Introduction

The Henschel 33 D1, built between 1934-1943 is a medium sized 6X4 truck which was also built under license by Magirus (KHD) between 1938-1940. These were built with a variety of Diesel & Petrol power plants. The 33 D1 is petrol-engined.

It fitted into the German common general specification similar to the USA’s general specification for the GMC-CCKW type truck. Unlike the GMC though, the Henschel and other standard makes was available to commercial users (with subsidy) and for export, mainly to boost production and reduce unit cost. In Germany, these were used by other government departments including the Deutsche Reichsbahn (German Railways).

ICM has recently released a styrene kit (reviewed by our own Jim Rae here). Now PART of Poland has added a PE upgrade set, as well as a PE hood (reviewed by me on Armorama here).

kit contents

This Photo Etch kit comes in Part’s standard plastic bag with the details of the contents stapled to the open end. Each PE fret is protected in its own little cellophane bag, and is separated by a thin cardboard sheet as well to protect against scratching. The instruction sheet is folded up and adds to the protection of the sheets. This set contains 4 frets of PE and 1 clear plastic sheet for the windscreen glass, plus a printed instrument panel.

the review

Once I had opened the bags and spread the parts out, I was amazed at just how small some of the PE pieces were. The parts look easy to clean up and bend, either with a PE bending tool or pliers. Only 1 photo etch fret is marked (F); the rest of the PE parts are numbered in sequence & look to be fairly straightforward as well, but I will not be using the PE parts that are smaller then a pin’s point!

I have started using this PE set on my ICM Henschel kit, and have found it extremely easy to work with and enhances things a lot more then what I thought it would. Parts had to be washed in mentholated spirits to enable the glue to adhere better, and as I said before I have not used every part as some are just way too small.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a nice photo etch kit that enhances this model and adds another dimension to the ways you can display it. Care must be taken with the instructions and the removal of any plastic parts from the ICM kit, and of course CA glue must be used to fix the parts. There is a second Part PE set for the hood only, and is not part of this set.