S-Model

Sd.Kfz.2 Kettenkrad & 8.8cm Raketenwerfer 43

The kit

This review will only look at the 8.8cm Raketenwerfer 43. For a review of the Kettenkrad, refer to Rob Haelterman's article here.

Inside the box you get two sprues of both the Kettenkrad (from kit PS720080) and the 8.8cm Raketenwerfer 43 Püppchen. Also included is an additional fret of etched parts for the gun. The instruction sheet is expanded to include the two steps to build the Püppchen, and a small paper insert giving directions for adding the photo-etched pieces. As with the Kettenkrad kit, there are no decals.

Construction is straight forward, though there are a few points to consider.

1. S-Model has already hollowed out the muzzle, but it is just a small hole. The area between the hole and the edge of the flash suppressor is solid. I opened up the muzzle to look somewhat more realistic.
2. The gun sight is molded as a solid block of plastic. I cut out the middle and added a small piece of plastic to bridge the opening along the top.
3. The handles are also molded as a solid block of plastic. I removed the plastic and added separate handles from small pieces of plastic rod.
4. Photo-etched parts are for the loops (PE3) above the spade, what appears to be a barrel travel lock pin (PE2) and the T-bar handle (PE1) just ahead of the towing eye. I used the kit's etched loops as I figured it would be more work than it's worth to replace them.
5. As for the T-bar, it is an etched piece, making it very flat instead of round as on the real gun, and is also incorrectly shaped, having a curved instead of straight handle. I fashioned a replacement from round plastic rod.

6. The front of the trail is incorrect. It should look like the picture to the right. What you get is a solid rectangular block of plastic. Instead of cutting everything off the front of the trail and making new parts, I went with the simpler expedient of adding only the caps.

7. The instructions have no direction on how to attach the gun to the Kettenkrad for towing. The box top picture, which is also found on the front page of the instruction sheet, shows the T-handle draped over the towing pin at the rear of the Kettenkrad. I doubt very much this is proper, and in reality I suspect that the attachment would be through the towing eye on the gun. Speaking of the towing eye on the gun, I didn't even try to open it up. It is minuscule and I would have most likely broken in the attempt. On top of that I would bet that the Kettenkrad's pin wouldn't have fit through the hole anyway.
8. The shield is quite thick and was thinned.

Upon first opening the S-Model kit, it was evident that it was smaller than the Attack kit I had built previous. This is seen in the below photographs, showing the Attack (painted) and S-Model kits with each other. The Attack kit is obviously larger than the S-Model kit, in all respects. Because of this I had to make a few measurements, and compare them with the real gun's dimensions as listed in the below tables taken from the few references with stated measurements.

Conclusion

The S-Model Püppchen builds into a nice kit. The published dimensions I could find don't agree much, but looking at the numbers it appears that scale wise, the S-Model kit it is close enough to 1/72 for my liking, with the barrel's length the only issue detracting from the over looks of the completed model. As for the Attack kit, it is definitely over scale, somewhere in the vicinity of 1/55, making it substantially larger than its advertised 1/72 scale.

References
[1] Field Rocket Equipment of the German Army 1939-45, T.J. Gander, Almark Pub. Co., New Malden, Surrey 1972 ISBN: 85524 085 7
[2] The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II, Chris Bishop, Metro Books, New York 2002 ISBN: 1-58663-762-2
[3] Lonesentry.com
[4] wikipedia
[5] weapon.at.ua (Ukrainian site)
[6] Püppchen walkaround (Ukrainian site)
[7] vincesgallery (Püppchen walkaround)
[8] militaryfactory.com

Review sample purchased by the author.

S-Model products are available at

Article Last Updated: 11 February 2017