Schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper (Armoured sWS) Whats in the box and how accurate is it?

 

 

This is the 2016 ‘2in1’ Bronco kit #CB35214. It was the last release of a series of sWS variants, that were based on the original Great Wall Hobby mouldings stretching back to 2009.

The detail is sharp, and the armoured cab thickness is nicely rendered to scale. Although there is a small degree of mould offset on a few parts there is no flash and very few pin marks present. It is also nice to see well thought out sprue gate connections, making removal easier to accomplish cleanly.

The all-plastic sandwich design of the front wheels is most welcome as is the addition of plastic options to replace some photoetch parts. Unlike the GWH kits Bronco have included a comprehensively designed engine and although nothing will be seen if the engine hatches remain closed it is a nice feature that many modellers will utilise. The tracks are of the individual link type and although not workable they look to be of good quality. The Bronco kits also include a host of accessories that include Jerry cans and fuel drums.

 

The Schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper (sWS; "Heavy Military Tractor") was a German World War II half-track vehicle used in various roles between 1943 and 1945. The unarmoured models were used as supply vehicles and as tractors to haul artillery. Armoured 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.

There are a few restored armoured vehicle images out there, but they do appear to have undergone a restoration and are not always authentically carried out. They are nevertheless a good general source of information.

Most of the original Great Wall Hobby variants released were actual produced vehicles, but no photographic evidence exists that either the armoured searchlight (UHU) or the armoured cargo version was ever built. Also, although images do exist of the 2cm Flakvierling 38 fitted to both armoured and unarmoured sWS's, it was never acknowledged as an official production type. Although there is a period image of a sWS Flak 36 by the time the sWS was in production the 3.7cm Flak 43 was considered the more appropriate weapon.

This kit gives you options to build a supply ammo or armoured cargo version. I decided to build the produced supply ammo version and used the Nuts & Bolts 41: Bussings schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper (sWS) and Variants as a reference guide. This book has a nice feature clearly showing all the design changes from prototype to production series by way of colour coded CAD scale images.

Whilst there are many photographs of the armoured cargo vehicle it does appear GWH used a prototype to base their original mouldings on. Although Bronco added extra features to many of the versions they later released, they did not update any of the main mouldings so many of the production vehicle features  will need to be added.

These include the front bumper bar, the side vision ports; the wooden platform supports, the rear panel components on the chassis, the different front lights and the fuel filler cap.

The prototype bumper bars tapered in at the ends whilst the production series vehicles had simplified straight bars.

The two side vision ports on the kit are identical when in fact the production type drivers port was much larger.

 

The wooden platform supports appear to have changed through production although photographic evidence in this area is thin on the ground. The prototype version had the platform sitting higher than the production series but how the wooden support structure changed in shape is unclear. Clear images of the prototype vehicle support show clear daylight between them, yet all the images of the production vehicles I can make out appear to show a solid horizontal beam from front to back. That could just be a trick of the light so it’s difficult to tell. The supports included in the the kit, although of the prototype design, do thankfully sit at the lower height of the production series.

 

Below is a wooden bodied cargo variant and it clearly shows that a solid wooden support seperates the bed from the chassis rails.

 

The chassis rear panel in the kit is of the prototype design. The production series had a step added to the offside. In addittion only one in four production sWS’s ever received a winch, but even when not fitted the holes in the rear panel still remained.

 

The image below is a wooden bodied sWS but clearly shows the production vehicle rear layout

 

 

The use of both Notek and Bosch headlights are seen in war time images.

The prototype fuel filler cap was simply screwed into the top of the tank and was obviously difficult to fill under the platform bed so an extended ‘S’ shaped funnel extending rearward can be seen on production vehicles.

Very few war time images exist of the interior on the armoured version, so areas of the cab mouldings are still up for discussion. This kit does provide a split bulkhead behind the driver on the sprue but oddly does not call it out for either of the versions in this kit! It is used in their Flak variant kits.

Looking at images of the Flak variants it appears that a section of the cab roof was cut short at the rear to provide clearance for the Flak 43. The roof should end just behind the transverse strengthening bar. The area behind that is covered by a tarpaulin on a frame. I am not 100% sure if all the variants had the shortened roof, but on the Flak gun kits you are instructed to remove the access of the roof moulding. This kit does have witness marks on the underside of the roof and witness marks down the interior walls, however, the instructions in this kit only have you remove the witness marks!

 

Another issue Great Wall Hobby made in this area, and one that Bronco did not remedy, is the mistake of adding folded crew seats against the rear exterior walls of the cab armour. What you are seeing in the image below are not seats but brackets for rifles. The two black areas in the image on either side of the bulkhead are holes to which rifles passed through. It is a mistake in the kit, and is clearly evident that any seat with a backrest inclined forward would not be practical. 

The nuts-and-bolts CAD drawing below clearly shows the issue that the kit manufacturer misinterpreted. It also shows a small inward return to the cab armour at the rear where it meets the load bed. This is not replicated in the kit.