Italeri 1/35 Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer

 With over 2800 built during 1944 and 1945, the Jagdpanzer 38 proved one of the better conversions of obsolete tanks that Nazi Germany rebuilt as tank destroyers. Mounting a 75mm Pak 39 L/48 gun in a low-profile hull, the Hetzer (for “chaser,” though the name was apparently not common with crews) proved an excellent weapon in the defensive war the Reich and its allies faced after 1943. Lying in wait in prepared positions, the small vehicle could prove deadly to most Allied tanks.

While slow as compared to more modern designs, Hetzers were simpler to build than the STuG III and IV series. The resulting vehicle also provided sloped (if thin) armor and a fully enclosed, though cramped, fighting compartment. That said, it offered its crew of three more protection than the open-topped Marder tank destroyers. Improvements came quickly to the late version, a surprise considering how fast things fell apart for Germany as the war reached its inevitable outcome.

The Hetzer fought in the Eastern and Western fronts, as well as Italy as the boundaries of the Nazi regime shrank.

What surprised me during my research was why it took so long for Germany to develop AFVs like this small but lethal combatant. My theory is that the Nazi regime’s fetishes for giantism and complexity thwarted a commonsense approach that the Soviets took with the T-34 chassis and the Americans with the M4 Shermans.

Any cursory review of German weapons development reveals not supermen but bungling, infighting, and dictatorial interference at every level from the very top. For this, the world may be forever thankful. Even as the Hetzer was under development, the Nazi government squandered resources and manpower on monstrosities such as the Maus super-heavy tank or, for that matter, the underpowered and overweight Tiger II series.

Out of this military clown-circus appeared an effort to build simpler vehicles of a standardized nature with interchangeable parts. One of these E-series paper panzers would have been a faster, more modern replacement for the Hetzer. This plan provided the right answer but came far too late to change the course of the war or even produce more than a few prototypes.

That the Czech and Swiss militaries used the Hetzer design postwar (Swiss G-13 and Czech ST-I) attests to the soundness of the Hetzer’s simple-but-effective concept.

I enjoy building the oddball conversions that typify many German AFVs. I think these vehicles also look interesting.

So I was also surprised that I could not find an Italieri Hetzer in the MM archives, though our editor in 2012 previewed the Trumpeter example as well as Eduard’s Hetzer (early version) in 2005. Tom Cleaver covered Eduard’s Hetzer (late version) in 2006.

These newer kits likely offer advantages over Italieri’s old-timer, one that has been around in this tooling since 1972. How I missed it back in the heyday of my childhood modeling escapes me, as I was continually playing Avalon Hill’s Panzer Blitz and Panzer Leader, which features the Hetzer. Note to gamers: it does well in if you park it under cover and wait for a Sherman or T-34 to rumble past. The Hetzer’s profile is so distinctive and modern, as compared to the clumsy, top-heavy Marder or complex lines of the StuG III, that it always appealed to me.

My version appears to be a boxing from the late 70s or early 80s; it has also been reissued under Testors, Tamiya, and Revell names, as well as several others. Since the 1990s, Italieri rolled out this Hetzer with new parts. I’m not the calipers sort who loses sleep if something is off a millimeter or two; this kit looks enough like a real one to work for me.

The end-opening box remains my biggest gripe. Thanks to that box and my own stupidity, I lost a few parts early in the build. One small idler wheel mounted just below the top run of tracks never resurfaced, so I fabricated a replacement. It will vanish under the side skirts.

Otherwise, parts come laid out well on four sprues of dark gray plastic. Fiddly parts are few. Details for Italieri’s hull and suspension are quite good with crisp molding, but don’t look for this kit if you want a detailed interior. Aftermarket sets can provide that level of detail. You can build two types of Hetzers, one with a periscope raised from the interior, or without, which is what I chose. Two schemes can be built from the box: an all-sand Hetzer that served with a Panzergrenadier division and a tri-colored camo Wehrmacht example that I plan to build.

A few quibbles. First. the two crewmen seem oversized for 1/35 when compared to other 1/35 figures, but I did not plan to use them in a diorama I envisioned, “Bushwacker, Bushwacked.” The Hetzer will be abandoned amid urban ruins in Italy, being inspected by a few American GIs. Meanwhile, a German soldier from Tamiya raises his hands to surrender near the smoldering tank destroyer.

Second, the main gun has a split barrel that will require careful alignment and some sanding to look good when completed. You could also find a replacement, but that jacks up the price of a relatively cheap kit for this cheapskate. The MG, on the other hand, looks superbly molded.

Tracks are the simplified rubber-band sort I prefer. I weather the heck out of armor, so any missing details on the tracks can be covered with dust, mud, and other goop. Side skirts will cover the tracks’ tops, so I won’t have to engineer in any sag.

Italieri’s instructions indicate a simple level of construction; the kit promises to be a fast build so I can get to work on Tamiya’s Willys MB Jeep.

This Hetzer can be found at widely varying prices from the usual auction site where I snagged mine. As with any purchase, just think like a Hetzer crew: lay in wait and don’t pull the trigger until you find the right target.

If you want a different target, Trumpeter, Airfix, Dragon, Eduard, and Academy Hetzers are available in 1/35. Or find a kit that has been mislabeled (it happens a lot online) or partly completed. For my diorama, as I dislike hundreds of parts and small PE in need of bending, Italieri’s simple kit fits the bill.

Scalemates https://www.scalemates.com/kits/italeri-6531-jagdpanzer-38-t-hetzer-late--984078

Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetzer

Joe Essid       

July 2025

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