Copyright 2008 by Brandon Cope
 
 

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This design was inspired by the SdKfx 330 wheeled tank in Gear Krieg: African Theatre. Both the background and design have been substantially modified from that book.

SdKfz 224 armored car (fictional)

The SdKfz 224 began life in 1937 as a tank experimenting with the convertable Christie suspension. Unfortunately, the tracks were of poor quality and broke repeatedly, resulting in most trails run on the roadweels. In mid-1939, the program was cancelled. It was not until late 1940, when possible warfare in Russia and North Africa became likely, that the project was revived. Rather than continue on as tank, it was decided to convert the vehicle to an armored car. At the same time, an unusual semispherical turret replaced the conventional one, along a rapid-fire cannon fed with 16-round drums. The vehicle was also developed with amphibious capabilities (primarily for use in Russia), although the vehicle did not handle well in deep or fast-running water.

The SdKfz 224 Ausf A had a crew of four, driver and co-driver in the body (who also fires the hull MG and operates the radio) and gunner and commander in the turret. The turret was manually rotated at 7 degrees per second by the gunner. The SdKfx 224 used 1.8 gallons of fuel per hour at routine usage.

Subassemblies: Small Wheeled chassis +3, Small AFV turret +2, eight off-road wheels +1.
Powertrain: 40-kW gas engine with 40-kW all-wheel drive wheeled transmission and 66-gallon self-sealing fuel tank; 4,000-kWs batteries
Occupancy: 2 CS Body, 2 CS Both.  Cargo: 0.3 Body, 0.4 Turret

Armor
Body: F 4/40, RL 4/30, B 4/20, T 4/30, U 4/20
Tur: F 4/45, RL 4/30, B 4/30, T 4/30, U 0/0

Weaponry
37mm Medium Ground AC/3.7cm Flak 36 [Turret:F] (80).
Ground LMG/ MG 34 [Turret:F] (2,000).
Ground LMG/ MG 34 [Body:F] (2,000).

Equipment
Body: Medium radio transmitter and transceiver.

Statistics
Size: 15'x7'x8' Payload : 0.65 tons Lwt: 4,32 tons
Volume: 63
 Maint.:  98 hours Price: $4,100

HT: 8
HP: 125 [body], 75 [turret], 11 [each wheel]
 
 
gSpeed: 49
 aAccel: 2 aDecel: 10 aMR: 0.25 aSR: 4
High Ground Pressure. 1/4 Off-Road Speed.
 

wSpeed: 3
 wAccel: 4
 wDecel: 10 wMR: 0.1 wSR: 2
Draft:

Design Notes
The turret HPs, cost and weight were halved to match the light design of the body. The advanced sloping on the turret was split on four sides. Although wheeled vehicles in the MVDS do not have sloping options, the medium slope of the small tank (the same volume of the small wheeled chassis) was used.

Advanced armor was bought for the turret and chassis. For the chassis, armor cost was multiplied by 2.65 and weight by 0.83.

The codriver position is cramped, at 4 VSP.

Variants
The original prototype (1937) used the Small Tank chassis. Neither chassis nor turret had any sloping. Main armament was a 3.7cm KwK 36 (37mm Medium AT Gun). It ran at 26 mph on tracks and 42 mph on wheels. Weight was six tons.

The Ausf B (September 1941) abandons the amphibious capability, using a sturdier chassis and turret, as a result of experience in North Africa HPs increase to 500 body, 150 turret  and 45 per wheel.. HT increases to 12 and weight to 6 tons. Speed is reduced to 41 mph. The codriver position has normal space.

The Ausf C (April 1942) upguns and upengines the Ausf B. The 55 kW engine provides a top speed of 46 mph, despite weight increasing to 6.7 tons. The autocannon is replaced by a 50mm Long TG and 30 rounds of ammo.

The SdKfz 224 could easily be used instead as an American design (M-5A1, M-5A2 and M-5A3). The only significant different would be with the Ausf C, with the main armament being a 57mm M-1 (57mm Medium Tank Gun) with 40 rounds. The MG 34's would be replaced with Brownings.