Schwimmwagen
Eduard 1:16th Scale Kit No.6106
In Box Review by Terry Ashley
The kit consists of 172 plastic parts in light beige plastic, 5 in clear plastic, 10 in vinyl/rubber for the tyres and inner “O” rings, a fret of etched metal (what else in an Eduard kit?) plus a small Express Mask sheet to aid with painting and of course the decal and instructions sheets for quite a collection of media types.
Unfortunately the details on the plastic parts are a little plain overall without a great deal of detail and on a number of the parts the detail definition is the same or less then on the Tamiya 1:35th Schwimmwagen let alone that in the Tamiya 1:16th Kübelwagen kit and is a bit of a disappointment.
The kit is broken down with the main body split in two with the upper and lower body parts as is the standard method with all Schwimmwagen kits with separate inner tub for the duckboards and central hump plus the rear seat shelf and engine bay bulkhead to which are added the seats, driver’s controls and instrument panel with the two fuel tanks under the front body.
Along with the plain part details the fit of the parts is also a little on the vague side with the two side body supports only having very fine engraved lines indicating their placement while the central bulkhead located under the dash and between the fuel tanks has no locating points at all and you have to work out the exact placement yourself. The fit of the duckboard tub and rear seat shelf/engine bulkhead is also vague and don’t fit snugly to the body contours and a bit of trimming will be needed.
The central engine intake grill on the rear bulkhead is provided in etched metal but there are again no locating points for this and after bending to a curved profile which you will need to work out yourself as the instructions don’t show the correct curvature you will most probably have to add small sections of plastic card strip to act as locating points for the etched screen.
The driver’s gear levers are all there but again have basic details while the foot pedals are separate parts but don’t have any pattern on their faces as there should be while the instrument panel has basic details with just decals for the instrument faces and while you may say this is okay we are talking 1:16th scale here and even the 1:35th Tamiya Schwimmwagen gives you engraved dials while the 1:16th Tamiya Kübelwagen gives you both engraved and decal dials.
The fit of the upper and lower body halves also leaves a bit to be desired as when matching the front the rear doesn’t match up and visa versa so some trimming or coaxing of the parts will be needed to get a good fit. Also the indented location for the front towing hook is too small and the wrong shape and will be difficult to correct, the box top illustration has the correct size indentation to use as a guide and while we are here the shape of the front and rear towing hooks are the wrong profile as they protrude at 90° but in fact should be angled downward before the hook starts, this is very evident in photos and again something Tamiya got right in their 1:48th and 1:35th Schwimmwagens.
The two side engine intakes are also provided in etched metal but are designed to sit flush on top of the body covering the opening when in fact they should be slightly indented, again this may be okay in 1:35th but for 1:16th it lacks definition.
Moving to the front suspension the parts again are very basic in detail with prominent mould seam lines on the parts to be removed before assembly and the fit of the parts also needs work.
The main diff is in two parts with an opening at the front and bottom for the main suspension arms and to fit to the lower body tub but both openings needed enlarging and reshaping before they would fit properly with the rest of the suspension parts needed minor trimming to fit.
At the rear the suspension parts are no more detailed than on the 1:35th Tamiya kit and main suspension swing arms have no locating point on the body other than small raised discs to which you butt join the swing arms and stub axles. This butt join has to take the whole weight of the model and you would be advised to drill holes in the swing arms and body to insert your own locating pins for a more robust assembly.
Turning to the wheels/tyres which are standard Kübelwagen 5.25-16 (with embossing on the sidewalls) the wheel rims have inner and out sections which trap the vinyl “O” ring and it is important to trap this “O” ring as you join the two rims halves together as it is impossible the add this later. The brake drums are in two parts each with the five wheel studs that fit into the holes in the wheel rims with separate wheel nuts attached to the studs for very busy wheel assemblies.
