MiniArt Tempo A400 Kastenwagen Delivery Box Truck (38053) 1:35

[Mike]

Tempo A400 Kastenwagen Delivery Box Truck (38053)

1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd

 

 

The A/E400 Lieferwagen was another of Hitler’s standard vehicles that is perhaps lesser known than the original Beetle.  It was produced by company Tempowerk Vidal & Sohn from 1938, and was joined by an identical Standard E-1 that was manufactured in another factory.  It was one of the few factories that were permitted to carry on making civilian vehicles, although this permit was eventually withdrawn as the state of the war deteriorated for Germany.  The wagon was a little unstable in the corners due to its single front wheel, and it had a front-mounted engine that probably made matters worse, with a chain drive from the motor to the wheel.  The two-stroke 400cc engine in the standard E1 output 12 hp that gave it sluggish performance to say the least, which was probably just as well due to the instability that came with that front wheel.

 

The driver was situated behind the front wheel, with a pair of side doors for entry and exit, and a single-panel windscreen that overlooked the short, tapered bonnet/hood.  The load area was to the rear of the vehicle, with a single door at the back to keep the contents safe and cool, and with several other rear bodyshell designs available.  The covered van was common, although flatbeds and other designs were available.

 

 

The Kit

This is another new variant of the recent tool from MiniArt, using the enclosed van body style that we have seen in the beer and milk delivery trucks.  This unusual little vehicle arrives in a small top-opening box, and inside are six sprues of varying sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) in a card envelope, a large decal sheet and the instruction booklet on glossy paper with colour profiles on the front and rear pages.  It’s a full-body model that has a separate panelled body with the cab up front, so you’ll get to build all the internal parts and during the process possibly learn a little about how it works – I did when the first boxings came in.  Detail is as good as we’ve come to expect from MiniArt, with a lot of it and it’s all very well-defined.  Well considered use of slide-moulding also improves the detail without increasing the part count, and makes parts like the engine cowling a feast for the eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the small cab floor, which has a planked texture engraved on its surface, and is fitted out with foot pedals, a hand-brake lever and narrow cylindrical chassis tube, plus a battery attached to the floor on the left.  The front bulkhead has a clear windscreen with rounded corners popped in with a small piece of PE at the bottom, a short steering column and a droopy shifter lever, with the windscreen wiper motor cover added to the top of the screen frame, drilling three holes in the frame.  The windscreen/bulkhead assembly is attached to the front of the floor with a pot for the washers and the conversion stub of the steering column, with a pair of PE wiper blades added in a boxed diagram later along with the shackle for the bonnet.  The padded bench seat for the crew is slotted into the floor, and the back is attached to the rear bulkhead that has two side parts and a small clear window for later joining to the floor, and you’ll need to find some 0.3mm wire 24.6mm long to represent the linkage to the floor-mounted brake lever and the back of the cockpit.  The steering wheel and rear bulkhead are glued in, followed by the roof, then the two crew doors a made up, having clear side windows plus winders and handles that are quite delicate for realism, then they are installed on the cab under the roof, remembering that they hinge rearward in the manner sometimes referred to as suicide doors.

 

The rear chassis is built around a cylindrical centreline tube with the back axle and its triangular bearers slipping over its end and hubs with brake drums added at each end.  A sturdy V-shaped brace is added between the ends of the axle and the other end of the cylindrical chassis tube, with a large joint between them for strength.  The rear wheels are made from a tyre-carcass and rear hub, with a choice of two inserts slipped inside to front recess to represent two different hub cap styles and front tyre wall, fitting them onto the axles on short pegs, with a brake-line made from some more of your own 0.3mm wire and suspended from the frame on PE brackets that are folded over the wire, closed up then glued to the frame with an etched-in rivet giving the impression that it is attached firmly to the chassis, which makes you an advanced modeller according to a nearby note.  The load bed floor is a single part with more planking engraved into both surfaces, adding lights on a PE bracket, then setting it aside until the load box is made.

 

 

The little engine is superbly detailed with a lot of parts representing the diminutive 400cc two-stroke motor and its ancillaries, including radiator, fuel tank, exhaust with silencer and chain-drive cover that leads to the front axle.  The completed assembly comprises the motor, axle and the fork that attaches to the front of the cab and is wired in using three more lengths of 0.3mm wire from your own stocks, which the instructions advise you again makes you an experienced modeller. 

 

The box is built up on the load bed floor, fitting the sides, then adding the ends and the curved roof, attaching the mudguards to the raised guides on the sides, and a choice of number plate designs that fit on the back door, which has a handle opposite the hinges, as does the smaller side door on the right.  After load bed is mated with the cab, the rear axle and chassis tube are fitted under the bed, then the slide-moulded cowling for the engine is fitted-out with a fine PE radiator mesh, an internal deflector panel, PE numberplate for some decal options, a pair of PE clasps on the lower rear edge of the bonnet, and a tiny hook on the top in between two rows of louvres.  The cowling can be fixed in the closed position or depicted open to show off the engine, when the little hook latches onto the clip on the roof’s drip-rail, holding it up past vertical against the windscreen, as per the scrap diagram nearby.  A sign is included for the cab roof of one decal option, and all have a pair of headlamps with clear lenses fitted on the sides of the cowling and a pair of wing mirrors on an angled arm are glued to holes in the front of the bulkhead above the windscreen frame, with a PE bracket giving the appearance of that the etched rivets are what holds them in place.

 

 

Markings

There are a generous five decal options on the large sheet, all with colourful schemes and branding of their operators, which includes a season-appropriate red Coca-Cola van with a snowman on the sides.  If you’re not reading this at or just before Christmas, just ignore the last part of that sentence.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• Henkel, Dusseldorf, late 1930s
• Coca-Cola, Berlin, late 1930s-early 40s
• Goldina, Bremen, early 1940s
• Chlorodont, Dresden, early 1940s
• Maggi, Stuttgart, early 1940s

 

 

 

Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.

 

 

Conclusion

It’s weird, so of course like it, but MiniArt have also done a great job with making an easy to build, well-detailed kit of this quirky little German grandfather to the Reliant Robin.  There are plenty of variants to choose from already, but we can guarantee there will be more of these coming in due course.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[Tijuana Taxi]

Sorry, probably more relevant elsewhere