Kit No. 35052

1/35 scale military modelling is a hobby that is clearly dominated by the tank, so wheeled vehicles without a gun drew little or no interest from manufacturers until this past year when we have seen a sudden outpouring. This is the third version from Bronco following on from the Cabriolet and the civilian saloon, this time being the saloon version of the military staff car, and this time including two figures.

This kit comes in a large tray and lid style box on one large and one medium sized dark yellow sprues as well as the complete one piece upper body sans doors, also in dark yellow, and five black sprues for the tyres. There is also one clear sprue, one dark green sprue holding two jerry cans, another smaller dark yellow sprue holding weapons, a light grey sprue with the two figures, a small brass photo etched fret, a small sheet of decals and the instructions. Although that sounds like a lot all of this does look a little lonely in the somewhat oversized box that it comes in.

The mould quality is excellent with almost completely clean parts and almost non existant mould seams, very sharp detail and some particularly fine and delicate detailing. I did say almost, as you will still need to remove the mould seams even though they are very faint. Although there are some prominent injector pin knock out marks on some parts they are mostly all in locations where they won’t be seen once the kit is completed.

The chassis has a reasonably good level of detail, with separate parts for the driveshaft, rear axle, springs and exhaust. I wouldn’t call it super detailed but it’s more than adequate for what can be seen. No engine is included with just a simple sump moulded as part of the underside. The wheels are each made up of a central wheel and hub with the tyres each made from five separate slices designed to give maximum detail to the tread pattern. They do achieve this and look very good.

The body is a simple one piece part without the doors which are separate and can be positioned open or closed. The radiator grill, bonnet and boot are all moulded as part of the body piece so posing the bonnet or boot open would require quite a bit of surgery and rebuilding. The underside of the roof does have a couple of  prominent injector pin knock out marks that will need to be removed, although the roof interior also shows no sign of an interior lining so these could be covered by adding that.

The interior is well done with quite a bit of detail including a delicate handbrake and nicely moulded gear lever. The pedals are particularly small and would be easily lost if not careful. Other small parts include the tiny external doorhandles, rearview mirror, photo-etch visors, and the internal part of the indicator arms. The dash is particularly nice and includes two small decals for the dials. 

The seats don’t match photos which show the covering to go around the outside of the frame on the sides instead of inside it, but this may be a correct variation. The hinges for folding the front seats forward are also missing. This may be a small point but if the doors are positioned open these are noticeable.

The doors are separate parts and the door glass is sandwhiched between the outer shell of the door and the inner lining which creates a very realistic look. The interior panels are one of the few let downs with moulded on doorhandles, window winders, and map pockets ( as well as a moulded on window winder on each of the rear panels ). It seems a shame that after doing such delicate parts as the rearview mirror and pedals that these parts weren’t done separately as they are nuch more noticeable, especially if the doors are positioned open.

The figures are actually two of the figures from the Miniart German Feldgendarmerie set. One is a driver wearing an overseas cap, M40 field uniform and marching boots, the other an officer wearing a peaked cap, M40 field uniform, marching boots and a Feldgendarmerie gorget ( ”dog chain” or “dog collar” ) which is moulded to him. The mouldings on these are excellent, though the uniform folds and creases are a little understated, but the rest is very well done.

An assortment of extras are added for stowage, two jerry cans in mounting racks that can be added to the sides of the boot lid as well as a shovel and an MG34 for use wherever. The jerry cans include photo-etched parts and are very nicely done, as is the MG34 which includes a separate receiver cover, a length of ammo belt, a folded bipod, an open bipod, an ammo tin, and three drum mags and a dual drum carrier.

Oddly there is also an MP40 shown together with the officer’s P08 Luger holster being placed inside the boot. I say odd because there is no way to see into the boot, and the instructions appear to have confused the MP40 mag holder with the P08 holster which is also shown elsewhere where it should go, on the officer’s belt. The MP40 and mag holder should in fact be mounted on the driver’s door, though the MP40 lacks the vehicle mount.

Decals are included for two vehicle options, though really they just consist of optional number plates to go on a german grey body so if you want to depict it as being part of a particular unit you’ll most likely need to find your own unit markings. One decal represents a bear standing on all fours, I’m not sure if this is meant to represent 3.Pz.Div. or not as their bear is usually seen as a standing bear.

A very simple kit that builds into a very nice model. The sparseness is probably exagerated by years of tanks with all manner of bits attached so with that in mind it actually makes a very interesting comparison and stands out when amongst armour.

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Announced at the Nuremberg Show earlier this year and now about to hit our shelves.

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1/35 german staff car, icm kfz 1

For a long time one of the areas of 1/35 scale plastic kits that has been ignored by manufacturers is staff cars, then suddenly we have received two from Bronco and this one fron Tamiya which is particulary useful as it can be used as both a staff car or just as a civilian car.

This kit doesn’t really have a lot to it, just one sprue of dark green plastic, a smaller one of clear parts, the upper body and the lower pan, all this in a medium sized tray and lid style box which seems like a bit of overkill as the parts do look a little lost in there.

The lower chassis is moulded as one part with most of the underside detail moulded as part of it including the bumper mounts to which separate bumper bars are mounted. The wheels are made to be fixed facing forward and unable to be turned though it wouldn’t be too hard to redo them to look turned if desired. The wheels themselves are single piece moulded plastic tyres and outer wheel together with an inner wheel part that traps a vinyl poly cap inside, allowing the wheels to be able to rotate. The tyre part is moulded with a very nice looking delicate tread pattern. 

The body is also mainly one large piece with the fenders also being a separate large piece to which the firewall and dashboard are attached. The front doors are separate parts while the rear doors moulded as part of the body, so those cannot be modelled oped as the front ones can. The dash is quite well done though the interior detail finishes there with no handbrake, no pedals, no gear levers and some rather basic looking seats, with the front seats having no detail to the rear side of the upright part.  The bonnet is also moulded as part of the body so also cannot be opened, and the grille is not see through, neither of which really matter without an engine.

A driver figure is included though he is somewhat uninspired, being well moulded with good detail, but a little small and expressionless. Possibly the perfect driver for a high ranking German officer, but he really just does nothing for me as he’s just too stiff looking.

Decals are included for five vehicle options – 1352 RM1, Engineering Company, 112th Infantry Division, Wehrmacht ( Heer ), Eastern Front : L3922506, French Army, Earl War : 9806 RM9, French Civilian Car, France During WWII : WH, Unit Unknown, Wehrmacht ( Heer ) : 6593 RL5, French Civilian Car. No parts or markings are provided for penants so if you want those you’ll need to add your own.

All this amounts to a quick and simple build that can be knocked out in under an hour with the finished model being a nice wee car but I can’t help feeling it needs more detailing, especially on the inside which is well below the standard we have come to expect in modern kits. I expect before long we’ll see PE sets that give you the engine, open bonnet, open grille, doorhandles, interior detail, and wipers that it needs, but even without those it’s a nice little kit that fills a long ignored niche.

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