IPMS/USA Kit Review: Tamiya 1/48 Italian Armored Car AB41

Tamiya

1/48 Italian Armored Car AB41

Kit Number: 89778

Reviewed by Andrew Birkbeck, IPMS# 27087

MSRP: $36.00
Website: www.tamiyausa.com

In the interests of full disclosure, let me start by saying that this is not a Tamiya kit, but a reboxed Italeri kit, the parts being injection molded in Italy. The kit consists of four sprues of tan colored plastic parts, together with a pre painted cast metal chassis section and six vinyl tire parts, plus a lovely decal sheet printed by Zanchetti Buccinasco of Italy. The instruction sheet is by Tamiya, which is a real plus as always with Tamiya instructions.

An initial impression looking over the plastic parts is good. Detail looks crisp, and given the simple construction of the real vehicle, you would be forgiven for thinking this will be a simple build. Thinking this way, I launched into construction of the kit, and was somewhat disappointed.

Firstly, the plastic used to manufacture this kit is not the high quality plastic Tamiya uses on its "Made in Japan" kits, but a vinyl-like plastic that glues only moderately well with my favorite glue, Tamiya's green topped "extra thin cement". I then tried my other favorite cement, Testor's liquid cement in the black squeeze bottle with metal needle applicator. The next day I was able to pull pieces apart that had been glued this way?? The detail is also soft around the edges using this plastic, and the parts have flash here and there. (Please see note at end of review.)

Launching into construction: Section 1, Chassis: be VERY careful here, as while the metal chassis and plastic part B52 appear to be identical facing front and back, they are NOT. On part B52, there is an arrow showing which way is the front, but on the metal chassis, there is no such indicator. Study the metal part, and the instructions carefully, to determine which way is front. Also, note that parts C51 are to be sandwiched between the metal chassis and B52 and THEN you install the metal screws. Superglue will be required to assemble the various components.

In Section 3, be very careful to attach and align parts D5 and D6 between the two sills on parts D2 and D3. Get this wrong, and the whole sit of the main hull on the chassis will be messed up. Following this comes one of the trickiest parts of the construction, Section 4. This is poorly engineered in my humble opinion, and you will need four (or more) hands to try to line things up. It is at this point that it becomes clear Tamiya didn't engineer the model. It is critical in Section 4 to make sure the parts are all square, and parts C1 are simply not designed to adequately insure this. Also note, using Tamiya's superb box art painting, that the AB41 has metal plates that butt up against one another in a very tightly fitting way. An initial test fit of the kit's parts will show you that to achieve this, lots of test fitting and careful altering of the parts will be required to get this right on your model. The problem is that trying to do all this test fitting and altering while at the same time keeping the parts lined up and square will prove difficult.

Section 5: I would advise the modeler to leave off D25 from D7 until later in the construction sequences to avoid the risk of damage. Section 6: I would suggest you glue D9 to D8 after much test fitting, and let these parts set up strongly. Then test fit Part D7 (from Section 5) to the hull unit constructed in Section 4. For any sort of decent fit, you MUST glue part D7 to the hull unit BEFORE you glue parts D8/D9. Then test fit and alter part D10 accordingly, and glue it to the main hull parts.

Section 8: lots more test fitting and careful altering of parts D13 and D12/D19 (from Section 5) in order to get them to fit snuggly and with minimal gaps. Start by carefully fitting and gluing the unit D12/D19 and once that has set up firmly, then start test fitting and altering D13 until you get a good fit, then glue. I would leave the spare wheel/tire off until later in the construction sequences.

Section 9: this requires super glue or epoxy to glue the metal chassis areas to the main hull, so make sure you have the chassis facing the right way and fitting snuggly. Do more test fitting of these two units, hull and chassis, together with part D14, before gluing chassis to hull, then part D14 to the completed hull/chassis unit.

