ICM Army Group "Centre" Summer 1941 (DS3502) 1:35

[Mike]

Army Group "Centre" Summer 1941 (DS3502)

L3000S truck, Kfz.1 Car, Driver Set & German Infantry 1939-42

1:35 ICM via Hannants Ltd.

 

 

During the early stages of Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of Soviet Russia, different groups were established to take local control over the rapidly advancing troops and materiel, as Blitzkreig made traditional central control difficult due to its speed and ferocity.  Group Centre as its name suggests charged through Belarusian territory with Moscow their ultimate target, but due to various issues that required splitting of their forces they never reached their goal. 

 

The Kit

This is a combined set that takes a number of their existing kits into a themed box of a mobile command post with two vehicles and eight figures in total, coupled with a decent saving on buying them all separately.  The various kits and sets are all recent releases with excellent detail throughout, but for the ease of description we'll handle them separately.  They arrive in a newly themed box with each kit/set in its own resealable bag and separate instruction booklets and decals for each one.

 

le.gl.Einheits=Pkw (Kfz.1) German Personnel Car (35581)

Made mostly by three German companies, this all-wheel drive staff car designed by Stoewer was produced with different bodies during the early war, the most prevalent being the four seat staff car depicted here.  It was complicated and unreliable, so was eventually replaced by the ubiquitous Kubelwagen.

 

 

 

 

The bag contains four sprues in grey styrene plus a single clear sprue and decal sheet, not forgetting the instructions with integral painting guide at the rear.  The chassis is first to be built up with dual springs supporting independent suspension and a driveshaft linking the two transfer boxes, plus the steering linkage front and rear.  Fuel tank and stowage are placed to either side of the chassis rails and an exhaust pipe is thread through to the engine compartment, which is filled with a full rendering of its 4 cylinder 2 litre Stoewer power plant over the front axle.  The floor of the cab is built up and added to the chassis, then the three part styrene wheels with moulded-in tread are fitted to each corner along with the radiator at the front.  The firewall and rear passenger bulkhead are installed next with the former having instruments and transmission tunnel moulded in and pedals attached to the floor.  The cab sides, boot/trunk cover, engine cowling and gear shifter are all put in place before the seats are built up from base, cushion and curved back at the front, with a bench seat at the rear of a similar construction that has just enough room down the sides for two Kar98 rifles to be stowed in shackles.  Two more rifle points are attached to the front bulkhead, bumpers/fenders and doors are all added, with steering wheel and windscreen also made up.  The rear light cluster is fitted to racks for additional fuel on the rear quarters with a spare wheel in between them, and the folded canvas roof above.  Front lights, jerry cans and pioneer tools are attached to the fenders, and windscreen wipers are fitted into the depressions on the frame, with wiper-motor boxes moulded into the frame for completeness.  The lights and windscreen all have clear parts so the passengers don't get bugs in their teeth.

 

 

Markings

There are four theatre specific options included in the box with early war Panzer Grey the colour of choice.  From the bag you can build one of the following:

 

• WH-102 360 16 Pz.D, Don area, June 1942
• WH-240 663 11 Pz.D, Ukraine, July 1941
• WH-307 582 Panzergruppe 1 Kleist, Ukraine, July 1941
• WL-22662 I./JG51 Stary Bykhov (Belorussia), July 1941

 

 

 

 

Typ L3000S German Truck (35420)

