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Tamiya 1/35 Feldkuche, German Field Kitchen Scenery Kit No. 35247

By Ray Mehlberger

MSRP: $20.00

History

The Wehrmacht was famous for the fact that on the battlefield everyone, regardless of class, ate the same food. Those rations consisted of basically the same elements that were eaten back in the homeland: bread made of wheat and rye, pork (mainly sausages), and potatoes. In fact, the staple diet of the Wehrmacht was a nutrient rich stew made by mixing all these ingredients together. Piping hot coffee was also available, making even the most frightening battlefield feel a little more like home.

Distribution of these rations required the "Grobe Feldkuche Hf.13, a two-wheeled field kitchen, the center of which housed a 200 liter pot. That stew-cooking vessel was double-bottomed, with a layer of glycerin between the inner and outer pot to prevent scorching and to aid in heat preservation. To the left of the pot was a 90 liter coffee maker, which dispensed from a tap. On the right was a range, used to cook potatoes and sausages. Fire doors for each of these appliances were on the rear for the stoking of coal and firewood. The front of the field kitchen was the "Vonderwagen Hf.11", a two-wheeled limber, which in addition to seating members of the cooking crew, had a food storage space below the seats and carried the "Speisentragen" food containers.

Each Wehrmacht division consisted of baking companies (for bread) and butcher companies (for pork). There, bread was baked in oven trailers and pigs were made into sausage before being supplied to the various units. A single Grobe Feldkuche Hf. 13 could feed 125 to 225 men.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?:

The kit comes in a tray and lid type box. The excellent box art shows four German figures gathered around the field kitchen. Two of the figures are cooks and the remaining two are Wehrmacht soldiers. The side panels of the box show a side and top view of the field kitchen, attached to its limber, and numerous scrap paintings of the accessories.

There are two dark gray parts trees, and one light gray parts tree, in two cello bags along with a tiny decal sheet.

Tree "A" contains the parts for the horse-drawn limber, a bucket, kerosine lamp, and two milk churns. (36 total parts)

Tree "B" is the field kitchen parts. (29 parts here) Tree "Y" (the smaller light gray tree) holds the four figures. All of them have separate arms and heads. Their torsos and legs are in one piece. The tree also holds a potato sack, loafs of bread, a circle of cheese, mess kits, apples, and a soup ladle etc. (35 parts)

The tiny decal sheet consists of just four black and white instruction plates to go on the stove.

The instruction sheet is a small four page affair.

Page one gives a line drawing of a possible diorama arrangement for the kit, along with the vehicle's history in Japanese, English, German, and French.

Page two begins with general instructions, tool requirements, paint color listings, and some cautions. The bottom of this page gives us the first two assembly steps.

Pages 3 & 4 give us the remaining six assembly steps, for a total of eight.

Conclusion

This kit is actually a reincarnation of Tamiya's 1978 release of the field kitchen, called a "Gulaschkanon" at that time. This earlier kit had two horses and a driver and was in the towed configuration. The latest kit has deleted the horses and given us new figures and accessories.

By combining this kit with the earlier one you could do quite a rest area diorama.

Highly recommended.