Three very different types of "Hetzer" on the way from Takom in 2024

Three new Hetzers - A command version w/Winterketten (& interior), a Flammpanzer & Kugelblitz Flakpanzer 38(t) are the selections for Takom's early releases for 2024. We look at the three of them in our preview...

Three very different types of "Hetzer" on the way from Takom in 2024

Takom are making the most of their Jagdpanzer 38(t) moulds with three more coming in February to your local hobby shop. Although they are all moulded in 1/35th scale, the three couldn't be more different in purpose and usage. 

We will look at them quickly, with the CAD artwork showing us a few hints along the way...

Flakpanzer 38(t) Kugelblitz

From Takom

Kit No 2179

1/35th scale

Photo etch included

Link & length tracks included

This kit offers a single Jagdpanzer with the turret of the twin cannoned Kugelblitz Flakpanzer attached to the top of it.  This would mostly be the same turret for the Kugelblitz they released for their Panther & Panzer IV kits previously. This was a fictional vehicle, but ideas like these appeal to many modellers out there...

A photo of the guns and ball turret in development.

The Kugelblitz or "Ball Lightning" was a German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun developed during World War II. By the end of the war, only a pilot production of five units had been completed. Unlike earlier self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, it had a fully enclosed, rotating turret. the Kugelblitz used the 30 mm MK 103 cannon in a Zwillingsflak ("twin flak") 103/38 arrangement. The MK 103 had also been fitted in single mounts to such planes as the Henschel Hs 129 in a ventral gun pod, and to the twin-engine Dornier Do 335. Each 30mm gun could fire 450 rounds a minute.

One Kugelblitz was also involved in the fights near the town of Spichra, Thuringia, where it was destroyed and remained buried in the Spatenberg Hill until its excavation in 1999. Today, one complete Kugelblitz turret is exhibited at the Lehrsammlung der Heeresflugabwehrschule (collection of the German army anti-aircraft school), Rendsburg. An incomplete Kugelblitz cradle also exists (without the turret itself), but is in a private collection.

Flammpanzer 38(t)

From Takom

Kit No 2180

1/35th scale

Photo etch included

Link & length tracks included

The second kit in this new collection is a flamethrower gun based on the Jagdpanther 38(t) chassis and Hetzer body. A 14mm Flammenwerfer (flamethrower) with a swivel mount and restricted traverse and elevation angles was installed in the space left by the gun. It was called a "Koebe-Gerat" (literally, "device designed by Koebe"). A periscope was installed right above the flame gun, over the mantelets bulbous armour, to aim the flamethrower.

Most photos of these vehicles are seen knocked out or immobile captured by US servicemen.

The range of the flamethrower was extended to 60 metres by igniting oil with a blank cartridge (referred to as a "Zuendpatrone"). A preceding ignited burst would frequently propel unlit fuel into a target region, saturating it before setting it on fire. Fuel for 60 to 70 one-second bursts of flame at a rate of 10 litres per second was stored in a 700-litre tank. In contrast to the majority of flame throwing iterations of current gun tanks, which often remove the loader crew member, the 38(t) maintained a crew of four. This included the driver, the commander, the radio operator, and the flamethrower operator. However, the vehicle was originally intended to have a three-man crew, with the Commander serving as the radio operator.

Mid-February 1945 saw the Flammpanzer 38(t)'s first combat report. Panzer-Abteilung 5, 25, linked to Kompanie 352 and 353. Panzer-Grenadier-Division was engaged in combat during an assault on the French village of Hatten, close to the German border. Kompanie 353 suffered heavy losses as a result of the action; seven of its Flammpanzers and all of their officers were lost. The remaining 353rd was merged into the 352nd. The 13 Flammpanzers that remained were used to dig in gun positions and counter Allied shelters. The vehicles repeatedly deviated from operating protocol and attacked without infantry or gun tank escort when attacking positions. Fighting in the village of village of Rittershoffen saw another four lost. By March 1945, Kompanie 352 reported that they still had at least 9 Flammpanzer 38(t), 8 of which remained operational at the end of the war...

Flammpanzer 38(t)

From Takom

Kit No 2180

1/35th scale

Photo etch included

Link & length tracks included

The third type is a little more common. The command version of the Hetzer, the Jagdpanzer 38(t) is fully loaded with options here, with a full interior (radios included and shown in the CAD's) and the wider Winterketten that we have already seen on the earlier releases from Takom. Often, one vehicle per company and two of the headquarters’ vehicles were issued with long-range command and control Fu 8 radios and antennas. 

That is all we have on these three for now - keep tuned for more info on the kits themselves. You can see more about Takom's kits on their website or on their Facebook page