Tamiya 35304 – Kubelwagen “Ramcke Parachute Brigade”
Over the past year or so Tamiya have been giving a number of their kits the Afrikakorp makeover and re-releasing them with new figure sets and markings. For modelers with a keen interest in the war in the deserts of North Africa this has been a welcomed move.
This particular make-over takes Tamiya’s original Type 82 Kubelwagen Afrikakorp ( distinguished by the balloon tyres ) and adds new figures to represent members of the Ramcke Parachute Brigade. The Ramcke Brigade were a Fallschirmjager Brigade earmarked for the invasion of Malta ( that never took place ) and then joined to the Afrikakorp where, amongst other battles, they took part in the second battle of El Elamein.
The kit comes in the usual Tamiya small box used for the likes of the Kubelwagen and Jeep variants and is moulded in a dark yellow plastic. The mouldings are flash free, the quality of the detail is the usual high level expected of Tamiya these days with minimal cleanup required. As usual the instructions are clear and easy to follow making this kit a breeze to assemble.
The main part of the kit is of course the Kubelwagen which is the original Tamiya Kubelwagen Type 82 Afrikakorp with the moulded on floor boards, partial engine and seperate doors. There are also nice detail features in the exhausts, brakes and seats ( if you’ve ever built an Italeri Kubelwagen the Tamiya kit is streets ahead ). The DAK version used large balloon like desert tyres rather than the normal road tyre so you end up with a spare road wheel and tyre in this kit.
There are a total of six figures included, one of the original standing DAK figures from the base kit plus a new sprue containing five figures. One of these is the driver wearing generic fatigues while the other four are all dressed in a mix of tropical and fallshirmjager uniforms. A weapon and equipment sprue provides an MG34, an MG42, two MG ammo tins, an MP40, two Kar 98 rifles as well as personal equipment for five ( gas mask containers, bread bags, water bottles, mess tins, entrenching tools, bayonettes and ammo pouches ) as well as binoculas, helmets ( five standard German helmets and two Fallshirmjager helmets are provided ) map case, pistol holsters and MG tool pouches.
Decals and paint schemes are provided for three vehicles : Ramcke Parachute Brigade ; Luftwaffe Anti-Aircraft Unit in Tunisia 1943 ; Maintenance Unit, Headquarters Company, sPzAbt 501 in Tunisia 1943 ( Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 501 was one of the units equiped with the Tiger I tank in Tunisia from late 1942 ).
As with all Tamiya kits you can go overboard and detail this to extremes with a great variety of AM detail kits available including photo-etch sets, resin stowage kits etc, etc. But if you’re not into superdetailing and prefer your builds straight from the box then have no fear, this won’t disappoint as it makes up into a nice little kit just as it comes.
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