done this conversion (German or French), must have been based on the technology of construction of these turrets on bunkers, for the simplicity of the thing... Leveraging, I researched about APX turrets mounted bunkers and found numerous examples used in Coastal Defense of France (Atlantic Wall). The installation of these turrets was something very simple ...

Apx turret on top of concrete bunker
notice the metal collar around the turret and the cutted cupola

APX turret in Marseille

R35 turret at Atlantic Wall
coastal defense duties

another APX turret in french bunker

Bunker - blueprint

It was enough to manufacture a simple circular steel ring for the turret stand on this circumference and keep moving.

Turret ring in a bunker under construction
the concrete was placed into the steel ring

Turret ring done - metal collar and concrete

View inside the bunker
notice the rotation ratchet
pic font in the image...

Close-up

There is much speculation whether this Sdkfz 251 turret has movement or not. After what I've researched, I think maintaining the movement in this type of turret was something simple. And I think having all this work to install the turret on the vehicle and leave it fixed would be an anachronism ...
My two cents, Assef ! Big hug and take care !!!

After our "technical" chat about the ability to spin the turret of this beauty, let us return to building of this vehicle.

I did the structural reinforcements of the upper-deck with Plastruct type train rail, like those found in the beach obstacles. Here, it is time for some creative freedom ... I'm putting in place the people who built this little beauty .....

Reinforcements: one horizontal rail and two vertical

The vertical rails distribute the
weight directly to the chassis

Internal view: the front vertical rails are
welded directly in the upper deck

While the weld dried in the reinforcement rails, I made some improvements in the APX turret: Notice the axis of gun´s rotation and a sort of micro-hatch in the roof of the turret:

Micro-hatch and the gun´s axis
I substitute the plastic axis by metal

Does anyone know what is the micro-hatch??

Notice de cupola hinges...

Turret done!!!

The turret in the deck.

APX turret view - right side

At this stage of building something happened extremely embarrassing...I like to go a few steps ahead, while others are drying. As the turret was finished, I decided to glue the engine doors on the nose of the vehicle. I took the two engine covers parts and that's when I realized that I had used the upper hull of the late model of Sdkfz 251 (the Ausf 251/22) to make all adjustments to the upper-deck. I took the upper deck of the Sdkfz 251/22 and not the Sdkfz 251/1.

The engine cover of the 251/22 is single, with two hinges at the top of the engine aperture and the 251/1 are two, with the hinges (4) in the sides...

Oh, Gods .... What childish mistake!!!