Monday, July 25

ICM 1/35 Admiral Cabriolet First Impressions

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ICM Admiral Cabriolet, WWII German Staff Car
Kit no: 35471
Scale: 1:35
Parts: 185
5 Sprues in tan + 1 clear for windows
4 versions on the decal sheet included
Ages: 14 and over
Where I got mine: ICM website

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This is a line drawing i found on the internet that will help with construction - showing the insides of the Admiral Cabriolet  and how it is all put togther.
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This month I was sent a kit of the Admiral Cabriolet from ICM models, and I was over the moon to think it would be a great addition to a diorama I was planning. My initial thoughts were to just do a review of this kit and then show you it built.
I thought twice though and I decided to show you some of the parts un-built first of all and list some of the features and points of interest I noticed then build the kit to show you how it really is, The best review is after all a review of how it all goes together – so here we go with the first part – the tell and then in the next few weeks the show…
This kit is five sprues of tan styrene and one clear sprue for the windshield and the windows.  Instructions are quite clear here and layed out on a black and white eight page booklet.
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The shassis is a multipart and simple construction.
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Decals cover the dashboard dials and markings for a black civillian , two grey and one yellow russian based car. Wheel decals are included - i like the different options here.
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Windshields and windows here are nice - i think i would cut them to show them partially wound down to give extra depth to the vehicle.
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There are tree figures here, two field police and an officer - the only inclusion i would have added was a driver.Photobucket
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The interior really is plush looking ( just like the real thing) and can be as nice or as plain as you would like to make it - i think i will make mine as a civillian "aquired" version.Photobucket
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The steering wheel is interesting that it is nout moulded in one piece - hmmmmPhotobucket
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The engine is quite well detailed and could do with some wiring if you were to display it open. Nearly thirty parts make this again as much as you would like to make itPhotobucket
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The Cabriolet top is lovely looking down to show of the lovely interior - the detail is there if you want to enhance it of if you would like the top down to leave it as standardPhotobucket
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 Here is the top down version

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The leaf suspension is well detailed and cries out for some nice dry brushingPhotobucket  

The tyres are of the sandwich together type and not rubber – there are plusses and minuses for this – rubber is fast but hard to weather  and the sandwich method is slow and fiddly but more accurate.Photobucket 
The dash board here has space for the decals  which are supplied.Photobucket 
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Bumper bars will look great with some very shiny silver details
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The radiator grille is impressive and again chromed up will look great
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The Opel in action..
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Here are some pictures of the kit built up by ICM - i will show you how mine builds up over the next month.
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Also a nice source of information on the Admiral I found with some nice pictures is here

I will be building this in the near future so keep your eyes posted and keep checking back to both here and the Osprey blog for updates..
Adam Norenberg

Many thanks to ICM for the review sample used here.

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