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Description
The Panzerkleinzerstörer Rutscher was a project started in Germany in 1943 for a light tank destroyer that weighed less than 10 tons. The project was dropped but revisited in early 1945 as the Germans were drawing up plans to start the "Entwicklung" series of "standardpanzers" that would replace all current tank and armored vehicle designs.

The Entwicklung series of vehicles was separated by weight class, with designations E-5, E-10, E-25, E-50, and E-75 all corresponding to their respective weights (5 tons, 10 tons, etc.). They would share many parts and components to ease production and were to be the future of German tank development had the war not come to an end in 1945.

For the lightest entry in the Entwicklung line, the E-5, the Panzerkleinzerstörer Rutscher was chosen, and so the 1943 project was revived for this purpose.

By March 1945, a life-sized wooden mockup of the Rutscher was built, but actual development of prototypes and the subsequent serial production of the vehicle was estimated to take between 1 and 1/2 to 2 years to complete due to the number of new parts required, and so the project never progressed beyond the wooden model due to the war's end.

Still, plans and specifications for the vehicle were written down. The Rutscher was to house a crew of two men; a driver and commander/gunner. It would weigh between 5 and 10 tons and was armed with two 8cm PAW 600 low-recoil anti-tank guns with limited traverse in a fixed casemate-style hull.

The 8cm PAW 600 (PAW for "Panzerabwehrwerfer") launched 81.4mm shaped charge rounds at a velocity of 520 m/s with an effective range of up to 700 meters. The rounds could penetrate up to 140mm of armor sloped at 30 degrees, which is already more penetration than the standard 75mm L/48 cannon seen on the late-war Panzer IV and StuG III vehicles. The weapon used the "high-low pressure system" to significantly reduce recoil and thus allow for thinner metal to be used on the gun barrels, further reducing weight. About 260 of these guns were produced by the war's end, but they did not have a significant impact on the war.

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This is the first Lego model of the Panzerkleinzerstörer Rutscher seen on the Internet. It is built in 1:35 scale. It features a sturdy construction with overlapping road wheels and smoothly-rolling tracks. Details have been faithfully reproduced, such as the sloping angles on the frontal hull armor as well as the two gun barrels, two periscopes, a ventilator, antenna, engine air intakes, and muffler all placed around the hull.

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This is quite different from most of the models I've posted on Deviantart. The thing is, I have become very interested in tanks and armored vehicles in the past 3 years, and I have been posting a lot of builds on my Instagram account over the past couple of months.

However, most of those vehicles are part of a fictional series of tankettes I've been developing for fun, and so I didn't think they were worthy to post anywhere else. But things are different for this Rutscher here, which is my first Lego model based on a real historical vehicle (at least, a real vehicle design/concept).

I consider this Rutscher to be one of my best builds, and I also have a diorama of one in winter camouflage which is probably my best Lego build ever. But it's a pain to make collages of my photos because Deviantart doesn't allow multiple pictures per post. So I'm just going to leave this single post here for now, and maybe upload more angles some other time.

Thanks for viewing!

Description
The Panzerkleinzerstörer Rutscher was a project started in Germany in 1943 for a light tank destroyer that weighed less than 10 tons. The project was dropped but revisited in early 1945 as the Germans were drawing up plans to start the "Entwicklung" series of "standardpanzers" that would replace all current tank and armored vehicle designs.

The Entwicklung series of vehicles was separated by weight class, with designations E-5, E-10, E-25, E-50, and E-75 all corresponding to their respective weights (5 tons, 10 tons, etc.). They would share many parts and components to ease production and were to be the future of German tank development had the war not come to an end in 1945.

For the lightest entry in the Entwicklung line, the E-5, the Panzerkleinzerstörer Rutscher was chosen, and so the 1943 project was revived for this purpose.

By March 1945, a life-sized wooden mockup of the Rutscher was built, but actual development of prototypes and the subsequent serial production of the vehicle was estimated to take between 1 and 1/2 to 2 years to complete due to the number of new parts required, and so the project never progressed beyond the wooden model due to the war's end.

Still, plans and specifications for the vehicle were written down. The Rutscher was to house a crew of two men; a driver and commander/gunner. It would weigh between 5 and 10 tons and was armed with two 8cm PAW 600 low-recoil anti-tank guns with limited traverse in a fixed casemate-style hull.

The 8cm PAW 600 (PAW for "Panzerabwehrwerfer") launched 81.4mm shaped charge rounds at a velocity of 520 m/s with an effective range of up to 700 meters. The rounds could penetrate up to 140mm of armor sloped at 30 degrees, which is already more penetration than the standard 75mm L/48 cannon seen on the late-war Panzer IV and StuG III vehicles. The weapon used the "high-low pressure system" to significantly reduce recoil and thus allow for thinner metal to be used on the gun barrels, further reducing weight. About 260 of these guns were produced by the war's end, but they did not have a significant impact on the war.

-----

This is the first Lego model of the Panzerkleinzerstörer Rutscher seen on the Internet. It is built in 1:35 scale. It features a sturdy construction with overlapping road wheels and smoothly-rolling tracks. Details have been faithfully reproduced, such as the sloping angles on the frontal hull armor as well as the two gun barrels, two periscopes, a ventilator, antenna, engine air intakes, and muffler all placed around the hull.

-----

This is quite different from most of the models I've posted on Deviantart. The thing is, I have become very interested in tanks and armored vehicles in the past 3 years, and I have been posting a lot of builds on my Instagram account over the past couple of months.

However, most of those vehicles are part of a fictional series of tankettes I've been developing for fun, and so I didn't think they were worthy to post anywhere else. But things are different for this Rutscher here, which is my first Lego model based on a real historical vehicle (at least, a real vehicle design/concept).

I consider this Rutscher to be one of my best builds, and I also have a diorama of one in winter camouflage which is probably my best Lego build ever. But it's a pain to make collages of my photos because Deviantart doesn't allow multiple pictures per post. So I'm just going to leave this single post here for now, and maybe upload more angles some other time.

Thanks for viewing!