German Commander's Caravan

Planet Models Military Vehicle, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

Summary

FirstLook

Now here's something a little different - 1/72 scale German Commander's Caravan in resin from Planet Models. If I recall correctly, I saw one of these a long time ago in the movie The Battle Of The Bulge.

In Australia, this is what we would call a Dog Trailer. Now, I guess I had better explain that. We use two types of trailer in The Land Of Oz. Dogs and Pigs. Pig trailers are those with up to three axles mounted centrally such as a caravan or box trailer and a fixed draw bar. They are called pigs because with multi-axles they don't like to turn.

Dog trailers have their wheels and axles mounted front and rear. Some have car type steering controlled by the draw bar but most have what is called a dolly under the front which is a platform with the axles and draw bar fixed solidly to it and an articulated vehicle type turn table connecting it to the rest of the trailer. They are called Dogs because they are a pain to reverse. Anyone who has ever towed a trailer will know how hard it can be to reverse it down a long drive-way. Your conventional trailer (Pig) has only two elements, a Dog has three making it that much harder.

I have seen photos of Road Trains in Central and Northern Australia with up to four Dogs behind a Semi-trailer. That is ten elements. Imagine trying to reverse one of them!

However, I digress - back to the subject in hand.

Planet Models has delivered a cute little model, with plenty of exterior detail and would look good in a diorama of a column of vehicles, being towed by something like an Sd.Kfz. 251. As I said in the Summary, it has no interior and there is a small amount of flash on some parts but nothing that would worry an experienced modeller used to working with resin.

If you wanted, you could scratch build an interior but where you would find the references is any-bodies guess. I would be happy just to build it as-is and put it in a small diorama. The uses are only limited by your own imagination.

Highly Recommended to Resin Experienced Modellers.

Thanks to MPM / Planet Models for the review sample