German WWII Maybach HL 42 TRKMS Engine
for sWS
Great Wall Hobby 1:35 kit #L3522
Review by Terry Ashley

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Great Wall Hobby continue their series of Maybach engines with this kit of the Maybach HL 42 TRKMS as used in the Schwere Wehrmachtschlepper sWS series of vehicles, the appended 'S' signifies minor changes to the rear clutch housing but other than that and is basically the same engine as the Maybach HL 42 TRKM engine for the Sd.Kfz.10 1ton H/T and Sd.Kfz.250 le.S.P.W. series plus of course different arrangments for the radiator and gearbox/transmission of the sWS.

This kit has the same basic engine parts as in the GWH set #L3517 and the Bronco Models 15cm Panzerwerfer 42 (Zehnling) auf sWS (kit #CB-35070) but as indicated in the Bronco review there are some modifications required to correctly depict the Maybach HL 42 TRKMS or Maybach HL 42 TRKM. These are considerable less than those required for the Maybach HL 42 TRKM engine included in the recent DML Sd.Kfz.10/5 fur 2cm FlaK 38 (kit #6676) and this basic engine could be used with the DML kit for a far better detailed engine if you were going to display the engine in that kit?

The kit is designed for any of the GWH sWS kits already released and consists of 67 parts in light gray plastic on two sprues plus a small etched fret with 5 parts with the assembly instructions printed on the back of the box.

Etched fret

The standard of plastic moulding is excellent with clean crisp mouldings with no visible pin marks but some minor flash is on a few of the finer parts. The kit has numerous very small parts and some fine piping that needs care removing from the sprue and removing the obligatory fine mould seams, cleaning the seams from the piping and smaller parts is easier done whole the parts are still attached to the sprue to aid handling.

The engine has the main engine block in two halves with separate lower oil sump and top valve cover as well as all accessories such as the intake/exhaust manifolds, dynamo, oil cooler/filter, carburettor, forward fan pulleys and the large air filter. You need to drill four locating holes in the ends of the intake/exhaust manifolds for the fine exchange piping provided with plan views showing the location of the holes to help drilling these in the right place.

There are some accuracy issues regarding the correct configuration of the Maybach HL 42 TRKMS engine in the kit as it mixes some features with the similar Maybach HL 42 TUKRM of the Sd.Kfz.251 S.P.W. series as included in the GWH kit#L3518. These are indicated by number on the images below of the engine built OOB and with the required modifications for the correct Maybach HL 42 TRKMS engine.

1. The HL 42 TRKMS engine doesn't have the large oil pan (part J2) but the oil pan cover is basically flat on the underside of the block, the kit part should be modified accordingly just leaving the surrounding bolted edges.
2. The top valve cover (part J1) on the HL 42 TRKMS should only having two smaller “star” filler caps (parts J9) without the larger central cap which again should be removed.
3. The pipe from the oil cooler (part J7) should mate to the water pump housing (part J8) and not to the engine block as in the kit.
4. A large oil reservoir should be added to the right side of the engine, this will have to be scratched from plastic card.
5. The two projections on the clutch housing (part J17) should be removed as these are not present on the HL 42 TRKMS housing.
6. The air compressor (part J28) is not normally fitted to the HL 42 TRKMS engine and shouldn't be fitted, this will also require the corresponding front pulley and belt section be removed from part J33.

The five part radiator assembly has nice details on the radiator mesh and rear shroud along with the side mounting brackets and these assemble without any problems and connects to the engine by two large radiator hoses. At the back is a four part gearbox case with transfer shaft plus the transmission with four ribbed brake discs for a nicely detailed assembly that fits neatly into the sWS chassis bay.

The fit of the parts is very good without any trimming needed and just the fine mould seams as mentioned above making for a fairly quick and easy assembly. The very small parts such as the top filler caps (J9) and hoist hooks (J10) need care in handling, plus there are a few small etched parts for the top rocker cover data plates and two small exhaust gaskets.

Views of assembled engine, radiator and rear gearbox and transmission with the modifications as described above.


Kit assembly fitted to sWS lower hull tub, note the openings in the hull need to be filled as these were not present on the actual sWS hull tub.


As mentioned this is the same engine and transmission from the Bronco Models 15cm Panzerwerfer 42 (Zehnling) auf sWS (kit #CB-35070) released in cooperation with Great Wall Hobby and has excellent standards of moulding and detail included on the parts but some minor modifications are required to accurately depict the actual HL 42 TRKMS as fitted to the sWS.

These are fairly straightforward mostly with just removing moulded on detail from the parts apart from the side mounted oil tank that will need to be scratch built from plastic card but again this is not that difficult being basically straight panels. Hopefully GWH or Bronco will update the kit with the oil tank in future for a more accurate engine.

As it is this is easily the best HL 42 TRKM/S engine available in plastic with the other option at this time being the SKP Models resin set #SKP 057 Maybach HL 42 Engine Set for the DML Sd.Kfz.250 which does include the oil tank.

Rating 8/10.

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Büssing's schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper (sWS), armored and unarmored variants Nuts & Bolts Vol.41	mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 5t (Sd.Kfz.6) and Schwerer Wehrmachtsschlepper Panzer Tracks No.22-3	Halftrack Vehicles of the German Army 1395-1945 Schiffer Military History ISBN: 0-88740-758-7	German Medium Half-Tracked Prime Movers 1934-1945 Schiffer Publications ISBN: 0-7643-0263-9
Maybach HL 42 TRKM Service manual Reprint of WWII Maybach manual	Flakpanzerkampfwagen IV and other Maybach NL 38/HL 42 Parts List Reprint of WWII Maybach manual

Thanks to my credit card and the excellent service from for the review kit.