Any army relies to some degree or other on supplies, so all armies will inevitably have wagons in tow when on campaign. This oft neglected subject has recently been the subject of several sets, which is all to the good, one of which is this vehicle, subtitled 'Fourteenth to Nineteenth Century', and for no apparent reason labelled as specifically German.
The kit includes just one wagon, which comes as the chassis, four wheels, the front and rear axles and the front seat. Past experience of kits from East European manufacturers has not been happy (with Zvezda a notable exception), so expectations were not high for this either. However we found that the parts mostly fitted surprisingly well, and with less than the usual amount of extra flash. The wheels fitted the axles well, and the rear axle slots into the body of the wagon with ease. However the holes for the front seat and the front axle were simply not drilled at all in our example, so we had to make them ourselves. The resulting model is not too bad. A bit rough to be sure, and not a work of art by any means, but then the real items would often have been rough, so this is not so much of a problem.
Wagons came in many shapes and styles, and this one is pretty simple, being a box construction with the sides splayed out slightly. With such a basic design, this could indeed be of use over a long period of time. The wheels are surprisingly fine and free from flash, and represent a considerable improvement on previous output. However apart from the axles the wagon has no undercarriage, thus it is missing the central pole under the body and other such elements. Of course the most obviously missing item is the horses. Providing a wagon with no horses is rather like providing a tank with no wheels or tracks. Modellers will have to find horses and traces from elsewhere, perhaps one of the Revell artillery sets, which makes this model poorer value for money. We also thought a generic driver would have been a worthwhile addition as there are few seated figures on the market. He could have been in a simple civilian costume to make him as broadly useful as possible.
The body of the wagon measures 50mm (3.6 metres) long, and the top of the sides is at about shoulder height. Most such wagons would have had a covering for the precious cargo, probably of canvas, but this has not been provided here. However with relatively little flash and better engineered components, this is a step in the right direction for this company, although as a package it is almost as noteworthy for what it leaves out as what it contains.