Italeri 1:35 Horch Kfz.15 German Standard Personnel Car (LW)

Vintage, pre-owned kit. Aged decals, may be unusable. 

The Horch 1A (or: Horch 108) was a German off-road passenger car from the interwar period and World War II. The first prototypes of this car were built in the mid-1930s, and serial production started in 1938 and lasted until 1941. The length of the vehicle was 4.85 m, with a height of 2.04 m and a width of 2 meters. The curb weight was up to 3,600 kilograms. The drive was provided by a single, 8-cylinder Auto-Union engine with a capacity of 3.8 liters and power up to 81 HP. With time, however, the Ford engine (produced in Germany) with a capacity of 78 HP was used. The Horch 1A was developed for the needs of the German armed forces, which, along with its rapid growth after 1933, aimed at obtaining a universal, light and possibly reliable passenger-off-road vehicle. The Horch plant met these needs by developing the vehicle presented below. The vehicle uses such solutions as, for example, all-wheel drive, independent suspension of each wheel or the possibility of turning all wheels. Anyway, the last solution turned out to be highly unsuccessful in the course of operation. It is worth noting that already in the course of World War II, the design of the car was simplified, which was manifested by, for example, the abandonment of the recesses in the fuselage for spare wheels. Horch 1A served in the German armed forces on virtually all fronts until 1945.

Kfz.15 is a German, medium, off-road vehicle from the interwar period and World War II. The car was produced in the years 1937-1943. The drive was provided by a single 8-cylinder engine with power from 80 to 90 HP and capacity from 3.5 to 3.8 liters, depending on the version. In the standard version, the car was 4.7 meters long and 1.86 meters wide. The car did not have a permanent armament. About 12,000 vehicles of this type were built during the production process.

Kfz.15 was developed by the Horch company for the needs of the German armed forces, primarily for use in communication units. The car, although it had a relatively high-power engine, did not perform well in the field because of its too much weight and long wheelbase. Despite this, it was accepted into service and was used in the Wehrmacht as a transport car, a staff car, but also a vehicle used by senior German officers. Of course, it also played the role of a specialist radio communication vehicle (German: Funkkraftwagen). Vehicles of this type were intensively used, especially at the beginning of World War II, including: during the campaign in France (1940), in North Africa (1941-1943) or on the Eastern Front (from 1941).