Nut & Bolts Vol:42

Einheitsdiesel: L.gl.Lkw., off. mit Einheitsfahrgestell fur l.lkw.

The standard 6x6 cross-country lorry of the Wehrmacht

Authors/ Publishers: Heiner F. Duske, Tony Greenland, Detlev Terlisten

Web: www.nuts-bolts.de

Nuts & Bolts is one of the finest producers of in-depth publications on WW2 German military vehicles and weapons in the world. Volume 42 does a deep dive into this relatively unknown German 6x6 truck. Approximately 14,500 Einheitsdiesel were produced between 1938 and 1940. While considered a very good cross-country vehicle, the Einheitsdiesel was technically advanced, time consuming and expensive to build and maintain, had a small payload and was not meeting the needs of the Army by 1940 when production stopped.

The book, presented in both English and German, has 208 pages, printed on high gloss heavy duty paper stock and filled with technical drawings, scale line drawings, pictures of surviving examples, color plates, period photos and samples of modeling work. Also included are charts and tables covering production, variants and deployment.

The first 31 pages cover the history of the Einheitsdiesel to include introduction, development, technical details, production and deployment. Following, there is a short section on modelling. Given that there is one injection molded kit on the market (with variants), this is not a surprise. The writers do a great job with what they had to work with and I am thinking of taking a crack at one of the IBG offerings. While the kit is not given very high marks by the authors this book should make that challenge more appealing. In addition, the authors have included a list of the after-market items available to upgrade the Einheitsdiesel.

After a page of abbreviations and a page for the bibliography the book gives you 87 pages of contemporary photos covering all aspects of this German lorry from the tech manual photos, production, deployment and variants as well as stowage and gear placement.

26 pages of 1/35th scale line drawings are next. These drawings are designed to clear up the issues found in the IBG kit instructions and assist the modeler in building an Einheitsdiesel.

Next up; 8 pages of color plates covering the variants, camos and markings, 

and then 40 pages of surviving examples of the German 6x6 truck. Numerous photos have numerical identification for detail parts. This is a nod to the modeler and should provide the needed intel to complete the IBG kit and get the most out of it.

The final pages contain photos of the completed model work of one of the authors and another contributor. The cargo, communications and Blisten Crane variants are provided.  

While the tanks and SPG’s of the German army have received the most attention from history buffs and modellers, lesser known subjects such as the Einheitsdiesel are garnering more attention from modelers and other enthusiasts. The good people at Nuts & Bolts are providing detailed books on these subjects helping to fill in the blanks in our history library and modeling knowledge.   

Highly recommended to all and particularly to WW2 German vehicle fans.

My sincere that’s to Nuts & Bolts for the review sample

Reviewed by Henry Milton

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