ICM 1/35 Admiral Saloon

The Opel Admiral was a luxury car made by the German car manufacturer Opel from 1937 to 1939 and again from 1964 to 1977.

The first Admiral was introduced in 1937 as an attempt to challenge large luxury cars from Horch, Mercedes-Benz and Maybach. It was available as a 4-door saloon or cabriolet. The car was equipped with a 3.6 litre straight 6 with a top speed of 132 km/h (82 mph). The production of the Admiral was cancelled in 1939 when the Opel factory started producing war material. Many of these cars were used as staff cars during the war.

Molded in ICM's tan plastic the detail level on the various parts and the amount of detail is superb. There are eight sprues, one of which is for the saloon clear parts and one which is for the new hard top. The one for tires/wheels is repeated. The kit is not a curbside and comes with a fully detailed six cylinder engine, full transmission, and complete drive line. The kit also has a full chassis with front and rear suspension. The X-frame chassis has both inside and exterior sections with lightening holes. Each of the four tires is built up of six sections sandwiched together, something I've seen more and more often when dealing with kits that have circumferal tread tires.

The body of the car is based on a rear fender/interior floor on which all of the other car parts are attached. There is a separate trunk along with separate interior door sections. The windows simply slot into the upper door edges, meaning you need to attach them prior to gluing on the hard top. Sharp eyed readers will notice that the cabriolet bits are included in this kit as well. The kit is not designed to have the trunk or doors open, but you can pose the hood sections open if you wish. You may need to provide a prop if this is how it was on the real car as none is given in the kit. The other option is building it with the top up or down. I should point out that the kit does not come with any chrome parts so you'll need to break out the Alclad II or similar paint for any items that need that color. The kit also comes with three figures, none of which are seated.

The kit comes with four options, all of the Army, one of them being the Soviet Army. For colors you can paint it Gloss Black or Panzer Grey. The two black options are from 1941 and 1945 with the latter being Soviet. The grey ones are from Germany in 1942 and France in 1943. The decal sheet includes plate codes as well as instrument and hub cap markings. As usual ICM seems to like near white backgrounds on their decal paper so the white markings do not show up in scans.

Quite a few modelers like kits like this. Since the Opel Admiral was not built specifically for the military, there are no military bits and pieces on it aside from light slit covers. Those wanting to do civilian versions, a good Google will pick up some color information. It seems the four door was mostly in black, greys and perhaps a few blue shades, with all of them tending towards the darker colors as befits a luxo-mobile.

May 2012

My thanks to Squadron Products for the preview kit. Get yours today at your local retailer or on-line store.