1970's Tamiya Kubelwagen kit

[JamesOLeary]

My Grandson's birthday is coming up and he likes Kubelwagens, so since I was able to get one at Soonercon that was of low parts count to make it a quick build, I decided to build this 1970's era Tamiya kit of the Kubelwagen for his vehicle collection. Since I had gotten two of them so my Grandson could build one later, I started on this one yesterday. It really is a very basic kit, so he should be able to build a pretty decent model with it without getting discouraged by a high parts count. I figure that if I can make this look pretty decent, it will motivate him to put his together.

There really isn't much to this kit. It took longer to clean up the flash from the parts than it took to put it together. I did need to use a bit of putty as the parts do not fit together very well.

I will add the wheels and shovel after I paint the model.

Like most of my models, I primed it with Krylon Flat Black spray paint. Like the Tamiya Dingo that I am also currently building, I was planning on applying very thin layers of the khaki color that is close to the yellow color that was used in German Camo Patterns. Unfortunately, the spray can had some problems and the paint splattered out of the can leaving a crappy finish. So, like I did with the Dingo, I sprayed it with Krylon Khaki which was too whitish/tannish for my liking, so as soon as it dried, I brush painted the model with Vallejo Khaki and it looks a bit better now.

Next will be to paint the camo pattern. I plan on using at least the driver that came with the kit to man the Kubelwagen. These older figures are horrible compared to those of today. However, back in the late '70s and early 80's when I was starting to work on figures, they were cool.

Thanks for looking.
Cheers,
James

 

[Rhino]

Neet-O!
That old Tamiya K-wagen was one of my '93 flood survivor models!

 

[moon puppy]

 

[nsmekanik]

Gotta like those Tamiya kits for quick and easy and still lookin the part
:drinks

 

[JSteinman]

I built that kit, in the 70's. Yours looks better than mine!

 

[lupanzer]

I remmenber this one old Tamiya Kubel...at that time, it was my and my brother dream...good times!!!

Hope to see a great job!...good lucky my friend! :drinks

Luiz.

 

[JamesOLeary]

Thanks, Guys.

Building these old Tamiya kits are bringing back some fond memories from my childhood although the kits I had built back then consisted of their American vehicles, the few that I built, when I wasn't working on figures from the Airfix MultiPose sets and making conversions of Tamiya figures.

Now that I have applied some "Field Expedient Camo" to the Kubelwagen, I am not sure how it will ultimately turn out. I will be applying some washes and weathering tonight, so we'll just have to see.

Here it is as it looks right now.

I am not sure what this pattern is called. I just know that my grandson saw pictures of a tank painted in this pattern a while back and said he liked that pattern and had painted a few of his 1/72 scale tanks he uses for wargames in that pattern. I figured since this Kubelwagen is for him, he'd like it in this pattern.

That's all for now. Thanks for looking.

Cheers,
James

 

[JamesOLeary]

I did a couple of brown washes over the ribbing on the sides and in the creases of the doors. You can see how that part turned out in the first picture.

Then I added some chipping to the paint. I think I might need to put in a few bare metal chips among the rusty colored ones. I'll see if I decide to do that or not.

Next I will put on the windshield, steering wheel, and wheels, then weather. I think I will look for some of my other figures to man this vehicle as I am not pleased with the look of the old Tamiya driver.

Cheers,
James

 

[moon puppy]

Gets a good shadow effect. Nice work James..

 

[JamesOLeary]

Gets a good shadow effect. Nice work James..

Thanks. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out since it was an acrylic wash over acrylic paints, but I think it turned out well.

I am calling this one done. I was surprised that the decals worked since the ones that came with the Dingo model I had completed prior to this one tore and disintergrated.

I think my grandson will like it. I might still do some figures for it and may even make a vignette to display it in, but as far as the model itself is concerned, it is done. It was nice to build a low parts count, easy to build kit. It may not look as good as one from today nor like my Vietnam projects, but it looks somewhat appealing.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,
James

 

[moon puppy]

 

[sharkman]

Looks good James!!

 

[Jeeves]

Nice job James- I'm sure he will love it!

 

[JamesOLeary]

Thanks.

I am sure he will like it. There is still almost two months until his birthday, so he might end up with some figures in a vignette with this or will have some other vehicles to add to the collection.

Cheers,
James

 

[Rhino]

I like your little, classic, Bucket! Ausgetzeichnet!

:drinks

 

[bob letterman]

Bob

 

[lupanzer]

Good job!

Luiz.

 

[Tankbuilder]

A nicely built and painted oldie but goodie. What I liked about Tamiya kits back in the 1970's early 1980's was that most of them came with at least one figure even if it was Japanese size in scale stature. At least you got a driver figure with the Kubelwagen.

Cheers