Tuesday, December 17

Bronco's funky new telephone truck enlarges their range in January...

Bronco models continue to add new and interesting variants to their range- especially in making new incarnations of their newer moulds. This one is the radiotelephone truck - Funkkraftwagen (Kfz. 19) or as named here "German Krupp Protze Kfz.19 Radio command Car". We have the box art, sprue layout, colours and the CADs of the final kit to add to just a little bit of history of this "funky" car in our preview...


A new funky truck from Bronco Models in January 2020...

German Krupp Protze Kfz.19 Radio command Car
1/35th scale
Two marking choices
Photo-etch included
Kit No #CB35220 
Release due in January 2020
The Protze Kfz.19 Radio command Car in real life:
The L2.H43 "Krupp Protze" was a 6x4 German military truck developed in the early 1930s and was in production 1933 to 1936. The truck weighed 2.5 tons and was powered by a 55bhp Krupp Boxer 3.3 litre engine, road range was 450 kilometres. it had a payload capacity of 1 ton and was admired for its good performance both on and off-road. The L2.H143 model (1936) was slightly longer and powered by a 60bhp  engine. The primary function was as an artillery tractor for the 
3.7cm Pak .36 anti-tank gun or as personnel carriers. 
The Funkkraftwagen - radio motor vehicle - (Kfz. 19) mit Fahrgestell des l. gl. Lkw. was a rare variant of the German Krupp Protze. The superstructure was nearly identical to the Fernsprech-Betriebskraftwagen (Kfz. 19).

 There were several su-types of this vehicle built, including the subject Bronc have for us today -  the Kfz.19 Telephone truck. This was designed as a front line communications vehicle. It features a large enclosed "office" body with provision for master cage antenna's, depending on the radio sets fitted. These provided communications with other army units as well as Luftwaffe control centres. Good communications were the key to the success of Blitzkrieg war and these and other vehicles were issued to Divisional and Corps commanders in the field. They were used on all fronts until the end of the war in 1945. The Protzewas replaced by more fuel-efficient and cheaper to manufacture trucks from early 1942, the total production run was 7,000 vehicles.
Depending on the radio equipment, the Funkkraftwagen (Kfz. 19) had a rod antenna or a rod antenna and an additional frame antenna. Most probably, these vehicles were used as an alternative to the Kfz. 17 and Kfz. 17/1 based on the Einheitsfahrgestell für m. Pkw.

 This new kit from Bronco Models...
This new kit from Bronco models is an adaptation on their (fairly) recently new-tooled kit, the Krupp Protze. This is a simple, but detailed kit as you may have seen, and seven main sprues give you the whole body and running gear as well as engine under the bonnet and full interior including clear sprues for windows of the vehicle. A spare sprue details this variant, and we have vinyl tyres to top it all off.
Here we see CADs of the vehicle, showing the photo-etch added (in the yellow/ gold colour) along with the rest of the car built up.
 There are two marking choices supplied in this boxing (there were not many of these made) - first, an overall grey version from perhaps a time earlier on in WWII.
 The second, a grey and tan version from an undisclosed time, we do not know when these variants were taken from in time.
OK - so that is all we have on this kit - You can see more about Bronco's kits on their website.