Reviews : Tamiya German SP Howitzer Wespe Italian Front

An excellent model kit from Tamiya. The kit has been upgraded in 2018 with a set of link and length tracks and four crew figures. The upper lengths of track have the sag molded in. The main gun is a two part barrel/muzzle brake assembly. Interior detail parts consist of storage containers, radio, MG 34, two MP 40s and ammo component parts. The white and red range pole parts require careful painting. A scale diagram in the instructions provides assistance with painting this part. Interior gun breech detail is adequate for this kit. Attachment of the tow cable to the front of the vehicle is tricky, however a diagram in the instructions will aid the builder with this task. Pioneer tool clamps could be better. The jack and jack box detail is acceptable. Overall parts fit and the plastic quality is first rate. If the builder opts to replicate the two tone paint camouflage pattern suggested in the instructions, then some airbrush painting skills are helpful. This is a good kit for entry level builders as the construction of this kit is straightforward with minimal to no fit issues.

This kit is a re-issue of Tamiya #35200 released in 1996, but with two new sprues. The first new sprue has link and length track, interior details, and weapons. The second sprue has four crewmen in the action of loading and firing the gun. The decals are new and are for two Italian campaign vehicles, hence the Italian Front on the box. The kit includes a length of white string to be used as the tow cable. The other five sprues are from the original 1996 release. There are no photoetched parts or clear parts. The instructions are in a booklet form consisting of 12 pages, 20 construction steps and two black and white painting / decal options. I like how Tamiya has been going away from their older foldout instruction sheets and going to these booklet styles on the latest new releases. This booklet is very clear and uncluttered, so I did not encounter any errors or confusing parts on the instructions.

This kit is well engineered and the fit is good. It goes together well...very well. It lends itself for nice sub assembly builds to allow quick build. It is an easy build that works well out of the box but also offers room for improvement. The only complaint I have is one of the track runs was a little iffy on the fit. It just needed a little patience to set up. I would suggest waiting to add the D32/A22...it's a gun support/travel lock. But it fragile and I broke mine during assembly. Fortunately it was easy to fix. I didn't use the kit's figures...instead I plan on using a Dragon set.

This is a great kit. Perfect detail, nice crew poses. Not an easy kit, but not a hard peice to put together. Tracks fit great, I would paint on the trees and touch up later or as I did once mounted with a toothpick. You will end up with double of some parts, I added some of them in. For example there are two machine guns. I put in the upper part of the armor plate, blended in well. In the end it came out great, you will not be disappointed at all.

Upon opening the box I was amazed. The parts are all crisp, and no warping was found. I just started the crew compartment with lots of details in that area alone for hours of fun. I'm looking forward to building more. I recommend this kit to anyone with a great sense of detailing.

Very nice kit. Took some time. Tracks went together well. All parts fit great. Only issue was decals for shells. They fell apart on me. Not sure what happened. Advise painting interior of fighting compartment first. Then dull coat then washes liners etc. Overall a pretty good kit.

Great fun and not to difficult but also has great detail. I like the extra stuff I.E the small arms and extra shells. I wish the tracks would actually move like the main gun but all in all great fun especially for the price!

Everything is awesome about this kit. It falls into place. I'm not completely done yet. About 80% finish. I'll be buying another to company this one in a diaroma. The tracks are sweet that they sag

Sure there is another Wespe model from Tamiya but this one has different details an I really like the included crew figures