Build Review of Tamiya 1/35th Scale
German Steyr Type 1500A “Kommandeurwagen”
Kit no. MM 235
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 1999
I bought this kit for 40% off of $28.99 at the local Hobby Lobby store. (about $14.00).
It is available at 5 locations overseas on the web.
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 1999
I bought this kit for 40% off of $28.99 at the local Hobby Lobby store. (about $14.00).
It is available at 5 locations overseas on the web.
HISTORY:
The 1500A was powered by a 85 hp, 8-cylinder air-cooled Steyr 3517cc OHV petrol engine, and had a top speed of 90 km/h on roads, and 45 km/h cross-country. The 1500A had a maximum range of 400 kilometers when travelling on roads, and 280 kilometers when travelling cross-country, and the total fuel capacity wa… See more
Variants:
There were two main variants of the 1500A, the first being the 1500A-1, which was a fully enclosed troop carrier with bench seats fitting to the load bed, and was ideal for transporting.
Production of the 1500A began in 1941 when the Austrian company Steyr-Daimler-Puch. Later on, Auto Union and Audi began to manufacture the 1500A as well.
The 1500A was powered by a 85 hp, 8-cylinder air-cooled Steyr 3517cc OHV petrol engine, and had a top speed of 90 km/h on roads, and 45 km/h cross-country. The 1500A had a maximum range of 400 kilometers when travelling on roads, and 280 kilometers when travelling cross-country, and the total fuel capacity wa… See more
Variants:
There were two main variants of the 1500A, the first being the 1500A-1, which was a fully enclosed troop carrier with bench seats fitting to the load bed, and was ideal for transporting.
Production of the 1500A began in 1941 when the Austrian company Steyr-Daimler-Puch. Later on, Auto Union and Audi began to manufacture the 1500A as well.
THE KIT:
Tamiya is an old prolific model company based in Italy. They manufacture all manner of plastic model subjects in the popular scales.
This kit comes in a shrink-wrapped tray and lid type box.
The box art is a color illustration of the car, posed against one of Tamiya’s usual signature background of all white. It is in a camouflage pattern of a base of earth yellow with green narrow wave pattern. It has a brown canvas roof and a pennant on pole, mounted on it’s right front fender, that has a red field, outlined in gold with a gold eagle with swastika on it. White rectangular license plate on the front bumper carries the black serial no. WH-1203842 on it. There is a driver and a passenger inside the car. Both wear field-grey uniforms. The driver wears a cloth side cap. The passenger is an officer, wearing an officer’s billed hat.
There is a small illustration of the car, at the left lower corner of the box art in color. It is overall Panzer-grey. With a flag on it’s right front fender that has a black and white checkerboard pattern on it.
The upper right corner says: 1/35th military miniature series no. 235. Highly accurate static display AV model. Complete interior and exterior detailing. Realistic chassis under-surface and suspension. Include 3 life-like crew figures. With accessory parts. Courtesy of Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG.
One side panel of the box shows a color side view illustration of the car. It is in a winter scheme of over-all Panzer-grey with a white-wash coating, that is wearing through in places to the grey below. It has a flag on it’s left front fender with the black and white checkerboard pattern on it. This is followed with a paragraph all in Japanese and color illustrations of the 3 figures included in the kit. The third figure is of another officer who is standing and holding a pair of binoculars. He is dressed the same as the officer seated in the back seat (describe earlier above) You can now see that all the figures also wear black jack boots.
The copyright of the kit is given as 1999, over Made in the Philippines, over Tamiya’s address in Shizuoka City, Japan.
Tamiya is an old prolific model company based in Italy. They manufacture all manner of plastic model subjects in the popular scales.
This kit comes in a shrink-wrapped tray and lid type box.
The box art is a color illustration of the car, posed against one of Tamiya’s usual signature background of all white. It is in a camouflage pattern of a base of earth yellow with green narrow wave pattern. It has a brown canvas roof and a pennant on pole, mounted on it’s right front fender, that has a red field, outlined in gold with a gold eagle with swastika on it. White rectangular license plate on the front bumper carries the black serial no. WH-1203842 on it. There is a driver and a passenger inside the car. Both wear field-grey uniforms. The driver wears a cloth side cap. The passenger is an officer, wearing an officer’s billed hat.
There is a small illustration of the car, at the left lower corner of the box art in color. It is overall Panzer-grey. With a flag on it’s right front fender that has a black and white checkerboard pattern on it.
