I was asked by a customer to do a commission build for him. He was part of a tank crew within the bundeswehr during the cold war. He asked me to build his former ride, tank no. 544 of the 3. Kompanie of the 114. Panzerjägerbattaillon. They were equipped with the Kanonenjagdpanzer, the only gun equipped tank hunter of the Bundeswehr. It was intended to withstand a russian tank onslaught but its 90 mm tank gun soon prooved as too weak for frontal penetration of more modern soviet main battle tanks. The gun barreled tanks were therefore later modified to carry anti tank rockets instead a gun.
This are two pictures of the ride of my customers privat collection
To reproduce this vehicle in 1:35 I chose the good and very new base kit from DAS WERK, the tank crew from VALKYRIE, some generic turret numbers, tactical emblems and numbers from Perfect Scale and finally generic licence numbers from Echelon. I will attach the finished model onto a small scenic base later.
Watching these operate at Hohenfels in the winter (always in the winter…) with infantry on the rear deck reminded me of the WW2 images of both German and Russian armor, even though it was thirty years later. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
There was of course, the parallel development of the Jagdpanzer Rakete - with SS 11 missiles - and I’m assuming you’re referring to the later HOT equipped versions when you mention that the gun versions were phased out.
That said, the 90mm was a capable enough weapon and could deal with most Soviet MBTs, even on the frontal arc; I concur that the T-64 may have presented a different problem.
I’d always thought that the design looked just superb; low, mean-looking and very agile. I recall seeing them on exercise back in the early 70s, (we were always falling over other units and nationalities) and this is how I described it all in a piece when I was at the British Corps HQ:
Village deployment also meant that we encountered other units exercising - although this sometimes happened in woods as well; one such visit remains in my mind to this day. I was ambling back from breakfast early in the morning, wearing NBC suit, festooned with webbing and my SMG; luckily, we were not fully masked up. I’d eaten quite well and all was well with my world, when, with a roar and a rumble around a dozen or so German Army tank destroyers sped through the village in a cloud of dust, exhaust fumes and a rattle of tracks and gear changes. They were gone in what seemed like seconds, and was unlikely to have been much longer. It was an inspiring sight and as always, armour on the move impresses.
Anyway Thomas, looking forward to seeing what you do with this one; good luck!
I’ll follow this one too .I have both the KaJaPa and the Jaguar 1 in the stash. However I’m still undecided about whether I build the KaJaPa or the Beobartungspanzer.
@Black_sheep
Be careful when you fit the tracks. I encountered a half-tracklink gap when I tried to finish them. So I cut the idler wheel and set to make the tracks fit.
I read on a placard of the Full museum that 3 prototypes of the KaJaPa were built before Bundeswehr chose the one which entered production. Is the PaK you’re talking about one of them?
I think Hermann might be talking about a prototype 90mm gun which was normally towed (I think) but had an auxiliary engine so could move under its own power; I’m obviously Googling wrong as I can’t find a picture of it. Cancelled in the 60s I believe.
On the other hand, Hermann might be on about something else!
