RSO/01 & RSO/03 Sprue Layout 210705

[Rubicon Models]

New Project for the month of June is the German Raupenschlepper Ost (RSO/01). Translated as "Caterpillar Tractor East" in English, more commonly abbreviated to RSO, was a fully tracked, lightweight vehicle used by the Wehrmacht. It was conceived in response to the poor performance of wheeled and half-tracked vehicles in the mud and snow during the Wehrmacht's first autumn and winter on the Soviet Front.

The RSO was contemporary with somewhat similar Allied full-tracked small artillery tractors in use in other armies (such as the Soviet STZ-5 "Stalingradets", and the US Army's M4 Tractor), mostly originated from the pre-war light to medium series of Vickers artillery tractors.


























Enjoy!
 

[jamesvalentine]

As on Facebook I hope we get the box/ambulance body too.

[thunderplunk]

Huh, nice! The 4-piece tracks are an interesting departure from form for you guys, and I'll be curious to see how they come out – certainly the previews look excellent.

[ripley]

Interesting choice  of vehicle . The track looks great . I never really thought about building a RSO kit , but now I want one

[EarlyWarGamer]

What a cool looking vehicle. Doesn't fit into my early war (I believe these did not see service until late 1943 onwards), but I still want one!

[ultravanillasmurf]

Very nice.

[Jaeger]

Add a Pak 40 to the back and you'd have a late war mobile anti-tank vehicle.  This will be a fabulous kit.

[Tracks]

I still would rather see the M3 Lee/Grant someday, but this will be an interesting kit.
Gives gamers another tow option for some games.

Not only did the RSO tow the Pak40, but it carried one as well.
It would need a conversion kit from RM, or scratch building skills from the gamers.
Good thing I happen to have an extra Pak40 kit from RM

[H0ffmn]

I second the M-3 Lee/Grant kit

[ultravanillasmurf]

Add a Pak 40 to the back and you'd have a late war mobile anti-tank vehicle.  This will be a fabulous kit.

I was going to ask about the alternative cab and weapon mount.

[Rubicon Models]

Add a Pak 40 to the back and you'd have a late war mobile anti-tank vehicle.  This will be a fabulous kit.

That was in the initial feature set, but we have removed it due to multiple large components and takes up too much sprue space.  However, we might do a resin conversion kit for it when the RSO is released.

[Jaeger]

Sweet!

I want the M3 Lee too.  It'll lead to the M12 155mm sniper howitzer as used in the battle for Aachen.

[Ballardian]

I would second UVS's desire for both early and late cabs to be included if possible, but it'll be great to see one in plastic either way.

[Rubicon Models]

It had been a while since this project had been updated due to work priorities.  Also, we had to revise the overall design to streamline it for plastic mould injection as well.

Here is the initial sprue layout for the project.  Once approved, the RSO will be moved to mould making.




Enjoy!

[Rubicon Models]

What was changed?  We had added RSO/03 to the kit, together with a rear canvas top, and two crew figures.















































Enjoy!