The upper right corner says: 1/35th military miniature series no. 235. Highly accurate static display AV model. Complete interior and exterior detailing. Realistic chassis under-surface and suspension. Include 3 life-like crew figures. With accessory parts. Courtesy of Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG.
One side panel of the box shows a color side view illustration of the car. It is in a winter scheme of over-all Panzer-grey with a white-wash coating, that is wearing through in places to the grey below. It has a flag on it’s left front fender with the black and white checkerboard pattern on it. This is followed with a paragraph all in Japanese and color illustrations of the 3 figures included in the kit. The third figure is of another officer who is standing and holding a pair of binoculars. He is dressed the same as the officer seated in the back seat (describe earlier above) You can now see that all the figures also wear black jack boots.
The copyright of the kit is given as 1999, over Made in the Philippines, over Tamiya’s address in Shizuoka City, Japan.
The other side panel shows a color 3-view of a repeat of the small side view on the cover art (described above). If has a jerry can on top of the right rear lender that is Panzer-grey with a white cross on it. It has a rectangular white license plate on the front and rear bumpers with black serial no. WH-1224751 and the black and white checkerboard sign on the front of both front fenders.
It was the 17th Army’s Commanding General Ruoff’s vehicle, Russia, Autumn 1942. This is followed by Tamiya’s European office address, kit made in the Philippines and Tamiya’s web address.
It was the 17th Army’s Commanding General Ruoff’s vehicle, Russia, Autumn 1942. This is followed by Tamiya’s European office address, kit made in the Philippines and Tamiya’s web address.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX:
This kit holds tan trees of parts. Having built the kit mostly, I don’t remember how many trees it was. There is a clear tree, the decal sheet in sealed clear cello bags and the instructions.
The instructions consist of a single-sheet, that accordion-folds out into 10 pages, in 6 ¾” x 10 ¼” page format.
Page 1 begins with a black and white photo of the model made up in the overall Panzer-grey scheme with the 3 figures.
Below that is the history of the car, in 6 languages, including English.
Page 2 begins with READ BEFORE YOU start instructions, with illustrations of suggested tools to use and a list of paint colors, in 6 languages, including English.
The bottom of page 2 through to page 8 gives a grand total of 13 assembly steps.
Step no. 10 is for assembly and painting of the 3 figures.
Page 9 is a painting and marking guide. It shows a 5-view of the car in the box art scheme camouflage on it (already described above)
At the bottom there is a side-view of General Ruoff’s car (also already described above).
Page 10 begins with a front and rear view of Ruoff’s car, over a 3-view of the car in winter whitewash (also described earlier above). In the left column of the page is the decal application instructions, in 6 languages, including English. Across the bottom of the page there is a custom assistance coupon in Japanese.
This kit holds tan trees of parts. Having built the kit mostly, I don’t remember how many trees it was. There is a clear tree, the decal sheet in sealed clear cello bags and the instructions.
The instructions consist of a single-sheet, that accordion-folds out into 10 pages, in 6 ¾” x 10 ¼” page format.
Page 1 begins with a black and white photo of the model made up in the overall Panzer-grey scheme with the 3 figures.
Below that is the history of the car, in 6 languages, including English.
Page 2 begins with READ BEFORE YOU start instructions, with illustrations of suggested tools to use and a list of paint colors, in 6 languages, including English.
The bottom of page 2 through to page 8 gives a grand total of 13 assembly steps.
Step no. 10 is for assembly and painting of the 3 figures.
Page 9 is a painting and marking guide. It shows a 5-view of the car in the box art scheme camouflage on it (already described above)
At the bottom there is a side-view of General Ruoff’s car (also already described above).
Page 10 begins with a front and rear view of Ruoff’s car, over a 3-view of the car in winter whitewash (also described earlier above). In the left column of the page is the decal application instructions, in 6 languages, including English. Across the bottom of the page there is a custom assistance coupon in Japanese.
The inside of the tray contains the warnings in multiple languages.
A sheet of mesh is included in the kit for the air intakes in the hood.
A full canvas roof top in included in the kit.
The clear parts are next for the windshield,doors and canvas top (6 parts).
The parts I needed to attach to the model such as the doors,headlights exhaust etc.
The decal sheet completes the kit contents.
I have assembled the majority of this car, except for the roof and trunk lid. Also have assembled the 3 figures. No painting or marking done yet.
I have added a Eduard brand steel PE set and 2 Archer brand decal sets to the kit to use. The Archer sets are of instrument faces and tactical insignias and stripes.
I have put some small parts into a couple old pill capsules with lids to keep from losing the parts.
Great detail. Highly recommended.
Great detail. Highly recommended.