Section 10: again, fit isn't the best in this section, so just fit, alter, and fit and alter again until you get it looking right. Make sure to get the main gun barrel protruding from the mantlet properly. Also note that there is an error at this stage with the accuracy of the kit. Study head on photos of the real vehicle's main gun mantlet, or just look at the excellent Tamiya box art. You will note that according to the box art, there is a metal plate riveted around the gun barrel/mantlet, with no gap whatsoever showing where the gun barrel meets this plate. Sadly on the kit parts, there is a noticeable gap between the depiction of the plate and the gun barrel. And it is all a very tight area to work in, so "fixing" this will be a challenge, resulting almost certainly with the rivet detail being removed and requiring replacement.

Section 11: looks simple, but isn't. The turret hatches do not fit at all well especially part B43 if mounted in the closed position. You know the drill: test fit, alter, test fit, and alter some more. Same with Section 12: the buttoning up of the three main turret sections. Test fit carefully, to make sure everything lines up appropriately. Also the assembly of the road wheels and tires: the tires, as mentioned earlier, are of a vinyl/rubber type material. I personally don't like this. Over the years, "vinyl/rubber" parts have shown a tendency to deteriorate with time. They also have proven to react negatively with solvent-based paints/clear coats. They also pose a problem with the final finish: the tires are a glossy finish, and uniformly black. Many modelers feel that "black" for a tire is the wrong hue, and certainly a glossy finish is wrong for a military vehicle, especially one in the dusty environs of Italy or North Africa. How to make the tires matt, and how to weather them appropriately? I MUCH prefer tires made from the same plastic as the rest of an injection molded kit. Then I can glue these parts with the same glue as the rest of the model, cut, sand etc. using the same tools as with the rest of the kit parts, and paint/weather with the same materials as I do with the rest of the kit. You are free to disagree with me if you wish.

Sections 13 and 14: be very careful when you remove parts C36 from the sprues, and be equally careful cleaning up the seam lines on these two parts. Also be very careful when you position part B11 on the hull top, as getting it in the wrong position will foul the correct seating of the turret. In addition, the "jerry cans", parts C22, are best discarded and replaced by ones from Tamiya's own set #32510 "Jerry Can Set", as the tops of the cans in the AB41 kit are missing some prominent detail.

Painting and Markings: as mentioned earlier, the decal sheet looks very well printed, with well-saturated colors, and everything in correct alignment. They are also thinner than the standard Tamiya produced decals for whatever this is worth. The decals allow the modeler to build four different schemes: A/ a Wehrmacht vehicle in three tone scheme from Italy, July 1944; B/ an overall sand yellow Polizia Africa Italiana vehicle from Tunisia, 1943; C/ an Italian army vehicle from Libya 1942; D/ a three tone Italian army vehicle listed as "Penerolo, Italy 1942". Suitable paint mixes are provided for the colors utilizing Tamiya's excellent acrylic paint line.

So where do we stand, then, with this review? Well, we must understand that this isn't a Tamiya kit, but an Italeri kit in a lovely Tamiya box. As such, it is missing the high quality Tamiya plastic and the fidelity of fit that we have come to associate with the best of Tamiya's products. This said, with some patience, and a willingness to employ "standard modeling skills", a nice model of the WW2 Italian AB41 armored car can be achieved. The model is unique: it is the only injection molded WW2 Italian vehicle model that I am aware of having ever been produced in 1/48th scale. And with the Italeri version apparently unavailable under their own label, at least here in the USA, it is good that Tamiya has made the kit available to US modelers. Due to the fit issues involved with trying to assemble this kit, I would recommend it to "the more experienced modeler".

My thanks to TamiyaUSA for supplying IPMS/USA with this review sample. See this and all the other 1/48th military vehicle kits available in this series at www.tamiyausa.com .

Note: The reviewer received the following information after this review was posted.

ABS is a mixture of styrene, acrylonitrile and butadiene, a rubbery substance that makes the mixture of stronger than pure polystyrene. Unfortunately, the styrene in the mixture gives ABS a shiny, impervious surface that combined with the butadiene resists glues not formulated for ABS. Tamiya advises Track48 through its Canadian distributor that future releases of the kit will be made from conventional styrene, and the company has withdrawn the ABS kits from its distributors and will replace kits for purchasers who so desire. If your kit is one of the early ABS releases, you can assemble it using cement formulated for ABS, or contact your vendor or local Tamiya distributor for replacement.