Battle Rides – Looking at the SdKfz-251/C from Battlefront and Plastic Soldier Company

By Tom Burgess

One of my major projects of 2019 was to complete an all plastic German East Front Mid-War army. I chose to focus on Gepanzert Panzer Grenadiers. To do this I had two boxes of Battlefront’s ‘s and two Boxes of Plastic Soldier Company’s ‘s. So I thought this provided a nice opportunity to review and compare what these two companies offer for the same model.

Both companies provide the SdKfz-251/C in unit boxes of five vehicles. The Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) boxed set cost $29.99 (US) with crews/passengers but only the machinegun armed transport option and no decals.

Battlefront (BF) box set cost $45.99 (US) and comes with parts to build all five models as the transport (with or without 3.7cm anti-tank gun), the 7.5cm short assault gun, or the 8cm armored mortar version. The BF set also the proprietary unit cards, for use in Flames of War, as well as a sheet of waterslide decals.

The BF set included crews/passengers. Despite these being listed as “4x Plastic Crew Sprues” on the back of the box my two boxes actually came with four small bags of metal crew and passengers and no crew sprues.  Many people would likely prefer having the metal crew, but as I wanted to have an all plastic this was a bit of a let down for me that I would have to remedy later.

The above sprue is for the BF SdKfz-251/C.  It is compact crisp and clean.

Above is the PSC SdKfz-251/C. It is also crisp and clean. It is bigger than the BF sprue and includes the crew and extra stowage bits.

Above are the two sprues with PSC on the left and BF on the right.

Above we see the assembled BF version on the left and PSC on the right.

Both kits are high quality. I found the BF kits a bit easier to assemble as its has fewer parts than the PSC kit.

Above are the three SdKfz-251/C variants from the BF kit. From left to right; the armored mortar, troop transport, and 7.5cm assault gun versions.

Above is the assembled PSC model. On major drawback I found with the PSC kit is that it does not include the command option for the command half-track armed with a 3.7cm anti-tank gun. So I had to use spare bits from my BF models to properly equip the two platoon leader transports.

Above is a side view of the completed BF transport on the left and PSC transport on the right.

Above is a front view of the completed BF transport on the left and PSC transport on the right.

Above is a top  view of the completed BF transport on the left and PSC transport on the right. One aspect about the PSC version that I did not like as much was that the edges of the troop area are about three time as thick as those on the BF model. I also preferred the interior look of the BF model.

Above is an elevated side view of the completed BF transport on the left and PSC transport on the right.

Above is an elevated front side view of the completed BF transport on the left and PSC transport on the right.

Above is all 17 halftracks for my force assembled. I used the PSC models for the two transport platoons (front row) with BF 37mm anti-tank guns added to the command track. Note that one of my PSC box sets came in grey plastic while the other set came in tan. All the BF sprues were tan.

I used BF models (second row) for my 7.5cm assault gun platoon (left) and armored mortar carrier platoon (right). Because I overall preferred the BF model, I chose one of those to use for my company commander transport (center).

 

The above image shows my completed BF Company Command half-track on the left and a PSC unit commander half-track on the right.  Note the BF model has a radio antenna mount molded on it. The PSC models did not have that feature so I had to “fudge” it by drilling a hole in the overly wide edge of the crew compartment and securing the antenna there.

Note that though the PSC model (right) came with more extra stowage bits, the BF model (left) has more details molded on like the tools on the front fender.

Another view with the BF model on the left and PSC model on the right.

Another view with the BF model on the left and PSC model on the right.

Another view with the BF model on the left and PSC model on the right.

Above are the nine transports, eight in the two platoons from PSC and the one Company Command transport from BF on the right.

Final conclusions

Both kits are high quality and completely suitable for table-top gaming. I do believe that the BF model, though it is 50% more expensive is the better model. It simply has better detail and is easier to assemble. It also has the optional pieces that allow you to build four different versions; transport, command transport with 3.7cm ATG,  8cm armored mortar, and 7.5cm assault gun. On top of that the BF set has included decals and unit cards for use in Flames of War.

You cannot argue with price though. The BF model is $9.00(US) per model while PSC’s is $6.00(US) per model. My suggestion is for those looking to save money while building a full company is two mix the sets like I did using PSC models for the transports and BF models for the specialty weapons units. But, if price is not an option, all BF clearly the better way to go.

So how did I get past not having plastic crew for my BF models?  I had to use extra plastic PSC crews I got from my friend Ed who had the PSC SdKfz-251/D conversion box set. This let me man my plastic BF weapons BF SdKfz-251/C with plastic crew. I also got a small BF LW half-track crew/passenger sprue for my Company Command transport.

None of the models used in this review were provided by Battlefront or Plastic Soldier Company.