Riich 1/35 Hf.11 German Field Kitchen

August 1914 Germany mobilized the biggest army the World had ever seen. In addition to the arms and equipment needed, the millions of men also needed fresh water and food. Before the war in 1908 the military adopted mobile field kitchens to provide hot food to armies on the move. These then-modern steel stoves were essentially large cooking pots and boilers with small fireboxes fueled by wood or coal. In the late 1930s these were upgraded with some new components. Large sets like this could feed 225 men and were called 'goulash cannon'. The field kitchen was towed by a limber and pulled by 2 or 4 horse teams.

Just because something was developed for the first world war does not mean that it was useless in later wars. The WWII German army used rifled developed in 1898, artillery developed about the same time and so it would be logical that equipment that really doesn't change much, like field kitchens, would also be used. Just as in the first war, these kitchens were often pulled by horse teams.

Riich has been getting quite a bit of use out of its horses as this has to be the fourth or fifth horse-drawn kit that they have done so far. As most of you know, the German Army was not as motorized as one would be led to think, with much of the hauling done by horse teams. There were benefits to using horses in that they were easier to maintain and most European armies had a long history of using horses for supply and other means.

The kit is as superbly molded as any of their kits and includes several large sprues with even more smaller ones. There are a pair of sprues for wagon wheels and for common items used on the kitchen. Photo etch is used throughout the build for some smaller bits like labels and handles, things that are quite appropriate for the two dimensional material. This includes all of the 'leather' straps used for the horse's harness.

One basically builds up the driver's area, which has a rear fold down portion and here is where you use the chain that is provided. The larger wagon holds the cooking area and here you also use parts of the chain section. The various areas of the stove can be modeled open or closed as one wishes and there are parts to allow this.

In addition to the pair of horses, Riich provides a driver and a dog as shown on the box art. The thread given is used for part of the harness lines, but most of these are photo etch. There are even p.e. horse shoes. It was not uncommon to have one of the team horses saddled and that is provided as well.

Instructions are very well done and painting information is provided throughout in a variety of manufacturer's colors. There is a small decal sheet that is used for labels on various bits and uniform items, otherwise the main color is panzer grey.