Once again, I rely on the instructions: "When the German Army formed in the mid-1030s, it was looking for a standard chassis for an off-road vehicle. The heavy category was reserved for cars with 3,000 cc engines or larger. In Germany, these were produced by Horch-Auto Union. These were designed to replace commercial cars. The heavy chassis produced by Horch was perfectly engineered for the task. The car had a steerable rear axle which made for excellent maneuverability. Unfortunately, it was quite complicated so was eventually dropped from the design when the type 1a of 1940 was introduced.

Actual production of the vehicle was short; from 1937-1940 although they remained in service until the end of the war, serving in all theaters of operation. It was known as the Kfz69 and was painted in a variety of colors depending on where it was utilized.

The kit comes on two sprues of tan plastic and includes a fret of etched brass. The moldings are superb with no sink marks, ejector pin marks or any flash. There is a section of one sprue that has parts removed from it; undoubtedly bits for another variant of this vehicle. I saw the same thing done with the various V-1 kits done by MAC. Not sure how it would have hurt to leave them in, but that is how it is. In terms of options, one can build the kit with the soft top up or in the stowed position and that is about it. Most of the etched bits are installed in the final steps of construction, though they are also used as supports for the rear and middle seats. Most unusual as the front seat supports are plastic.

The instructions are excellent and include 15 well drawn construction steps. No ancillary color information is given during the construction. However, that info is provided in the main painting and decaling stage. There is a well drawn 6 view of the vehicle to help ensure that you have all the bits in the right place. Markings are provided for two vehicles; one in sand and the other in panzer grey. The decal sheet does not use all the markings provided so it is obviously used for more than one kit.

It looks like a really excellent small scale military vehicle set with lots of possible uses. Due to the number of small parts, I wouldn't recommend this to a beginning modeler, though most of us should have no trouble with it.

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