Tamiya

1/48 Krupp Protze 6x4 Truck

Kit Number: 32534

Reviewed by  Andrew Birkbeck, IPMS# 27087

MSRP: $26.00 Website: www.tamiyausa.com Here we have yet another excellent kit in Tamiya's ever-expanding stable of 1/48th military vehicles. And like the earlier kits of the German Kubelwagen and Schwimmwagen, the Protze truck is an excellent "cross-over" model, filling a niche for the military vehicle modeler as well as the aircraft modeler. The kit comes with both Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe markings, the latter allowing the aircraft modeler latitude to incorporate the model into a nice airfield diorama. The kit contains approximately 100 parts for the truck, along with another 25 parts covering 8 soldiers/drivers, making it very good value for the money in my opinion. As with all the Tamiya kits I have ever had the pleasure to build, the parts are well detailed and flash free. Engineering is excellent, and the pieces (for the most part) fit together very well if the modeler follows the excellent Tamiya instructions. The only area that ended up causing me "difficulty" was where the rear suspension mounts to the chassis frame via a Phillips screw. When I then mounted the main upper chassis parts to the frame, I discovered that the rear four wheels did not exactly line up as Tamiya indicate they should. Given that the parts were screwed into position via predrilled holes, I am not sure what happened here. Suffice to say that the modeler needs to carefully test fit these components, and make any corrections necessary to insure perfect alignment. As with most of the Tamiya range of 1/48th military vehicle kits the lower chassis of the Krupp Truck kit is cast metal, so super glue is required to attach the initial plastic parts to the metal part, and the main plastic subassemblies are then "bolted" to the metal sub frame using four Philips screws. Other than the rear wheel "issue", everything went together perfectly as I followed through the Tamiya instructions. No unsightly ejection pin marks were encountered and the detail on the plastic parts was excellent through out. I especially liked the wood grain effect on the rear truck bed and sides. One area to look out for is where the separate tools such as shovels and axes attach to the model. These attach on the exterior of the rear "wooden" truck sides. The attachment holes for these tools go straight through the "wooden" side pieces and the modeler will probably wish to fill and smooth the holes afterwards from the inside. If you are careful you should be able to preserve most of the wood grain effect on these parts. Markings for three separate vehicles are included with the kit, but strangely Tamiya only depicts the two Wehrmacht subjects, so for the Luftwaffe vehicle one will have to consult appropriate references. Decals as always with Tamiya kits are a bit thicker than one might wish for, but they are nicely printed in perfect register and work just fine. Both the Wehrmacht vehicles are overall gray covering early Eastern Front vehicles, which makes perfect sense since the Kfz.70 entered service prior to the start of WW2, with production ceasing in late 1942 according to the Tamiya instructions. This said it is certain many of the trucks continued in operation with the German armies after they changed to the Yellow/Green/Red Brown schemes, so the modeler could with appropriate references no doubt come up with a non-gray scheme. This kit is HIGHLY recommend for the armored vehicle modeler who wishes to do a soft-skin subject as a change of pace from armored vehicles, and certainly for any aircraft modeler who wishes a non-aircraft subject that would logically fit into their collection as well. Well done Tamiya!

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