Unfortunately the details on the wheels is not totally correct with the cut-out around the five wheel nuts being too deep and lacking the raised lip around the inner edges, features that are on the Tamiya 1:35th Schwimmwagen and 1:16th Kübelwagen wheels. Also the contours on the central hubs on the rear wheels are raised and should be more concave in profile plus there is a small fitting missing from the hub as well as no tyre valve stem and again this detail is very apparent in this larger scale.
The same incorrect profile around the wheel nuts is also on the front wheels while the hub detail is more correct and the separate wheel nuts do give good detail definition to these items.
At the rear is the mounting and water screw assembly and again the details is rather basic with undersized details on the body power transfer plate and on the power transfer assembly with also a sizable sink mark to be filled in the middle of this part. The overhead guard and water screw protection ring are quite thin in profile and look okay and there is also a couple of etched parts to add to this assembly and the long crew hook used for raising and lowering the water screw assembly is superbly thin but still with a sizable mould seam line to be removed and care is needed due to the thin part. The two side body mounted reinforcing fillets are separate parts for good definition but the tow hooks are the wrong shape as mentioned previously.
The folded canvas roof has rather basic fabric folds and tilt frame details with the canvas cover on the Tamiya 1:35th Schwimmwagen having far better definition while the folded tilt frame detail is about the same on both even taking into account the difference in scale and the two part exhaust has a separate top heat shield and of course you should drill out the two small exhaust stubs for better definition.
The shovel and paddle are separate parts with separate etched attachment brackets and clips but again there is the large mould seams to be removed and there are also etched clips for the windscreen body clips and wing nuts on the seats and windscreen brackets plus the faces of the tail light and these parts add some good definition to the finished model.
The NOTEK light on the front fender is made up of three parts, the top cover, lower bracket/mount and front light slit for a very good representation of this light and the head lights have separate clear lenses and the horn a separate face for good definition but the large front rod bumper has the wrong profile with the bends being too shape instead of more rounded as they should be.
Other etched parts include a selection of pennants and senior officer placards to fit to the front fender as desired with colourful decals for these plus grab handles for the inside of the windscreen frame.
There are also separate fuel filler caps and separate spare wheel pedestal and rib details for the front body wheel recess with okay details but the MG mounting on the right front of the body is very basic and oversized.
Express Masks are provided for both sides of the windscreen with a cut-out for the wiper arc on the outside plus masks for the headlights and taillights to aid when painting and these will come in handy.
The decal sheet has apart from the pennants and dials mentioned unit markings and stencil data for two Schwimmwagens, 1: from 3.PzRgt., 2.Pz Div in three colour can schmeme but no location given and 2: the personal mount of Oberkomando General der Pioniere Erwin Janecke of 17.Armee, Kuban Bridgehead – Eastern Front August 1943 in over all Dark Yellow.
Conclusion:
Overall the impression is a that of disappointment as the level of detail
and fit of parts is not quite up to today’s standards but on the other
hand the inclusion of the etched parts does add additional details while there
are all the basic parts needed to make a good model with a bit of extra work
and this kit is a lot better than the 1:15th resin Schwimmwagen from MPM released
a few years ago which can best be described as average.
I’m sorry if all this sounds overly critical but we are talking 1:16th scale here and in light of the standards set by Tamiya and the recent Trumpeter 1:16th kits not to mention the latest generation kits from AFV Club and Dragon in 1:35th scale the detail on this kit is demonstrably lacking and the fit of parts is not up to 2005 state of the art for a major player and lets hope things improve considerably before the release of the forthcoming 1:35th Hetzers.
But as mentioned you will be able to build a nice looking model with a bit of work as the kit has the overall shape and profile of the Scwimmwagen down well and it will be interesting to see if any aftermarket people bring out update sets for this kit, especially a nice set of the fat 200-16 wheels.
Recommended with reservations.
The Sprues:
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Superb photo coverage of preserved Schwimmwages with everything the modeller would want. |
 VW at War Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-88740-401-4  VW at War (2) Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-88740-308-5 |
 Volkswagens of the Wehrmacht Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-88740-684-X |
Page created 28 March 2005
