Beyond The Sprues

Current and Finished Projects => Physical Models => Land => Topic started by: raafif on May 20, 2022, 01:10:51 PM

Title: E-25 NeuHetzer
Post by: raafif on May 20, 2022, 01:10:51 PM
E-25 NeuHetzer

In 1943 the design of a Hetzer replacement was begun.  It was longer, wider, faster & just a little taller in order to mount the new gun & provide more space for the crew (the Hetzer was very cramped).  With 5 inter-leaved steel-tyred wheels each side & wider tracks it didn't enter service until very late in 1945 & then initially with a new Bulgarian Division - the old Hetzer was very reliable & was still soldiering on in very large numbers.

The Bulgarians, along with the Hungarians & others from that part of Europe were to face the bulk of the Russian onslaught in order to preserve the German troops for the defence of Germany, especially Berlin, as Hitler never trusted his allies.

The kit ….
Trumpeters 1/35th scale kit is very nice, has no problems & provides alternative top & engine deck layouts, gun-barrels, photoetch grills & mudguards and a choice of rubber-band or single-link injection-moulded plastic tracks.

As usual, I made mods, such as replacing the mantlet with a "collar" type & adding a secondary weapon in the form of a 20mm gun for soft targets.  I replaced the exhausts with the horizontal type found on most Pz-38t vehicles.  I also used the rear stowage trays from an Italeri Marder III & a Crusader bin as the Germans did tend to recycle parts from old & captured vehicles.  I used the kit’s rubber-band tracks & injection-moulded mudguards.  I thickened the backs of the photoetch guards with plastic sheet to make gill armour for the sides.

The 20 mm gun was built from odd bits in my parts bin & a spare barrel (with fancy muzzle-brake) from DML's Kugelblitz kit.  I mounted it in a cradle over the driver's hatch area so that it could be either remotely operated or fired directly by the commander - to get out, the driver would have to crawl back & out the commanders hatch as in the Hetzer.

The commander figure is from DML’s S.P.gun crew with a resin Hornet Miniatures head from England.  This particular head is from the "modern East German" packet & sports the helmet type designed & issued to a very few German troops in 1945 & became standard for East German troops after that.  As usual, these heads are beautifully moulded though the faces are very British rather than German in appearance.

Paint is simply a base of red-brown primer with the late-war light green & patches of left-over panzer-grey.  The Bulgarian decals are from an Esci muti-national sheet for 1/72nd aircraft I bought in the 1970’s.
Title: Re: E-25 NeuHetzer
Post by: GTX_Admin on May 21, 2022, 02:41:24 AM
 :smiley: