Hetzer WWII German tank hunter, late WWII 1/72 UM 353

Hetzer WWII German tank hunter, late WWII
1/72 WWII military VEHICLE scale plastic model kit
UniModels (UM) 353

Manufacturer: Universal Models / UniModels / UM (Ukraine)
Scale: 1/72
Material: Plastic
Condition: New in Box

Number of parts: 113parts + 14 photo-etched parts

The production of Sd.Kfz. 138/2 "Hetzer" tank destroyer was started in April 1944. Its arms consist of 75mm Pak-39/L48 gun and 7,92mm MG-34 machine-gun. The thickness of front armor was equal to 60mm. The ammunition supply consists of 41 rounds. In total 2849 "Hetzer" self-propelled guns were produced.The Jagdpanzer 38(t) (Sd.Kfz. 138/2), later known as Hetzer ("chaser"), was aGerman light tank destroyer of the Second World War based on a modifiedCzechoslovakian Panzer 38(t) chassis. The project was inspired by the Romanian "MareÅŸal" tank destroyer.

The name Hetzer was at the time not commonly used for this vehicle. It was the designation for a related prototype, the E-10. The Å koda factory for a very short period confused the two names in its documentation and the very first unit equipped with the vehicle thus for a few weeks applied the incorrect name until matters were cleared. However, there exists a memorandum from Heinz Guderian to Hitler claiming that an unofficial name, Hetzer, had spontaneously been coined by the troops. Post-war historians basing themselves on this statement made the name popular in their works, the vehicle was never named as such in official documentsIt was better armored than the thinly armoured earlier Panzerjäger Marder andNashorn with a sloped armour front plate of 60 mm sloped back at 60 degrees from the vertical (equivalent in protection to about 120 mm), carried a reasonably powerful 75mm gun, was mechanically reliable, small and easily concealed. It was also cheap to build.

The Jagdpanzer 38(t) succeeded the open-top Marder III (based on the same chassis) in production from April 1944; about 2584 were built until the end of the war. The older Marder III Panzerjäger series retained the same vertically sided chassis as Panzer 38(t). In the Jagdpanzer 38(t), the lower hull sides slope 15 degrees outward to make roughly hexagonal shape when viewed from front or rear. This increased the available interior space and enabled a fully enclosed casemate-style fighting compartment. Because of the fully enclosed armor, it was 5 tonnes heavier than the Marder III. To compensate for the increased weight, track width was increased from 293 mm to 350 mm.