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Kit Review             German S.W.S. Armored Tractor

By Jan Hiett                          By Ironside-Azimut Productions    1/35th scale 

 

Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…

Ironsides is a plastic model company from France.  It is part of Azimut Productions that specialize in resin models.  They offer a wide range of topics, most of which are of the unusual variety.  The fact that they are willing to tackle strange variants makes the kits most desirable.  This kit was a multi-media offering that included resin and photo etched detail parts.  I purchased this kit several years ago from the House of Plastic and even with Tim Thompson’s discount; it was a fairly expensive kit ($40+). 

 

The Dark Forces

What the heck is a S.W.S. Armored Tractor?  At the outset of World War II the German Army had a large number of semi-track artillery tractors at their disposal.  As the war progressed it became apparent that an improved vehicle was needed to cope with the sever conditions confronting the army in Russia.  This low-speed Schwere Wehrmachtschlepper was put into production in 1943 and by March 1945 less than 1,000 chassis were produced.  This was considerably short of the requirements.  Many of these chassis featured soft-skin truck-type bodywork.  Some like this kit were fitted with an armored front end and cab with a platform at the rear.  It had the capacity of three tons and a trailer weight of at least twice that much.  As with most German vehicles of this type the front wheels were not driven, making it a marginal performer in the field.  The torsion bar suspension had the typical interwoven road wheels that made maintenance difficult.  As with most German vehicles of this type, it was underpowered for the conditions it was expected to operate in.

 

“Justitia omnibus”

I started this kit several years ago and it was one of those **** kits that refused to cooperate.  The instruction sheet only showed the general direction of the unnumbered parts.  Most of the parts needed considerable cleaning to make them useable.  The fit in most areas was poor.  The road wheels defied assembly and needed considerable modification to get a marginal fit.  The same was true with the tracks.  The photo etched arrangement for the dash gauges was excellent and included a properly spaced decal sheet.  The resin parts included the transmission and wench.  They were every bit as good as the ones from Verlinden.  Unfortunately they can barely be seen from the underneath of the vehicle.  What a waste of resin!  Most of the detail such as the hinges, rivets, and mounting points were too large and they detracted from the overall appearance.  Another major flaw with the kit was a lack of an engine.  Not even an oil pan was offered to give the appearance of an engine.  There was just a huge hole underneath the hood area!  Despite all these short-comings I somehow liked this kit.  The subject matter was so cool and the results aren’t half bad if you don’t look too closely.  This kit cried out for super detailing, but for the price you shouldn’t have to go that route.            

 

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