In 1946 Škoda proposed to rearm the Hetzer/G-13 with the 15cm StuH 43 that was originally designed for the German Brummbär. The idea was rejected by the Czech army because of the very limited traverse of the gun & the limited amount of ammo that could be carried inside the hull. The design is known by its document number of Zb 16050-P.
I originally made this model 4 years ago using an old Italeri Hetzer kit that I got for cheap during a sale. It required a bit of surgery as the gun mount is molded as part of the hull, once removed it was replaced with a new 3D printed 15cm gun. To make it more "Czech" the roof mounted MG 42 was replaced with a 3D printed ZB-53 with a metal barrel from RB models. The kit didn't come with any view ports so they were crudely added with some plastic card. All of the handles & tie downs were replaced with metal wire & the view port covers replaced with some strips of aluminum.
Lastly I didn't want to use the rubber tracks that came with the kit & I didn't have any alternatives available at the time, so the project was put on hold. My recent TNH-57/900 build tho gave me a spare set of Hetzer tracks, so I got this build down from the shelf of doom & finally finished it. The kit's sprockets didn't fit the new tracks so I had to 3D print some new ones. The spare tracks on the hull are 3D printed leftovers from my Laupen build.
I scratch built new side skirts from aluminum, they were originally glued to the hull but kept breaking off while handling the model. I'll leave them off for now & add them back after I've finished the painting.
