Hotchkiss SPZ kurz

In 1958 the the year in which the German Bundeswehr became alive as part of the West European "NATO" there was a new structure of the army units introduced. It became very obvious that at the time there was no vehicle in the inventory, mainly US Army equipment, that was suitable for the role of the light IFV for "German Panzergrenadiers" and reconnaissance vehicle for "German Panzerspäher" to equip the "German Panzer Divisions".

The decision was made to order the modified version of the French Hotchkiss TT6 vehicle, which was basically a armored cargo vehicle. With German modifications it received the name "Schützenpanzer kurz" (SPz kurz = IFV short). the modified vehicle had five road wheels per side, while French original had four, and the turret with 20mm standart automatic cannon was installed. The vehicle served until early 1970s when it was replaced in reconnaissance role by SpaehPz 2 Luchs and in IFV role by SPz Marder.

The kit comes in a large cardboard box , about the size of typical plastic kit box. The resin parts are packed in zip-bags and are well protected by styrofoam chips and shredded paper. A machined brass gun barrel, a length of copper wire and the assembly instruction is included.

The kit consists in 300 parts, where 182 parts are needed for the single link track. One of the instruction sheets contains a list of all included parts. Each part is shown on drawing and also named.

Second sheet of instructions contains some general assembly guidelines (in German and English) on one side and marking diagrams on the other. It shows the exact dimensions of tactical numbers and German national symbols and their positions on the hull and turret. Decals are not included.

The largest instruction sheet - A3 sized folded in half, contains the actual assembly instructions in the form exploded diagrams. Painting references are given in the instructions using generic color names.

The resin parts are attached to casting blocks. Attachment points are quite small and they are very easy to remove even for anyone with minimum experience in working with resin kits. On some parts there are deliberately some additional resin pins and plates added to help in casting process and these need to be removed, too.

All parts have crisp and very well defined details on them The machined brass barrel is also very well made by "Schatton Modellbau" with hollowed flesh suppressor.

The split of parts in the kit is similar to any typical plastic AFV kit with upper and lower hull parts (both hollow), separate suspension arms and shock absorbers, wheels (sprockets and idlers composed of two pieces each) and one piece turret with positionable hatch. Driver's hatch and troop compartment hatches (two on the top and two at the rear) can all be attached open or closed and have details on both sides. The partial interior for the troop compartment and turret is provided. A lot of small detail parts for the upper hull is provided, including nicely cast pioneer tools and resin tow cable and small shield for the left hull side is given in two optional variants.