UniModel's 1/72nd Munitions Schlepper 38(t) By Joe Lotz

Introduction

All the information that I found about the Munitions Schlepper 38(t) was limited to a couple sentences in a description about the Panzer 38. So I will try to translate the English description that came with the kit. As the name says, the Munitions Schlepper 38(t) was developed out of the Panzer 38 that Germany took in their arsenals after the occupation of Czechoslovakia. Mainly the Panzer 38’s that got damaged in battle were transformed into Munitions Schlepper (Ammunition Carrier). The turret was removed and replaced with a canvas cover over the fighting compartment. The crew consisted of 2 (driver and commander). Due to their good cross-country ability, Munitions Schlepper's were used throughout the war.

The Kit

The kit comes in an end opening box with nice box-art. On the back of the box are painting instructions for 3 different vehicles with color recommendation for Humbrol colors. Inside are 4 sprues molded in a light grey soft plastic and a small fret with photo etch parts for the fender brackets and a tool box. The 13 step instruction sheet is good with a few vague part locations. The parts were nicely molded and detailed with virtually no flash except the larger parts that had prominent flash from the ejector marks. But those were easy to remove and hidden after assembly. Please see the June 2005 First Look of this kit for detailed images of the contents of this kit.

Construction

The assembly of the kit starts with adding the tow hooks and some spare tracks to the front and rear panels of the hull. I left the spare tracks off to add them after I painted the hull. Next was the hull assembly. I started with gluing the rear fire wall to the side panels and while the glue was still soft added the front and rear panel as well as the hull bottom. I used the canvas cover to keep everything square without gluing it in. I added the suspension arms and return rollers next. I skipped the wheels and tracks for now to finish the hull.

Next I added the glacis plate, frontal armor plate and 2 piece engine deck. Again everything went together without any problems. There I noticed a small plate with 40 little rivets or bolts on it (hard to tell in this scale). It took me a little while to figure out that this plate didn’t go on this kit. But the rivets did. But since these rivets were so tiny I did not even try to glue them on the engine deck. I left the fenders off at this point and painted the hull in German Grey. I painted the wheels and tools as well while they were still on the sprues. You heard right. This kit comes with separate tools.

Next were the wheels and tracks. After the wheels where dry I glued the road wheels to the suspension. I left the sprockets and idler wheels off for now to make the attachment of the tracks easier. When I wanted to glue the idler wheels together I noticed the biggest flaw of this kit. The holes for the axle were off center on both sides. Plus, when glued together the idlers where too close together to fit the tracks, which I noticed when I wanted to install the tracks.

The tracks are link and length and very nicely molded. Each track part had a little tab on one end and a notch on the other to fit them together. I built the tracks in sections to make assembly easier. Before I join the tracks I gave a base color of flat black and gloss blue. Now came the tricky part. How to get the tracks and separate idler wheels together. I took the idlers apart and stuck the inner part of the idler on the axle. Next were the tracks, which I glued with the guide horns to the inner idler. Then I glued the outer wheel of the idler to the outer row of guide horns. After the glue was dry the tracks received a wash of rust colored Bragdon Powder dissolved in isopropol alcohol

After I got the tracks installed I added the fenders. The photo-etch brackets, tool box and tools came next. And last but not least the canvas top and a little stretched sprue antenna. I painted the canvas cover Tamiya light Sea Grey and touched up the brackets and tools box. The decals went on after a light coat of Future and reacted well to Solvaset. I weathered a little with different Bragdon powders after applying a clear flat coat and called it good.

Conclusion

I enjoyed building this kit. Due to its size some modeling experience is required. Assembled, the Munitions Schlepper 38(t) measures 60mm long, about 30mm wide and 20mm high. UM provide us again with an interesting kit. I give 2 thumbs up.

I would like to thank Squadron Mail Order for the review kit.