Sometimes it’s necessary to go to resin kits to get some of the more obscure vehicles of World War Two, especially if that kit happens to be of a truck. Make it a French Tank Transporter and you’re lucky to find it even in resin, so the fact that this kit even exists is a blessing, as it makes for a very interesting kit.
The parts for this kit are moulded in a hard creamy yellow resin and come attached to three large pieces of cardboard covered with a photocopied printout of the parts with numbers and then covered in clear wrap. The parts are then stuck with rubber cement to their respective image. In this particular kit some of the parts had come away from the cardboard but were easy enough to identify by the printed images.
Unusually for resin kits the pour plugs have already been removed. There is still some cleanup to do with flahing needing to be removed from a number of the parts but not having the pour plugs to contend with removes half the annoyance that comes with preparing resin parts for assembly and Wespe deserves a big thumbs up for that little gem.
The mouldings are very good, this kit had no mishappen or warped parts and the detail is clear and sharp with good fit between the parts. Many of the parts are very delicate and all arrived unbroken.
The instructions are two large printed sheets showing the numbered parts and where they go so it’s not as simple as following a series of step by step instructions so you need to make sure you do a dry run first to be certain of what order you want to do everything in.
The kit includes a full engine that looks to be well detailed with the exception of wires etc. Some details such as the driver’s pedals, interior door detail and suspension is a little simplified and will require a bit of work to detail and there are no hooks, wires or wiring diagram provided for the lifting cables so a little rsearch will be in order there to get it right which may be the hardest part of the build.
The two wire frames shown at the rear of the bed are made up from lengths of wire which are included along with a simple construction diagram but these look like they would be easier to construct from length of evergreen plastic rod.
All in all this is the basis of a very nice kit. As it is if built straight from the box it will make a striking model, but there are some minuses in that it could do with better instructions and more detail, in particular the hooks and a wiring diagram for the lifting cables, as well as areas such as the interior of the cab that will need to be scratchbuilt.
To really take it up a notch and turn it into a real winner will take a bit of skill and work. But what you do get is good and it would be well worth the extra effort involved to get to the best end result.
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