#halftrack

Nr.219 The German Mercedes L 4500 R maultier.

TheMercedes-Benz L 4500 is a heavy duty truck by Mercedes-Benz. It was built by Daimler-Benz from 1939 – 1944 in the Mercedes-Benz plant Gaggenau, and from 1944 – 1945 by Saurer.

The vehicle is a long-bonnet truck and was offered as a rear-wheel-drive truck (L 4500 S) and as an all-wheel-drive truck (L 4500 A). The German Wehrmacht used the L 4500 with armoured cabinsasFlaks during World War II.

Due to the lack of production material, the cabin was replaced with the simplified standardised Wehrmacht cabin and the mudwings with simplified wings in 1943.

Also, the L 4500 chassis was used for the Sonderkraftfahrzeug 4.

This is the Maultier version used on the Russian front.

Nr.234The SWS Schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper or heavy army tractor.

TheSchwerer Wehrmachtschlepper (sWS; “Heavy Military Tractor”) was a German World War II half-track vehicle used in various roles between 1943 and 1945. The unarmored models were used as supply vehicles and as tractors to haul artillery. Armored versions mounted anti-aircraft guns or a 10 barrel rocket launcher (Nebelwerfer). Fewer than a thousand were built before the end of the war, but production continued after the war of an improved model in the Tatra plant in Czechoslovakia.

Nice and simple Italeri kit but the tracks are troublesome and tricky to mount due to the bad fit…