I’m a great fan of the Zvezda 15mm plastic vehicle kits. Not only are they very nicely made and very easy to put together, but they produce some quite rare vehicles at very cheap prices.

My latest purchase was a platoon of three Wurfrahmen 40 “Stuka zu Fuss” rocket launchers built onto SdKfz 251 half-tracks.

I say my latest purchase, but i actually bought these before Christmas and have only just now got around to building and painting them.

These, as I said, are 15mm and plastic: the kits snap together without really any need for glue…although I tend to glue some of the major parts just in case. The half-tracks go together in about 90 seconds, but the individual rocket-launchers (six per vehicle!) are a bit fiddly, especially with clumsy hands like mine. Not difficult: just fitting three small parts together when you have to line up pegs and holes. I’m sure there’s an easy way of doing it involving tweezers or small children or something, but I couldn’t find it.

Obviously a completely impractical kit for I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum! as any such weapons would have been way behind the front lines: in wargaming terms, in the next room or even next house away! They do, however, allow me to field a rather nice objective and (let’s face it, the real reason) complete my collection so that I can now field the alternative third platoon structure of a company of engineers.

Recommended.