APRIL 2001 - The German company Hanomag made several models of a heavy tractor of which the SS-100 was the best known. It had both a two door and a four-door version. The four-door version has a double cab, which could carry a crew of five or six. Production of the SS-100 continued from 1936 to 1945. The design continued to be produced after the war as the ST100 and ST100W including some for the French Army. The Hanomag road tractors of all sizes were popular as fairground transport well into the 1960's.

Basically, the Hanomag SS-100 tractor was a civilian vehicle that was pressed into military service. Seen below is the civilian version - the type N with a short cabin, just one row of seats. This is the civil version of the SSN-100. The Wehrmacht version had a bigger cabin and a winch.
 

Its civilian designation was Gigant. Both the Army and Luftwaffe units used it. The Luftwaffe units used it primarily for towing airplanes, bombs, and gasoline trailers. V2 units used it for towing the “Vidalwagen” which transported the V2 rocket from the railhead to the launch units’ preparation facility. It was also used to tow the Meillerwagen, which transported the V2 rocket to the launch site and erected the rocket. Additionally, the Hanomag was used to tow other trailers such as the B-Stoff trailer.

The Mini Art kit is 100% resin cast in a beige color. It is a simple kit but has some good detail. The 3-page instruction, counting both sides, is very rough. Some parts are not even show in their correct positions. This kit requires additional reference to assemble which is not easy considering the lack of reference material available. There are a number of small pour plugs but not many. The detail is excellent and it includes a complete engine and transmission.

I tried to follow the directions but there is so little it was difficult. There are four illustrated steps but they only cover some of the parts. The rest you are left up to figure out. There is an exploded view that sort of helps. 

I started by gluing the engine hood on the frame and the seats into place. I also glued the sides and top together then added the back of the cab. I did not attach the cab on the frame till after painting the interior. I also left the instrument panel and steering wheel till later.
 

I glued the suspension system on but left the wheels off till after painting. I also checked that all six tires rested on the table since the suspension is rather weak. The exhaust pipe is one piece including the manifold so it took some doing to get it into place and the instructions don't help at all on this. 

I glued the front and rear pieces on the frame. There are several lights that are very delicate and I decided to leave them off till later also. 

I wanted to have a figure sitting in the cab waiting to tow whatever away. I used one of the figures from the Warriors Steyr 1500 Crew. I did not modify him except made sure he sat right in the drivers seat correctly.

I used MV lenses throughout the kit for the three search/spot lights and a red one for the taillight. For the instrument panel I used a leftover acetate dials from another kit.

I painted the interior first. I sprayed it a mixture of Polly Scale dark yellow and tan. I then painted the leather seats brown and the steering wheel black. I gave it a wash of 50/50 black burnt umber oil paints. I dry brushed the interior then glued the driver, instrument panel and steering wheel in. I taped over the seats and drive and the interior of the cab with masking tape. I then sprayed the whole exterior of the vehicle with Polly Scale German dark yellow. I painted a camouflage pattern over the vehicle using Polly Scale dark green.
 

The tires were first painted black then the hubs were also painted dark yellow. Using Archer’s new German WW2 license plate decal sheet I added SS license plates for the front and back. I then gave the vehicle a wash of 50/50 black/burnt umber. I dry brushed the vehicle with white titanium, yellow ochre, and burnt umber oils. I then glued the tires on. Now I added the windows. This was the reason I could not put the top on sooner. I glued clear acetate pieces inside the cab. None came with the kit. I then glued the top on. I had a difficult time filling the gap between the cab and hood. I then masked and sprayed the filled gaps.  I then added the MV lenses for the spotlights and taillight.

CONCLUSION

This was the first of my kits to build for the planned V-2 launch diorama. This was an easy kit to build but a bear to complete because of the windows. I sure wish I could have figured a better way to put them in after the cab was attached to the body but I couldn't and still can't. I hope I don't have to build this one again but I am afraid I will need a second one for the V2 diorama.

MATERIALS

Mini Art Studio: Hanomag SS Tractor
MV Lenses: 3x Clear 128, 1x Red 129
Warriors: SS Steyr 1500 A Crew
Archer Fine Transfers: German WW2 License Plates

REFERENCES

Allied-Axis Photo Journal of the Second World War, Ampersand Pub. Co., USA 2000
Spielberger, Walter. & Feist Uwe. Militarfahrzeuge, Aero Publishing, Inc. Fallbrook, CA 1970
Georgano, G.N. World War Two Military Vehicles, Osprey Automotive, Great Britain, 1994

Special thanks to Jim Hensley.

Thanks to Jim Hensley for the above Hanomag SS-100 construction description. But for this vehicle model there are more brands than just the Mini Art Studio kit!

There is a very nice PSP model available and thanks to my friend Marcel Verhaaf, I have it here on my work bench to take a look at it and I must say - "just to hold my hands"  because I would start building this any minute, but too bad for me - it is not my model! I will examine it and make some pictures for this page.

Layout of the parts for the PSP Hanomag SS-100 kit.

There was a third model of the SS-100 (scale 1/35) at one time - or should I say the earliest. Yes, this model was the first on the market - a product of a German manufacturer Hobbymodelbau F. Schmidt. Most everyone now will say they never heard off it. I don't know if it still exists, but the company made this model for twenty-two years. Then it became a real "collectors item" because only this model of the SS-100 was made in a technique unlike anything made today. The resin market overwhelmed these types of models, but sometimes small aircraft model parts of this technique can still be found in some model shops. The technique of this model was called VAC form - it's made in the same way as your buttercups.

VACUFORM MODEL EXAMPLES: Left is a conversion set for a Mercedes L 3000s based on the Opel chassis from Italery. Right a set for the Tamiya Horch 40 as a ambulance.

They made a mold of the model, and covered it with a plastic sheet. Then they heated up the sheet and mold and created a vacuum under the sheet and it formed over the model mold. The modeling of these types of kits is more like scratch-building than building a normal model - you must work very carefully to get the parts together in the right shape.
But at the end you will get a reasonable model.
 

As can be seen in the drawing below right, these are all the parts you get, so there is also a lot of scratch-building to do on this model. The other problem is that the material is very thin so you have to be very careful when adding the glue to the parts; I always use liquid glue. And the use of filler also needs a great deal of attention - better do this in thin layers, rather than in one for the same reason, as the glue will deform the thin material.

Well, there is not much to say about this first model of the SS-100 be your own judge by viewing the different photos.

This SS-100 vehicle is one of the mysteries of the V-2 column because we can't find it in one of the batteries vehicle lists. There are people that think SS stands for the SS units, but that's not so. SS stands for Straßen-Schnelltransporter (road speed transporter) and the number 100 - for the 100 horsepower engine.

Also - All the time we speak about the SS-100 but that is wrong, the SS-100 is a basic design of the vehicle. The first version was a SSA-100. At the start of this article about the SS-100 you find some fine pictures from Michael Keuer this vehicle is the SSN-100 (N = Normal). From 1938 the Wehrmacht version of the SS-100 where build with a double cabin and winch (click photo below) and a total length of 6,10 mtr. It became the version number SS-100 LN (L= long, N=normal)

Click Here for Hanomag SS-100 LN Spec Sheet

Bert Koopman
v-2model.rocket@hetnet.nl

ABSCHUSSPLATTFORM | OPEL BLITZ | HANOMAG SS-100 | FEUERLEITWAGEN