Kübelwagen
Pkw.K1, Type 82
1/16th Scale
Kit contents
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Tamiya Kübelwagen Pkw.K1, Type 82 1/16th Scale Kit contents |
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Tamiya
has released a nicely affordable kit of the famous Kübelwagen.
The Kübelwagen was mass produced by Volkswagen during WWII and was
designed by none other than Ferdinand Porsche! There were about 50,000 Kübewagens produced in WWII, which isn't alot when you consider that Willy's Overland and Ford together produced nearly one million Jeeps. But the Kübewagen is an historic vehicle and a "must have" model in any collection. 
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Upon opening the box, I was struck with the compactness of the R/C unit. My
six-year old daughter was with me at the time. She (of course) has been exposed
to R/C and she giggled. She thought the transmitter looked like a "young one" and
quite appropriate to her small hands. I promised to give her driving lessons as soon
as the assembly was complete (what's a dad to do?) I am most impressed by the price. Tamiya is able to sell a full 1/16th scale R/C kit with R/C unit for about $80 (USD). You get a model and can play with it too for less than $100 (USD) with shipping. The kit is packaged nicely, as is the style with Tamiya. I ordered the kit from HobbyLinc Japan and like the Tiger I it arrived via UPS to the USA without a scratch.
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| What's in the box? | ||
| Tires |
The wheels are plastic with rubber tires. The tires are special in that
they are geniune vulcanized rubber--they even SMELL scale.
The plastic used for the chassis and wheels is clearly not standard soft styrene. I'm not certain what it is, but I did a "bite" test on the sprue and noticed that the plastic used for the rest of the kit was definitely softer. Maybe the chassis and gearbox is polyethlene. . . |
Tires are real vulcanized rubber. They even smell scale!
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| Chassis |
Plastic, but not standard model styrene. I bit the sprues and compared
them--the chassis and gearbox are molded of something else, maybe polyethlene. The chassis is molded with scale precision. You will note that the wheels are part of the same sprue. |
Chassis and gearbox are made of more durable plastic that the rest
of the kit.
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| Figure (driver) |
The driver figure is almost complete--he lack feet due to space limitations
in the firewall area. For us R/C buffs, this is okay, but to die-hard scale fans
it isn't. For you scale fans, fear not: Tamiya is marketing a full, static-scale
kit with DAK (Desert Afrika Corps?) tires and a full figure kit of Feldmarshall Erwin
Rommel. But remember, it is static scale. The R/C kit's driver is in standard Wehrmacht uniform. |
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| Gear Box |
The gear box, like I said before, is made out out durable plastic. It has a
Mabuchi-type 130 motor. This motor is more than ample given the gearbox ratio. The gears themselves come from the sprue, but this sprue is the tough plastic. |
 Single Mabuchi 130 motor and gearbox. |
| Radio Control Unit |
The kit comes with a simple 2-channel radio control transmitter and receiver.
Note the R/C unit is not proportional
like separatly purchased R/C units such as Futaba. Tamiya advertises that
the receiver is an Electronic Speed Control (ESC). This is partly true,
except since the R/C is not proportional, there is only one speed in
forward and reverse. The steering is done by a rack-and-pinion using a Mabuchi 130 motor. There are no "servos" in the classic sense. Since the R/C is not proportional, steering is either full right or full left--nothing inbetween. However, this keeps the cost down. As far as the R/C goes, there is nothing to buy except batteries. |
 The charger shown is for the six-cell R/C car battery packs. The radio will need eight AA nicads. |
| Decals |
The decals are wonderful. However, they only depict Wehrmacht vehicles. I'm no fan of the Nazi's, but from my research the Waffen SS had some of the toughest fighters (I see at IPMS shows that the Waffen SS is a popular subject. I guess what we American's call "Political Correctness" is part of the marketing at Tamiya. I wish that historical correctness could be the norm, but if Tamiya sells more German tanks this way, I cannot really belittle them. |
 The decals depict a number of vehicles. Although no Waffen SS units are represented. |
| Summary | ||
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This is a really neat model! It assembles quickly and the quality is
superb. The integrated receiver/ESC makes for easy installation. I bought four
Rayovac rechargeable alkaline batteries to run it with a NiMH 9 volt transmitter
battery.
The only drawback is when you try to drive it. Since the R/C is not proportional, steering is jerky. Also, it would be nice to have a throttle, but there is only one speed. This is similar to the simple R/C cars at Radio Shack. In fact, the transmitter even has a "Made in China" stamp on it. At about $100.00 (USD shipped from HLJ), this is an outstanding value and it will greatly enhance Tiger I operations. My wife gets a kick out of driving the Kübelwagen around when I run my Tiger! | ||
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