Wespe in Detail

Sd.Kfz 124 Wespe in WTS Museum at Koblenz
Special Museum Line No. 20
Frantisek Koran, Jiri Starosta
Wings & Wheels Publications, ©2001
36 Pages, Softbound
ISBN 80-86416-10-0

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

The museum at Koblenz has got to be high up on all armor modelers' lists as places to visit, but for many of us the cost of travelling there is just too prohibitive, except maybe once or twice in a lifetime. For those of us who can't afford to go there, we'll just have to rely on books to show us the treasures found there.

This latest title from Wings and Wheels takes a detailed look at one of the smaller vehicles found at Koblenz, the Sd.Kfz. 124 Wespe. This vehicle is painted in overall tan, which really shows the shape off well (no camouflage to hide or mask contours) and the photos give a very thorough and complete view of the entire vehicle. A brief history of the vehicle is also included, complementing the overview photos.

Jumping inside the Wespe, you get details on instrumentation, the driver's compartment, transmission, and gunner's section, with additional details being provided in small drawings on several pages. A good set of photos of the 10.5cm Le FH. 18/2L/28 gun are also included, and the captions do an excellent job of describing what you're looking at (even noting the non-original muzzle brake found on the Koblenz machine).

The Koblenz Wespe has just about everything the original had, except for the radio. The brackets are there, but the equipment is missing. This book provides a nice photo showing a standard radio set along with all the brackets in the Wespe, so you're not left wondering what goes in that bracket. The only thing not photographed in this book is the engine, although the engine compartment is shown. Accessibility to the engine is not easy, even in a museum piece, and I shudder to think what it would have been like in a battle.

While there are a handful of books out there on the Wespe, this book does a great job of providing plenty of detail photos of a museum piece, allowing the superdetail-oriented modeler plenty of reference to build up a very nice model of the Wespe. Even for those who just want to add a couple details here and there, this book will be a welcome addition.