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Contrary to many commonly held beliefs, the German Army of World War Two was still very much dependent upon "traditional horse power" - using horses to pull
wagons and guns. Wagons used during
the post-Great War rebuilding of the new German army were heavily based on models proved in World War One. Like their earlier brethren they were mostly constructed from wood.
The Kit
 [Ref. 1]
HäT's WW2 German Field Wagon represents the Hf.2, heavy army field wagon. Inside the box there are three identical sprues of medium grey coloured hard plastic
(Addendum 2014: Apparently HäT has produced this kit in soft plastic as well. The modeller is advised to check the package contents before purchase if possible)
containing 22 parts each.
Build instructions are of the exploded diagram variety and printed on the back of the box. No decals are included.
The parts are well molded with detail that is a mixed bag: decent but a bit heavy in places (e.g. the overly thick, and not too accurate shape wise, grab handles on either side of the driver/passenger bench), but missing totally
in other areas (e.g. the arms and pads for the wheel brakes are present, but none of the levers or linkages are included).
Wood grain is molded into the exterior body planks only. There is no wood detail on the interior surfaces nor on the underside of the body. Those wishing to build their wagon with
the cover absent, or as a more detailed display model, will need to scribe the missing plank lines and add some wood grain effect to the visible surfaces.
Flash is minimal though there are fine seam lines on some of the parts that will need to be removed. There are a few
ejector pin marks that will need to be removed as well, the worst ones located on the top of the body pan which will be visible especially if the cover is not in place.
Dimensions
Real Vehicle:
Wheel Diameter [ref. 1] = 1224mm = 17mm (1/72)
Body Length (minus tongue): [ref. 1] = 4250mm = 59mm (1/72)
Kit:
Wheel Diameter = appx. 17.2mm, which is slightly oversize, but I expect that once the fine seam on the circumference of the kit's wheel is removed, the wheel will come
out to exactly 17mm.
Body Length (minus tongue): = 55.5mm, which is slightly short, but I expect that once the foot rest, which extends slightly ahead of the frame is in place, the length will come close to
the proper size.
Two figures are included. The driver looks not too bad. The soldier riding shotgun is terrible. There are two horses for each wagon. I'm not a horse person by any means but they look quite nice
albeit a bit "chunky" to my eye. I can not say anything about how accurate they are size wise. My rough measurements have them, minus their base, stand about 22mm at the withers
(had to check Wikipedia regarding horses to find that this is the standard point of measurement for a horse), which makes the horse roughly 1584mm or just short of 62in tall.
Conclusion
This is a decent offering from HäT. It appears to be accurate scale wise and any missing detail looks to be easy to add.
If you're a wargamer the three wagons in the package are a bonus, otherwise one might wish to trade for the extra wagons
or use parts, such as the wheels, for other projects.
References
[1] German Infantry Carts, Army Field Wagons, Army Sled 1900-1945, Wilfried Kopenhagen, Schiffer Military History, Atglen 2000 ISBN: 0-7643-1273-1
Preview sample purchased by the author.
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