Santa is making a list. Way too many tanks here but very few utility vehicles and trucks. Been looking at Italeri’s Kubelwagen and their US 2.5 ton M-35 truck. Both are cheap so I suppose that means old. Doesn’t look like there’s competition except for Tamiya which are also cheap. Either worth building?
Tamiya and Italeri’s Kubelwagons are both 1970s technology and are lacking in details. I wouldn’t waste my money on the old ones. Dragon’s Kubelwagons are much better and way better detailed.
Neither Italeri nor Tamiya make an M35. I think you mean Italeri and Tamiya’s CCKW WWII GMC 2 1/2 ton trucks. Tamiya’s is very nice and much better detailed than the old (1960s) Italeri one. Tamiya’s has only been out about 10 years or so.
If you are looking for an M35 2 1/2 ton truck, AFV Club makes a very nice one. They have both an M35A2 modern truck and an M35A1 Vietnam guntruck version.
Actually I disagree on the CCKW. I find the Italeri much better detailed, especially in the chassis / suspension. Tamiya has a clunky one piece drivetrain with solid universals, and the one piece chassis does not correctly depict the C channel frame. And at least with the Italeri kit you don’t have to buy a separate set just to get needed parts that aren’t in the kit (notably the hood latches).
Actually Tamiya came out with newly-tooled Kubelwagens in the late 80’s or early 90’s. Can’t recall. They have the standard version and an Afrika Korps version. Much improved over the older ones.
I stumbled on a review of the Italeri “duece and a half” (not the M-35: that’s how Scale Modelist described it, not Italeri) on Perth and they gave it high marks. According to the review it was from the 80s, not the 60s. Unless one is willing to go on evilBay and hope for the best, it’s not going to be easy to find a Dragon (or Cyber Hobby) KubelW. All are out of stock on Dragon’s web site and although there’s a winterized version available in Japan. Well remember running through snowdrifts in Minnesota in a early 60’s bug. With that engine in the rear, it negotiated snow pretty well - unless you had to stop or evade something in which it sucked 24X7. Between Austin Healy Sprites, MGs and Bugs it’s a miracle I lived through the 60s. (Santa would buy a car if he could find a MGA. I had two and loved them to death despite their basically lousy engineering. What a lovely sound though - neater in a way than an Alfa I had later.)
The Italeri CCKW is originally the Peerless Max kit from the 1970s or 60s. Testors reissued it in the 1980s in their yellow box format when they distributed most Italeri armor kits this way. I built one way back then (1980-something) and thought it was a decent kit, but not as good as the Italeri Jeep or Sherman I built around the same time.
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I found the Italeri Kubelwagen to be a very simple model, something you can knock over on a sunday afternoon with a few beers. I actually enjoyed doing this KW as it was a welcome break from doing Tigers and Panthers.
As for the detail, I haven’t seen a real KW so I wouldn’t know what should be added/ what is lacking etc.
HeavyArty and Bronto can fight that one out!
I didn’t really want the Afrika corps setting so ended up with the 12.SS Hitlerjugend in Normandy. Still needs washes added and work on the interior colours.
Dragon reboxed the Hasegawa/Bego Kubelwagen, which is a pretty decent kit. There is one on eBay for a whopping $5. I’ve built it before and although I know next to nothing about a Kubelwagen, compared to the Heller one I bought for my daughter (Italeri rebox), it is much better model kit.
Thanks for the info. I bought a Bego KW on evilBay for $15 including shipping. Believe that was what DML used for their version. And I’m going to chance it on the Italeri truck - very important vehicle and looks like a gas to weather. And it’s supposed to have lots of “stuff” to put in it - that stuff comes in handy. (Actually the Italeri truck got some kind words at Kitmaker: it’s not a Heller rebox.)
Yes, the Italeri and Heller CCKW are different kits, but the Heller and Italeri Kubelwagens are the same.
During the late eighties Testor’s repackaged a Italeri Deuce and half opened cab truck, like the Heller version, and a enclosed cab water tank truck. I’m not sure if it was a streight Peerless Max reissue or modified with then new tooling by Italeri. Around the same time Airfix made, or repackaged, the open top version, along with some other Italeri and Heller kits. Apparently Heller got the tooling since the two companies merged some years ago.
The current Italeri CCKW is more or less a straight reissue of the Peerless kit with a enclosed cab and a gunner hatch cut in the roof; a feature not found on the water truck’s cab.
The cool water truck version hasn’t been reissued by anyone since the eighties.