Building the Eduard Hetzer!

introduction

The Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer was an attempt by Germany to counter the massive production capabilities of the Allies during the latter stages of the Second World War. Using existing chassis and effectively doing away with the need to produce complicated turret assemblies, meant that large numbers of Tank Hunter/Destroyer vehicles could be produced even with reduced industrial capacity. The 38 Hetzer saw the union between the Pak 39 L48 gun and the already battle proven Pz.38(t) chassis. This model from Eduard represents an early version probably produced around April/May 1944.

For an in-box review of the Eduard Hetzer: Look here ...and here For more information on the Hetzer Look here

the kit

This kit represents Eduard’s first attempt at 1/35th scale armour. They now offer a late version also.

The kit is moulded in soft tan coloured styrene, that’s easy to work with, yet holds sharp detail. Inside the box there were 12 sprues of a very light tan coloured plastic and one small sprue of transparent plastic. Also included is a medium sized fret of photo etch. What is not included is Eduard’s replacement photo etch schurzen, which I thought a little odd, especially since they are produced specifically for this kit. However, thanks to Eduard I was supplied with a set which I used for this model. The markings options for the kit are 3 different vehicles, one of which can be modelled in two styles to depict the vehicle after it was captured and used by Polish insurgents.

assembly

The instruction booklet that comes with the kit is fairly extensive, and uses computer generated images instead of the normal exploded line drawing type. They are clear however, and I found no real problem using them, although there were a couple of mistakes which I’ll mention as we come to them.
Unlike most armour kits, construction does not begin with the running gear, but with the inside details of the engine compartment. Since this kit comes with a full engine compartment and crew compartment, I wished to leave as many hatches open as possible, and so my first task was to gather as many internal pictures of the Hetzer as I could. There are quite a few pictures out there, but the Hetzer being such a compact, crowded vehicle, not many of them are as clear as I would like. The pictures I could find of the Praga AE 160K engine, were however very clear...... and they weren’t much of a match with what was presented before me in plastic. Eduard have unfortunately the wrong shape engine. Since I wished to build the kit more or less out of the box I decide to take the plunge anyway and just add as much detail as I could in terms of wires etc.
I constructed the various components to fit inside the engine compartment but did not fix them in place, instead choosing to begin spraying the engine compartment walls and floor and then fixing the various parts in place.