Ace 1/72
Kfz.15 Horch

Background

The Kfz.15 Horch was designed as a highly mobile command and control vehicle to support the early strategies of the German Army revolving around the 'Blitzkrieg' concept. If armored forces were to move across the battlefield at high speeds (relatively speaking), then commanders needed to keep up with their forces and communications was essential.

The Horch was a four-wheel drive vehicle powered by a 80 horsepower V8 engine. It featured a pair of spare wheels mounted on free-wheeling axles that helped to keep the Horch from getting hung up on obstacles.

Approximately 12,000 of these vehicles were produced between 1937 and 1943. While these vehicles carried communications gear and served as a high-speed shuttle between forward and rear units, commanders also kept one for their own mobility around the battlefield. The Horch was used on all fronts from Russia to North Africa and required little or no adaptation to operate in those significantly different environments.

The Kit

Here is an interesting kit from Ace. This is a 1/72 scale production of the Kfz.15 Horch. The kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on four parts trees. Windows will need to be fabricated from clear acetate using the templates provided in the instructions.

Assembly is straightforward with the chassis, interior, and body all relatively simple to pull together. You'll spend more time cleaning off the flash on some of the suspension parts than building this kit.

The kit has a nice selection of separately molded pioneering tools and your choice of stowed or closed converible tops. The detailing under the chassis is nicely done and the kit provides interior detailing as well.

Markings

The instructions depict four different examples for this kit:

• Kfz.15, 12th PzDiv, 5th Bty Towed Artillery Bn, Russia, 1941
• Kfz.15, 10th PzDiv, Guderian Group, Russia, 1941
• Kfz.15, 21st PzDiv, Afrika Korps, Libya, 1942
• Kfz.15, Luftwaffe Pz. Corps, Hermann Goering Div, 1942

Conclusions

This looks like a nice little kit and this release provides 1/72 modelers with a distinctive staff car to place on their vignette or diorama.

Check out the low retail price from HobbyTerra.com! If you've purchased Ace kits in the past, you know that some of the US importers place a hefty mark-up on the price. HobbyTerra.com has excellent service to North America and abroad and they offer these same kits at far more reasonable prices.

This kit is definitely recommended!

My sincere thanks to HobbyTerra.com for this review sample!