COBI Sd.Kfz. 9/1 Famo Set 2281

COBI's Sd.Kfz. 9/1 FAMO is a 1:35 model built from 498 blocks, with working tracks, rotating wheels, seats for figures, a rotating crane with a movable arm and lowering outriggers, and a hook that will carry a brick-built engine. A mechanic figure and a printed nameplate are included.

The vehicle that could not keep up with the tanks

The FAMO was the largest German half-track of the war, built to tow eighteen tonnes. That was ample in 1938. It stopped being ample very quickly.

A Panther weighed around 45 tonnes and a Tiger closer to 57. Recovering one that had thrown a track or broken down meant coupling two FAMOs together, and often three. That is three heavy vehicles, three crews and a great deal of fuel committed to retrieving a single tank — and if the situation did not allow it, the crew destroyed their own vehicle and walked. A large share of German tank losses were not caused by enemy fire at all; they were abandonments, because nothing available could drag the thing home.

The 9/1 version modelled here carries a six-tonne crane and belonged to the repair units rather than the artillery. Its engine, the Maybach HL 108, was the same one fitted to early Panzer III and IV tanks.

In the COBI range

Technical and support vehicles are rare in the Historical Collection. This one pairs naturally with the Sd.Kfz 10 tractor (2273) and the tanks it was built to recover.

Specifications

Pieces: 498 · Figures: 1 mechanic · Scale: 1:35
Model dimensions: 21.5 × 12 × 10.5 cm (8.5 × 4.7 × 4.1 in)