Sunday 25 September 2016

Bargain Kit?

Wandered in to the local Home Bargains discount store today in our little town and spy some kits from a manufacturer I've never heard of before, mostly 1/48 aircraft which really aren't my scale.  But in amongst them I spied this 1/72 Kettenkrad and Schwimmwagen.




Now it didn't look terribly promising judging by the picture on the cover, but hey we were only talking £1.99 here so worth the gamble.

With the package safely smuggled past SWMBO and back at the Bureau time to rip of the plastic wrapping and get a look at this mystery kit.

Underwhelming.
Well I can't say as I was blown away by how fully packed the box was.  As you can see there were 2 sprues, one for each vehicle and fairly small at that, some instructions and a small decal sheet.

The instructions and sprues, and the limited decals

back of kettenkrad sprue

front of kettenkrad sprue

Schwimmwagen back
Schwimmwagen back
A more detailed look at the sprues and you realise just how parts there are, certainly for the kettenkrad.  More for the schwimmwagen but still not a lot and a few of those are for the driver and other random figure included.  The actual production seems good with very little to no flash present.  So far so good, I'm reasonably impressed for two quid.









































With a few minutes to kill whilst the boss was watching celebs in sequins I thought I'd have a bash to see if these were quick builds or not.



So the kettenkrad main body is just 4 parts (top, bottom, tracks), and they went together pretty well.

So just six more parts complete the vehicle itself and then the driver and passenger, not quite as impressive from a detail point of view and definitely early war from the uniform, the rifle being held by the passenger is particularly poor.


The driver had to have a bit of a trim to fit, but then most of could do with a losing a little bit of weight.

The schwimmwagen was never going to be as straightforward, but the main bits went together quite easily
There were a few bits which I thought might have been cast as part of the larger pieces which were quite fiddly to do, such as the side trim bits, the oar and the shovel.  






Again the driver is a bit poor with his arm positions, but I guess for the money I'm being picky and I could have trimmed the parts up a bit to get a better look and feel.


The whole gang together.
So are these quick builds?  Not quite though they are very simple and straightforward, and I'm not regretting spending a massive £1.99 on them.  Only quandary I now have is finding a use or role for them.  The kettenkrad I can paint up for DAK use but just can't see the need for an amphibious schwimmwagen in the deserts of North Africa, though I may paint it up that way just for set dressing.

So the other 1/72 kit I spotted might have to be purchased now, think I might be able to find more uses for it as well, and if it's any good I might just clear out their stock at this price.

Worth another £1.99, probably.

7 comments:

  1. Good find. I have a soft stop for really light bit and pieces in WWII, but I'm trying to resist getting into it while I concentrate my efforts elsewhere. Deals like this make it harder to resist!

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    1. Thanks Caliban. Yeh can't really see WWII softskins fitting in with your excellent Roman stuff.

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  3. Not bad for such a massive investment but that rifle looks more like a captured kielbasa.

    I would paint up the Schwimm for the DAK - always did like that vehicle...

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  4. For that price I reckon you have a bargain all right. Good picking.

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    1. Went back the next week and ALL the kits had disappeared which I found surprising. Even checked some of the other branches in the area and not a sniff of a kit. Oh well at least I got a couple of bargains at least.

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