# Goliath Tracked Mine



## Owen E Oulton (Jan 6, 2012)

For years, the only model of this nifty little explosive device was the Esci (reissued by Italeri) kit. It was a (mostly) nicely detailed kit of an obscure antitank weapon officially named the Sd.Kfz.302 Goliath. It was a 1.5m (5 foot) long device that closely resembled a tiny British WWI Mark I tank. Electrically powered, it could carry a 60kg (130 lb.) package of plastic explosives. The improved Sd.Kfz.303 model was gas powered and could carry 100kg (220 lb.) of explosives. It was remotely controlled by wire from a small (about the size of a field telephone) control box up to 1.5km (about a mile) on road or 750m (half a mile) and was used to blow up enemy tanks by the simple expedient of driving it under an Allied tank and detonating it. It was also used against enemy fortifications.








The big problem with the Esci kit was that the side sponsons with the bogies and tracks were one-piece units with minimal track detail.

Now, Tamiya has a brand new kit (dated 2017) comprising TWO full Goliath kits with a three-man crew. The tracks are link'n'length with fine surface detail and accurate track sag on the upper length! The figures are typical of the new Tamiya figures - rather nice but with undersized hands and not as nice as the ICM figures supplied with some Tamiya kits. Still, they look far nicer than the crude Esci figures, even the Esci kit came with two more figures and a teller mine..








The tiny Goliaths are each about 43mm (1.7 inches) long and beautifully detailed and also come with a length of copper wire for the remote cable.

Last year I did a vignette showing a common sight on the day after D-Day on Omaha Beach with a GI riding one on the beach sand like a go-kart while an officer watches on using the Esci Goliath, Tamiya US infantry figures and Heller hedgehog anti tank obstacle. To disguise the under-detailed tracks, I sprinkled sand over a thin layer of white glue to simulate wet sand. I now wish the vastly Tamiya kit had been available, especially as it cost a little less than I had to pay to get the Esci kit.


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## Owen E Oulton (Jan 6, 2012)

So, what's in the box? There are two separately bagged sprues, each of which comprises 39 parts to build one Goliath including the control box. The third sprue contains 33 part to build 3 figures; a kneeling officer with an SMG and binoculars, a rifleman lying on the ground with a Kar.98 and the operator kneeling with the control box. Attached to the bag for that sprue is a smaller bag with a coiled length of copper wire (approximately 300mm or 1 foot) for the control cables.

All parts are cleanly moulded in dunkelgelb (dark yellow) and included is a single, double-sided instruction sheet in Tamiya's typical black and white line art with notes in Japanese, English, German and French. No decals are included, and painting instructions are German grey overall in 1942 and dunkelgelb overall from 1943 on, with field applied red-brown and dark green camouflage over the base colour "as appropriate". Tracks are to be painted dark iron, and the figures' uniforms are as usual. The box art is Tamiya's standard colour illistration of one Goliath and the three figures on a white background. The official kit title is _German Assault Pioneer Team & Goliath Set_, kit number 35357. Mine cost CDN $22.95 at the Hobby Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. Exchange rates will make it somewhat cheaper in the USA.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

THere were different versions of the Goliath too but AFAIK the three plastic kits (Tamiya, Dragon, and Esci) are all the same type.

I built the Esci kit before and it's pretty poor. The kits I always had were molded in black plastic that was really icky. The fit of everything, particularly the figures, was bad. The figures were also tiny, representing 5 foot tall Hitler midgets.

The Tamiya kit should be easy to build. But, it pretty much duplicates the Dragon kit with the same figure poses. Dragon's kit has individual link tracks with a couple of lengths to fill in on the flat top and bottom.

I'm surprised no one has made a 1/1 size model of these things. They make 1/4 and 1/6 size Tiger tanks and such


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