COBI Sd.Kfz.124 Wespe - Executive Edition Set 2598

COBI's Sd.Kfz. 124 Wespe Executive Edition is a 1:28 model built from 860 blocks, 18 cm long, in sand-green camouflage with printed visors, vents and markings, a removable brick engine and a white nameplate. Three figures are included: an artilleryman and two paratroopers, all in tropical uniforms with sand accents.

Hitler banned the name

Wespe means wasp, and German crews and factories used it from the start. In February 1944 Hitler ordered the nickname dropped, on the grounds that a weapon should not be named after an insect, and the vehicle was to be referred to only by its proper designation — leichte Feldhaubitze 18/2 auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen II.

Nobody complied. The order is on record, the official documents changed, and everyone went on calling it the Wespe, which is what it is called today.

The vehicle itself is a piece of sensible recycling. By 1942 the Panzer II was useless as a tank, but its chassis was reliable and being produced. Alkett stripped the turret, opened the top, and mounted the 10.5 cm leFH 18 field howitzer — the standard German divisional gun — facing backwards over the engine. Around 680 were built, and they gave armoured divisions artillery that could keep up with the tanks instead of being towed behind them.

In the COBI range

Set 2597 is the Panzer II Ausf. F, the tank this chassis came from.

Specifications

Pieces: 860 · Figures: 3, an artilleryman and two paratroopers · Scale: 1:28
Model dimensions: 18 × 9 × 9 cm (7.1 × 3.5 × 3.5 in)