Rick Hoskinson built this nifty little all-terrain model us a Roco kit as his starting point. Rick added scratchbuilt tarp and supports, cargo from the spares box, windshield wipers from A-Line, paint by Modelmasters, and weathered it with pastels, dry pigments, and art pencils.

History - After the Wehrmacht's first winter (1941–1942) on the Russian front, the lack of a vehicle capable of dealing with the extremely difficult terrain (as a result of the muddy periods before and after the winter) became evident. Steyr responded by proposing a small, fully tracked vehicle based upon its 1.5-tonne truck (Steyr 1500A light truck) already in use in the army. The vehicle was introduced in 1942 as the Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO). It was initially designed as a prime mover and artillery supply vehicle but eventually served in a wide variety of roles. Immediately after the vehicle reached Eastern front, the combat units started using it for general transport duties. In this respect it gave outstanding service due to its reliability, its ease of maintenance and its capability to take over a variety of roles - in every kind of terrain - that other vehicles lacked. Soon the orders for this carrier surpassed Steyr's production ability and more manufacturers became necessary in order to meet the demand.

For more background information, check Wikipedia.

Posted March 24, 2012