The kettenkraftrad was originally intended as a vehicle for use with airborne troops as it could fit inside a Ju 52, but it went on to be widely used as an engineer vehicle as well as a tow vehicle for light guns, rockets, mortars and cargo trailers. It’s a fascinating little vehicle that provides an alternative to motorcycles or motorcycle and sidecar combos as a small filler vehicle on diorama.
This kit from Tamiya is one of their older kits and comes in a small tray and lid style box on three sprues, two dark yellow ones that make up into the Kettenkraftrad and a third dark green one that holds the three figures. The moulding is clean and tidy though being an older kit some of the detail has been overly simplified resulting in a lack of detail definition in some areas. What is there though is well moulded and looks good.
The kettenkraftrad for its small size still has quite a few parts, just under sixty in total. The engine is quite good, though it could use a battery and some wiring and cabling to really bring it to life. The tracks and centre wheels are moulded as one piece, with no separate suspension parts, which makes assembly easy but gives it a somewhat stiff look and limits it to use on flat surfaces, or with no heavy load, unless the tracks and running gear are heavily modified. There is also a mould seam running the full circumference of the tracks both inside and out that will need to be removed. The rest of it scrubs up quite well and does make quite a nice looking wee tracked bike.
There is a small trailer, or Infanteriekarren, included with this kit, which can come as a nice surprise as there is no mention of it anywhere on the box. This is a very simple assembly made up of just eight parts, excluding the load and the optional canvas cover. This is quite a useful little additions and looks quite good despite the simplicity. The optional canvas cover for it looks very good as does the radio set included as part of a load, a slightly inaccurate Fu.H.E.c. Though only inaccurate looking if you happen to know what one should look like. Also included as part of the load are three jerry cans but these are best thrown away as they are too small, the wrong shape and have a single solid handle rather than the three pronged one that they should have. The trailer should also have its own towbar as these trailers were frequently linked in series to be towed by one vehicle.
The figures despite their age are still rather good. The poses aren’t the most inspiring, the faces are well done but impassive, and the clothing folds need sharpening up and added to. But other than that the detail is at least sharp and clean, and you get a total of eight arms for the three figures which allows a little flexibility in your choice of poses. All three wear the standard field uniform and all three have moulded on gas mask container straps and helmet chin straps. The two walking figures wear low boots with gaiters while the rider wears high boots.
Personal equipment for the figures consists of two breadbags, two canteens, three gas mask containers, one mess tin, one rolled zeltbahn, two Kar 98K triple ammo pouches, and two short shovels in carriers with attached bayonets. The breadbags are a little undersized but passable, the shovels however are far too small and best replaced. All three get helmets with two optional field caps included as well.
Personal weapons consist of a Panzerfaust 30, two Kar 98K rifles and an MG42 which also comes with an MG34/42 maintenance kit pouch and an ammo tin. The bipod on the MG42 is moulded as part of the gun and therefore has the appearance of having just one big leg rather than the two separate legs. The ammo can is also a little wierd, having been moulded as the same two halves joined together so that the lid angles down in opposite dirrections on either side. It also has no detail for handles, hinges or latches. Other than that the weapons and equipment are nicely made.
Decals are provided for four vehicle options, two Reichswehr and two Luftwaffe - 2nd Tank Division in Normandy : 116th Tank Division in Normandy : Ramke Brigade in North Africa : Airborne Panzer Division in Italy. Decals are also provided for the figure’s helmets, again in both Reichswehr and Luftwaffe.
This is one of Tamiya’s earliest kits and it shows when put alongside the more recent ( though still not that recent ) Kettenkraftrad from Dragon. This still however makes up into quite a nice little kit that could just benefit from a bit of modelling TLC to sharpen up some of the existing detail, and to add some of the missing detail. The figures are typical of Tamiya’s orginal figures but they do still scrub up well, though things like the shovels can’t really be fixed by any means other than replacing them. For the comparatively low cost of this kit it’s still worth it for a little weekend modelling or as a scene filler on a diorama.
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