Was watching a shield 72 video on YouTube about a Warsaw pact war game that popped up in my for you feed. Just so happened to come across this vehicle, is this what i think it is, an Sdkfz 250 halftrack with a Recoiles rifle?
Here’s the video;
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The Czechs made a post-war copy of the Hanomag, called the OT-810. You can tell because the rear of the vehicle is squared; it has a fully enclosed troop compartment and the lack of side stowage boxes, typical of the 251/1.
Czech built OT-810.
German Sd. Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. D captured by the Polish Home Army during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.
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@SableLiger that makes sense now, i vaguely remember reading about these but never saw videos of them. That picture i posted looks smaller than the 251 any chance they had 250s in inventory?
A lot of leftover German equipment laying all over Eastern Europe after WW2, so it would not be surprising to see them re-use German gear until spares dried up. The Egyptians were using Panzer IVs and Stugs against the Israelis in 1967, so it’s very possible.
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@SableLiger i agree. The Syrians had tons of German equipment and i know some border defenses in the Balkans were manned with German tanks dug in and turned into pillboxes. The vehicle in questions has the wheel count of the Czech made 251 but just looks small enough to be a 250. Maybe it is a 251 but dang this makes for an interesting vignette if i could get around to it.
Count the number of roadwheels and it’s too many for a 250.
@Gary_Kato you’re right just went back and counted again it’s off by two road wheels per a side. Great catch !
An OT-810 with a recoiled rifle on it. They kind of look like airborne troopers with the head gear but maybe that’s just the crew uniform?
Here’s another one.
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The OT-810 also used a different track and a different sprocket wheel to fit this track.
Resin kit in 1/35th scale:
http://www.tbmodels.cz/1-35----ot-810-late-version-1.html
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@SableLiger that almost looks like a modified open top, would love to get my hands on some plans for one of these.
Many of us suffer from that ailment …
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Many of the vehicles, especially the OT-810, had diesel engines in them, per standard Soviet doctrine at the time. I remember back in the 1990s, a lot of these came up for sale when the Czechs got rid of them.
Ken
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They look a bit tricky to reconfigure to make a clone of a hanomag out of them; tricky, but noit impossible. There will be telltale signs, like the tracks and sprockets, but rebuilding the rear and add the stowage bins on the side, plus reshaping the fenders and build a custom exhaust would be a worthy cause to take on, if you have the skillset and resources to do so. And I’m not even touching on the interior details.
It would be a LOT easier than turning a T-55 into a Tiger I …
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It’d be the ultimate hobby project for anyone that likes WW2 living history.
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Here is a nice article about the OT-810 and the differences from the -251:
Telling Apart The 810s From The 251s | PanzerPlace
They are often found in museums and private collections.
Ken
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@SableLiger fortunately there seems to be a resin kit for sale I’m just not sure if i could pay $120 for it at the moment.
@tankerken i didn’t realize that these were in stock until 1995, could you imagine these things coming across your periscope in a fulda gap scenario.
@Uncle-Heavy yeah i suffer from to many kits and ideas and then continuing with more ideas for kits and dioramas I’d like to build.
Thank you all for the information , this would be an awesome project to undertake in the future, maybe.
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Many collectors and museums had to face that exact problem.
Ken
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