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06 November 2012

Steyr Type 1500A/01

The Steyr Type 1500A/01 is an Austria made light truck, used extensively by the German Army in World War II. From Western Front, Russia to North Africa. It saw use primarily as a staff car, however it has found many variants, special for different usage.

The 1500A series Steyr was produced in Austria between 1941 and 1945 and was used in several capacities by Axis forces. The primary vehicle version was produced as a large 4 wheel drive staff car but the basic chassis system had several different body styles bolted to it. The most commonly found types were the 6 person command car, the eight person infantry carrier and the light cargo truck. These were not the only version produced however, the light truck version was also used as an ambulance and a field radio vehicle with specialty boxes placed on the aft chassis. Early in the production run the cabs were of all metal fabrication but as materials became scarce the light truck variants were switched over to the wooden ‘Ersatz’ cab. This was a fairly generic boxy cab that was placed on many different manufacture drive systems.  
        The Steyr utilized an air-cooled 3517cc eight cylinder engine and a four speed manual transmission. The front axel could be disengaged for high speed travel on finished roads. It was reported that in rear wheel drive mode on good roads the command car could reach speeds of 90 kph and off road in four-wheel drive mode could top out at 45 kph. The Steyr featured an independent from suspension and a rigid rear axel with semi-elliptic leaf springs. By time production ceased in 1944 approximately 12450 vehicles of all versions had rolled out of the Austrian factory and another 5600 were manufactured under license at Auto-Union's Wanderer factory at Sigmar and Audi at Zwickau in Germany. Today there are many surviving examples of these vehicles and it is not unusual to see them show up in the movies. Most recently a Steyr 1500 Infantry carrier showed up in the 2001 production of “All the Queens Men” and a light truck 1500 in the made for TV 2001 movie “Uprising”. 
Source: Swannys Model
I found Tamiya have these models on their catalogue. They are available in 1/48 and 1/35 scale. With Tamiya, you can expect excellent build quality, building one of these will be an easy task. Amazon list the 1/48 from a third party for $29.26. Quite a good deal.

How good is the model in its finished form ? Well, apart from drooling over in the Tamiya catalogue, you can check out this beautiful finished model from StuG. You can find more photos on his personal website. You may also want to check out his build progress in his blog archive.

Do not forget to check out the references section after the photo. There are interesting information in those links, if you intend to purchase / build one.

References:

  1. Tamiya: 1/48 Military Miniature Series No.49
  2. Tamiya: 1/35 Military Miniature Series No.305
  3. Kit Review : Tamiya Steyr Type 1500A/01
  4. Making German Steyr Type 1500A/01 (TAMIYA)
  5. Amazon : Steyr Type 1500A/01 Military Vehicle 1/48 Tamiya
  6. STuG Armoured Fighting Vehicle .......Steyr Type 1500A/01.......


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