Kit: No. 35224
Scale: 1/35
Manufacturer: Tamiya, distributed by Tamiya America, 2 Orion, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656-4922, 800-826-4922
Price: $17.50
Comments: Injection molded, 92 parts (plastic screen, die-cut windshield), decals.
Not many fighting vehicles carry paddles as standard equipment, but Germany's Schwimmwagen did, and for good reason. Designed around the Kübelwagen's four-cylinder engine and running gear, the amphibious Schwimmwagen could carry four fully equipped soldiers over rough terrain with its rugged four-wheel-drive system, or over water with its flip-down rear propeller and watertight welded-steel hull.
Despite its amphibious capabilities, the Schwimmwagen's real advantages lay in its almost unbeatable cross-country performance, particularly in the deep mud and snow of the Russian front, where its traction was almost the equal of tracked vehicles. More than 14,000 Type 166s were produced between 1942 and 1944.
Tamiya's all-new Schwimmwagen kit contains 90 flash-free tan injection-molded parts, a die-cut windshield, decals, and fine plastic screen for the engine air intakes. The vehicle's engine-compartment lid can be posed open, and a nicely detailed engine is included.
The backbone of the kit is the vehicle's two-piece hull which is split along the beltline into upper and lower halves. The engine compartment and passenger-compartment floor are trapped in place when the hull halves are glued together.
The Schwimmwagen's unusual construction made painting the model tricky. The lower-hull floor is visible through the slatted passenger-compartment floor, and the entire front footwell and its twin fuel tanks are visible under the dash. Both of these areas would be almost impossible to paint after the hull is glued together, so I airbrushed them before working on the rest of the model.
Although only six pieces make up the engine and its waterproof compartment, the finished assembly is beautifully detailed. I installed the finished assembly in the lower hull with super glue, then added the passenger-compartment floor.
Joining the upper and lower hull halves was challenging. Although the fit of the front of the vehicle was nice, things got more difficult as I moved toward the rear. I had to sand away part of the engine-compartment fire wall before the upper hull fit properly - the plastic engine screens glued inside the upper hull get in the way. I clamped the parts together and glued them with liquid cement to make a strong bond.
Modelers tackling this kit should have plenty of experience working with tiny, delicate parts - the Schwimmwagen is loaded with them. The tool set, top framework, tow hooks, and gearshift levers are maddeningly small, and several of them made trips to my workshop carpeting during construction. To help minimize breakage, I left off most of the tiny bits until the end.
At first, I was skeptical about the die-cut windshield, but I was pleasantly surprised when it fit perfectly in its frame. I secured it with white glue.
I painted the model with a variety of paints, including Testor Model Master, Humbrol, and Polly Scale.
Although the kit provides markings for several different vehicles (in a variety of camouflage schemes), I decided to model a garden-variety gray Wehrmacht car. The black-and-white decal sheet includes number plates, tire-pressure stencils, an engine-compartment placard, and a dashboard shift-pattern diagram. I applied Future floor polish to the model, then applied the decals using a tiny amount of Micro Sol. Testor Dullcote sealed them.
My main reference for the model was VW at War: Kübelwagen, Schwimmwagen & Special Vehicles by Michael Sawodny. The model scales out perfectly.
The kit also includes a relaxed-pose seven-piece driver, but since my figures always end up looking like lawn ornaments, I left him out.
Despite minor problems joining the hull halves, the model was trouble-free, fun to build, and fills an important hole in my collection. It took almost 30 hours to build - longer than I expected, but understandable with the number of small parts. I'd recommend it to intermediate modelers.
- Matthew Usher