Based on the original 2014 Lastkraftwagen 3,5 t AHN German Army Truck kit, this kit adds a field kitchen and loads of accessories to kit it out. Field kitchens were used to provide hot meals to Wehrmacht soldiers in the field- either directly into the soldiers’ pots or into special large thermoses for delivery to units a bit farther away. They were often pulled by horses or towed behind vehicles- but this particular version was served out of the back of the truck. Soldiers’ humor gave the field kitchens the name ‘Gulaschkanone’ (‘Goulash Cannon’) for what was often served out of them.

The kit comes in ICM’s typical box art cover that slips over the front closing hinged cardboard box. Inside are nine sprues of gray styrene, a clear sprue, seven vinyl tires, and a decal sheet featuring two schemes and labels for the kitchen equipment and supplies.

Construction begins with the assembly of the lower chassis and engine for the first 36 steps. Care is needed to assemble all the cross members and braces squarely between the two long sides. Adding the tires finishes this part of the assembly. From there we move onto the crew compartment and the side doors, seats and controls, and the front and back ends of the cab and roof. Once again, patience and care are needed to get everything to fit well together. This brings us through step 59. 60-67 assembles the truck bed and its supports, as well as the front, rear, and side panels. Step 68 is where the cab and bed are slotted into the chassis.

Construction of the field kitchen now begins from steps 69-85. The instructions have you closing everything up on the kitchen, but one could just as easily open some parts up to add some soup or porridge to. Steps 86-89 have you add the small details to the cab- headlights, Notek lamp, and windshield wipers. Steps 90-96 involves the assembly of the crates, grain sacks, thermoses, and other assorted bits for the kitchen. Construction ends with the addition of the field kitchen and supplies to the bed, and then the framework of the foul-weather tilt is added over everything. Fit was great overall and the details on the parts were flawless.

Painting and Weathering

Options for painting include a gray pre-1943 option or post-1943 dark yellow. I chose to mix it up a bit- with the dark yellow truck and gray field kitchen. ICM suggests using paint set #3038 to paint but I was already reviewing the new Afrika Korps set (#3049) and used that instead for the truck and field kitchen. I used a slurry of AMMO pigments to weather the truck and called it done. It makes for an interesting conversation piece and I am thankful for the folks at ICM and IPMS-USA for the review sample.