Introduction
War has a habit of throwing up some odd looking vehicles as an answer to conditions being encountered; one of these unusual looking offerings is the Raupenschlepper OST RSO. The vehicles purpose was the transport and towing of needed resources primarily on the Eastern Front. Its reason for being is a simple one the Eastern Front was very hot in the Summer, extremely cold in the Winter and wet in the Spring and Autumn. Overcoming the mud created during the wet periods. Tracked vehicles sunk onto their bellies and wheeled vehicles just spun their wheels unable to gain purchase. The most reliable method of transport during these periods was the Russian ponies and horses, plus the construction of corduroy roads made by laying logs side by side which it in turn gave the weight of a vehicle a large footprint and so more likely to get where needed. The Raupenschlepper was an answer in that by mating body of a truck to a tracked drive you got a vehicle with a low footprint and that was able to tow and transport reasonable loads to where needed. I am informed that the design owes a lot to the Soviet artillery tractors of the period.
Review
MiniArt has released what I believe is the first in a line of Raupenschlepper with the RSO/01 early production model. The model is packed in the usual manner of a single plastic bag containing all of the model parts and a loose instruction booklet. These are supplied in the usual cardboard tray with a card lid. MiniArt has stopped using the card envelopes for the photo etched fret which I feel is a step backwards as packing goes. Access for parts removal is good and the number of gates is low in number and reasonable sized. The parts are cleanly moulded as you would expect of an all new model from MiniArt and I was particularly impressed in not finding any ejector pin marks and only noted some flow lines that have not affected to quality of the finished parts.
The hull of the vehicle is very detailed both inside and out and what I have been able to visually verify looks to be accurate but I could not find the needed reference to verify all aspects of the model. I have found myself considering that the detail may be more akin to the field gun version as that would be easier to check with the needed access and it may be the same in all variants. I did like that the reinforcing pressed marks have been faithfully replicated even in areas that will not be readily seen. The road and drive wheels look to be accurate and you must note that the front gog is different to the rear cog and this is accurate which I was surprised by due to the spares chain which was problematic. The tracks are very nicely detailed and supplied as link and length; this provides the modeller with excellent detail and keeps construction time and ease of assembly acceptable. A snow shoe was designed for these tracks which can already be purchased from the after market providers. I suspect that in time MiniArt will release a version with these as well, but that is just my suspicion. The track links are very accurate when compared to online images of the real thing. The suspension appears to be unconsidered for the crew unless rubber is inside the axles I think this could be a hard ride.
The cab appears to be accurate as regards form and the doors look to be the right shape and size using visual comparison. The doors are very large on this vehicle and so a quick escape should be possible. Looking at the panel details I have checked these against an example on the Imperial War Museum site and like what I see in all respects. The steering of this vehicle was via tillers that are again has been faithfully replicated. The seats are also well replicated and to my mind again comfort has not been considered. The foot pedals are correct for this version but are different on the Pak gun variant so do not get caught out. Decals are provided for the instrument panel and these should be acceptable.
Mounted in the cab is the engine and I initially thought I don’t like that, but on the Russian Front I would rather be warm and so the engine is well placed for that purpose. I am led to believe that a petrol V8 engine and a diesel engine were used on these vehicles and this is a petrol engine version, I did some digging and it seems that the petrol V8 was the initial power plant, but a diesel engine is far more reliable in the scope of combat where the vehicle was used and so a natural progression to diesel. The detail of the engine is of a high standard and should meet most modeller’s expectations. But it could be further dressed up with some detailing to replicate wire and pipes that would be present.
The truck bed is nicely detailed with the option of a bare wire frame or and canvas cover, I would expect a canvas cover would be most often seen on this vehicle but the choice is yours. The rear and side gates of the vehicle bed can be shown open or closed you just need to make sure to hang them correctly as regards interior and exterior faces. Four finishing options are covered with this release with two of the four being in Luftwaffe use and the other two being unidentified units.
Conclusion
The model offers a very pleasing level of detail and accuracy as regards what I was able to check. Moulding quality is good in all respects and there is not an excessive amount of photo etch to fight with placing the model within the ability of all I feel. I am not a fan of unidentified unit finishes but that cannot always be avoided. When looking for the negatives I can only really come up with the risk of damage to the finer moulding during removal and that no added protection is now supplied for the photo etch. Everything considered I believe this will prove a popular subject with modellers I just hope the barrel length will be corrected on the artillery variant which I am sure is not far away.