Lion Roar
German WWII Maybach HL 42 TUKRM Engine
Great Wall Hobby 1:35 kit #L3518
Review by Terry Ashley

Introduction:
Great Wall Hobby have released this small kit of the Maybach HL 42 TUKRM 75 water cooled 6-cyl. engine that powered all versions of the German WWII mittlere Schuetzenpanzerwagen Sd.Kfz.251 (medium armoured car). A second kit #L3517 has also been released with the Maybach HL 42 TRKM engine applicable to the Sd.Kfz.10/250 which is basically similar to this kit apart from different radiator and air intake setup.

The Kit:
The kit is not designed for any particular kit but gives you a complete HL 42 TUKRM engine/radiator assembly and the modeller will have to modify either the AFV Club, Cyberhobby/Dragon or Zvezda Sd.Kfz.251 Ausf.C/D kits to fit.

The kit consists of 55 parts in light gray plastic on a single sprue plus a small etched fret with 5 parts (1 not used for this kit) with the assembly instructions printed on the back of the box.

Etched fret
Lion Roar

The standard of plastic moulding is excellent with clean crisp mouldings with no visible pin marks but some minor flash is on a few of the finer parts. The kit has numerous very small parts and some fine piping that needs care removing from the sprue and removing the obligatory fine mould seams.

The detail on the parts match the excellent engine photos in the Wings & Wheels Sd.Kfz.251/1 in detail book "Special Museum Line No.37" very well with the book having as much detail as you could possible want and also shows clearly the additional plumbing that needs to be added to the engine.

Assembly is fairly straightforward following the instructions which are the usual exploded view drawings but are a little busy in parts and you need to carefully study the part placement to avoid mishaps.

The engine has the main engine block in two halves with separate lower oil sump and top rocker cover as well as all accessories such as the intake/exhaust manifolds, dynamo, oil cooler/filter, carburettor, forward fan pulleys and the large air filter. You need to drill four locating holes in the ends of the intake/exhaust manifolds for the fine exchange piping provided with plan views showing the location of the holes to help drilling these in the right place. Just a quick note, the exhaust manifold on the scrap view plan in incorrectly numbered as J38 but should be J41 as it is on the main engine assembly diagram.

Views of assembled engine
Lion Roar
Lion Roar

The fit of the parts is very good without any trimming needed and just the fine mould seams as mentioned above making for a fairly quick and easy assembly. The very small parts such as the top filler caps (J9) and hoist hooks (J10) need care in handling, plus there are a few small etched parts for the top rocker cover data plates and two small exhaust gaskets.

There are a couple of things to watch for during assembly,  the front engine bearer (part J6) doesn’t have any particular locating point but is trapped in place by the front fan belt/pulley assembly (part J46) and it’s best to not actually glue the engine bearer leaving it free to move about behind the fan belts. This will help in fitting the engine squarely to the chassis of the target Sd.Kfz.251 kit later on; it’s a bit tricky not to get glue on the bearer while attaching the fan belts so take care but it will definitely help when mounting the engine if left unglued for now.

Fitting the two fine exchange pipes (parts J31/32) between the intake/exhaust manifolds is a little confusing with the arrows on the instruction illustration crossing each other a few times but you do get a left and right side view to help locate these correctly. Just don’t try and force them where they shouldn’t go, when you get them aligned correctly they do fit nicely into the holes you drilled earlier.

Radiator Assembly
Lion Roar

The large double radiator fan assembly of the 251 is another simple yet nicely detailed assembly that fits together without any problems. There is a top and bottom hose that connects to the engine block and care is needed to get these aligned correctly, but it’s no too difficult.

Views of assembled engine and radiator prior to fitting to required kit
Lion Roar
Lion Roar

Conclusion:
This is an excellent representation of the Maybach HL 42 TUKRM Engine for the Sd.Kfz.251 with clean crisp details and quite straightforward and easy assembly in the main. There is some piping provided but adding addition wiring will add further life to the engine.

Overall an excellent kit in a medium most will find more appealing and easy to work with, the level of detail is as good as you find anywhere for those wanting to add an engine to their kit or just display it next to the kit in an exhibition type setting.

As this kit is not designed for a specific 251 kit there will be some work required to fit the engine to whatever kit you choose but that is not a reflection on this kit as none of the available 251 kits are designed to take an engine, so modifications are inevitable.

Highly Recommended.

The Sprues:

Click on thumbnails for larger view
Great Wall Hobby
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References:
WWP
Sd.Kfz.251/1 in detail
Special Museum Line No.37
Wings & Wheels Publications
ISBN 80-86416-50-X
Book
Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf.D
Model Detail Photo
Monograph No.22
RossaGraph
ISBN : 83-89717-60-3
Sd.Kfz.251
SdKfz251

Ground Power Special
GALILEO Publishing Co.,Ltd
Book
Sd.Kfz.251 1939 to 1942

Panzer Tracts No.15-2
Covers /1 to /10
Book
Sdkfz251 Ausf.C & D

Panzer Tracts No.15-3
ISBN 0-9771643-5-7
Sd.Kfz.251
Schutzenpanzer (Armored Personnel Carrier)
Ryton Publications
ISBN: 1930571291

Thanks to Lion Roar/Great Wall Hobby for the review kit.


Page created January 14, 2010



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