Standardising from 1940 on the Mercedes Benz design in order to simplify spares and maintenance, the L3000S was one of many variants of the truck to see service.  Powered by a 4 cylinder 4.85 litre diesel engine with four-wheel drive and able to carry up to 3 tonnes of cargo, it was a workhorse that saw service in almost every theatre of WWII where there was a German presence with almost 30,000 made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consisting of three large sprues, a clear sprue, three pairs of rubberised tyres, decal sheet and instructions, this is a full engine kit with detailed chassis, multi-part engine assembly, cab and truck bed.  Construction begins with the chassis and engine, suspension and exhaust, then moves to the front fenders, driveshafts attaching the rear axle in place, and steering arms at the front, both attaching to the leaf suspension.  The wheels have two-part hubs that the rubbery tyres slip over, with two at the front and two pairs on different style hubs on the rear axle.  The crew cab is made up with floor, instrument panel with decals, bench-style seat, then the various external panels that box in the crew.  There is a small window to the rear, and the main windscreen aperture is moulded into the roof and firewall cowling, while the doors are separate mouldings that can be posed open or closed with separate winders and handles, plus clear panels all round the cab.  Before the engine bay is boxed in the cab is joined with the chassis, then the front bumper/fender is glued to the end of the chassis rails and the three-part cowling with separate radiator is dropped between the front wings to complete the chassis.  If you were minded, you could score the top panel of the cowling to display the engine, and if the thickness of the part bothered you, you could cut a new one from brass using the original as a template and rolling the edges.  The smaller parts such as lights, number plate holders and windscreen wipers are fitted after the cargo bed has been made up.

 

The cargo bed is built on the floor, with upstands latching into their hinge-points and the addition of front fixed panel and the rear door giving it some rigidity.  Five cross-braces are added underneath and are joined together by two additional longitudinal rails where they join with the chassis.  A spare wheel, stowage boxes and spare fuel cans in cages are then fitted to the underside with the rear mudguards suspended from boxed in sections.  The bed fits onto the chassis by a quartet of pegs that locate in corresponding slots in the chassis rail, then the aforementioned lights, pioneer tools and windscreen wipers are glued in place around the model.

 

 

Markings

There are four options on the decal sheet, only two of which are theatre specific to this boxing and painted grey.  Not everyone will stick to the theme though, which is fair enough as it's your model.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• WH-272 104 Ukraine, Summer 1941
• WL-34548 Russia, Summer 1942
• WH-858 842 North Africa, Summer 1942
• WH-76836 Italy, Summer 1944

 

 

 

 

German Drivers (1939-44) (35642)

This small set from ICM gives you four figures to fill those empty seats. It is single sprue with four figures and  It's safe to say that all of them are posed in the seated position, while two are dressed in standard Wehrmacht uniforms with a forage and patrol cap on their heads.  One other figure has a smock coat over his uniform with a lace-up neck, and the final one is an officer with a rather relaxed hand draped over the top of his steering wheel.  Two of the drivers forage cap and smock guy are looking to their left (the two on top on the box art), while patrol cap guy seems to be looking at his steering wheel, perhaps at a map?  Each figure comes broken down as torso, individual legs and arms, head and hat, with a couple of ammo pouches for the belt around the smock bedecked gentleman.

 

 

The instructions are on a single sheet of glossy paper, with part numbers and colour call outs that reference a chart on the rear that shows Revell and Tamiya colour codes, plus the name of the colour in English and Ukrainian (that's a guess).  Sculpting and moulding is excellent as we have come to expect from ICM, and the figures will doubtless fit a lot of applications without any adjustment.

 

 

German Infantry 1939-42 (35639 & 35638)

This set contains four figures in standing and walking poses on one sprue and a pair of smaller sprues that contains various weapons suitable for the period.  The obligatory officer standing about with a map and binoculars, a machine gunner toting his MG34 on his shoulder with a length of link round his neck (on its own sprue), his assistant carrying a fresh box of ammo in each hand, and a gentleman with an MP40 and ammo pouches gesticulating with his index finger, either assisting the officer with his geographical ruminations or telling the MG crew where to go, in the nicest of terms of course!  The figures are all broken down into head, torso, arms and legs with separate helmets on the weapons sprue and the officer's cap on the figure sprue.  The weapons sprue also contains the aforementioned MG34 and MP40, plus a Kar98 rifle, ammo cans and pouches, gas mask canisters, bipods, entrenching tools, water bottles, pistol pouch, two sets of binoculars and map case.  The usual ICM quality of moulding and sculpting apply here, along with sensible breakdown of parts as discussed above.

 

 

 

Conclusion

This is a great combination set that offers a lot in the box that would keep you busy for quite a long time, and for the price of one large tank model (i.e. almost half its individual RRP).  Two vehicles and eight figures plus weapons in total, and lots of lovely detail that just begs to be made into a diorama.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of