ICM 1/35 Typ 2,5-32 German Truck

The Opel Blitz line of trucks was the best selling and probably most prolific Germany truck from 1934 until the end of WWII. Post-war, the Blitz was built until 1975. During this time, the truck was developed into several versions including light and medium versions as well as the tracked maultier variant. This particular kit is the 1.5 ton variant of light trucks. The Typ 2,5 was built from 1938 until 1942. It was most used for transporting troops though it could be used for other purposes. During its production run, over 10,000 Typ 2,5 trucks were produced.

ICM seems to want to be the 'go to' company for doing soft skin vehicles. They have concentrated quite a bit on doing staff cars and trucks, much to the delight of many military vehicle modelers. This is an addition to their growing line of vehicles. Consisting of 175 parts on four sprues (two large tan ones, a clear sprue and a rubber sprue for wheels, we find the usual high quality molding we have come to expect from ICM over the last few years. I found no flash, no depressed areas and those ejector pin marks that are present are on the underside of large pieces or on a flat surface where they are easily taken care of.

Typical of ICM kits, this is not a curbside and comes with a complete six-cyliner engine as used on the Opel Ambassador car. The frame is constructed of rails with the appropriate cross pieces and this includes a skid plate for under the engine. Leaf suspension pieces fit to the sides of the frame rails and the kit also provides a full exhaust and cooling system. Since the tires are rubber, it makes painting the wheels much easier as they can be painted then simply installed into the tires.

Since this is an early/mid-war vehicle, the cab is the metal design. It consists of a separate floor, firewall section, rear bulkhead as well as separate doors and top. While the instructions show the doors closed, I see no reason why they could not be posed open. There are separate windows as well as various handles on the separate door interior panels. The truck's bed is simplicity itself with a full bottom onto which one attached front, rear, and side panels. On the underside is a framework to which one will attach the fenders and tool areas. Top hoops are also provided in the folded position. One has a hood with separate sides. Again, it is shown closed, but with a bit of effort, one could have it posed open to show the engine.

Instructions are well drawn with color information provided in generic and Model Master references. Decals are basically license plates with a few other small markings. Since ICM uses a near white backing for its decals, these white markings are quite difficult to properly scan, though radically darkening the scan does seem to help. Plates are for four vehicles. The first two are in Panzer Grey and from France in 1940. The third option is also Grey and in Russia during 1942. The final option is in Dark Yellow with wide Green sections from France in 1944.  

In all, it is another outstanding military truck kit from ICM. It has a wide variety of possible uses for the diorama fans or to just have a nice truck model for the enthusiast.

ICM instructions

January 2014 

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