STOEWER Kfz 1 typ 40

By Faustnik - jmqtv(at)iol.pt

Manufacturer: AL.BY Miniatures (Kit #702)

Contents:

- 12 Parts moulded in yellow Resin

- Packed in a transparent box, typical of AL.BY offerings.

- No decals, Assembly instructions or painting information

Evaluation:

Good quality of castings and details even if this is, to my knowledge, the very first complete kit from AL.BY, so a classic in their lists.

I find some areas of improvement in kit, like the moulded tarpaulin with the body, already removed from my specimen, which is asking for a new one made from thin copper wire and paper tissue. The front fenders and tow hooks are missing, so unless you want a heavily "weathered" vehicle, you have to make them.

I personally think that the side walls are on the though side, but a little of sanding could do the trick. Some work is also needed in the interior, to complete it, so you will need some good photos. Just look at some of the offerings from Schiffer Pub. To have an idea.

Some care is helpful in the junction of the axles with the wheels, as only a small area will be in contact, so creating a eventual weakness and a breaking point if are to use your model in a lot of expositions or wargames. In my kit I simple drilled a hole on the rear of the wheel hub and another in the axle, and use a small pin to reinforce the joining.

As any resin kit, some cleaning of the parts is needed. In my specimen there were no air bubbles and no warping of parts is visible, but I needed to fill, with some Miliput, the top of the rear compartment, after the removal of the tarpaulin.

Overall:

This type of vehicle was in use from 1936 till the very end, even if the production ended in 1943 (Stoewer/BMW/Hanomag), after some 13000 produced. In terms of colours and use, almost all fronts had a Kfz 1 Stoewer. One particular point, if you are a diorama builder, is that it uses, as a option, 4-wheel steering, as all the wheels could turn, reducing the turning radius.

Even if this particular kit reproduce a late model, in production from 1940 on, it could be easily adapted to any version or builder, as they are externally identical. You could easily convert this model in to a Kfz 2 radio version or maintenance vehicle with 3 doors instead of the usual 4.

As far as scale is concern, using the available data (Bart VANDERVEEN and Geof LACEY [Scale Plans G82 & G83] the overall dimensions is very near the 1:72, with less of 0,35 mm of error.

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