The Admiral was a series of mid-expensive cars produced by Adam Opel AG, a German susidiary or affiliate of General Motors Corporation. As you can see from the photos on the Russian vehicle website, there are many stylistic similarities between the Admiral and GM cars produced in the US during the 1930s. In fact, it would not be that difficult to convert the Admiral into a late 1930s Chevrolet or other GM car, and perhaps produce a nice US Army staff car. This is a very nice choice, as it gives us one of the more common mid-size German civilian sedans (saloons), with a chassis that can be used for military vehicles as well. Look at the production Luftwaffe ambulance based on the Admiral in the photos. It is entirely possible similar vehicles were built for the Army, though this is fairly early in the war, judging by the dark gray paint scheme.
The SdKfz 222 a/car - what can we say? This is a superb choice, one of the best they could have made. This kit will give us the major 4-wheel armored car used by the Germans in WW2, plus all the related light armored cars ('221, '223, '260, '261), plus the sEPkw chassis for the Kfz 69/70 command car, radio truck, and ambulance. If the quality is decent, these two kits can give the German armor modelers a great advance in the number of kit choices and conversion possibilities (and yes, we converters are still sick puppies..... ) As the late Molly Ivins would say, "Oh Frabjous Joy....."
There are a couple of reviews of this kit on a couple of small scale websites. The general consensus is the shapes are good, but much of the detailing is simplified and the interior is virtually nonexistent. I have seen the reviews with pix of the pieces, and the overall impression is the Fujimi kit of 20-25 years ago. However, remember this is a small scale kit, and they may completely redesign the model for a larger scale. Certainly I am not going to speculate on what the kit may look like from looking at a smaller scale model from a couple of years ago. We will know soon enough whether this will be a keeper or an also-ran. As a back-up, I have a template that John Kennon of the AFV Association gave me back in the 1960s. It is a fold-up cutout template for "rolling your own" SdKfz 231 (8 rad) and SdKfz 222 a/cars. It was done in 1/48 I believe, although 1/36 was a more widely seen standard ID model scale for AFVs during the war. I blew it up to 1/32 for an ancient IPMS Journal article, and I mastered an Airmodel 1/76 SdKfz 231 kit using the template scaled down to 1/76. Turns out the template is accurate for both vehicles, and makes it easy to build bodies fairly quickly. John speculated it was probably used to make ID models during the war, and may have been developed by measuring the armor panels of captured vehicles. If the kit is a loser, this might be a way to build a body quickly and use the kit parts and PE to detail it. I'll wait to see what they do; they make do a really nice job.
Jacques Littlefield's collection in California has a superbly restored example of this relatively rare vehicle, complete except only for the unusual ammo boxes for the coax MG34. Apparently, this a/car did not use the 150 rd cloth bags for the belted MG ammo, but some sort of long rectangular box, and that is what is supposed to go in those racks on the lower sides inside, next to the hand grenade racks. Littlefield was not able to find any of the original ammo containers so the racks have been left empty. Other than that, this specimen has everything in it. It would be an excellent reference for any company doing a kit or aftermarket interior set. I did have a set of color photos I got off the web, but I fear they disappeared when my junk Dell computer imploded. Maybe they still exist on one of the armor walkaround sites....we live in hope......
The Admiral has always been one of my favourite staff cars, and can be transformed into some "special" purpose vehicle, such as ambulance! And I also love the angular shapes of the 222. Give us more trucks and cars, please!
This is actually the reincarnation of ICM; the original company apparently ran into financial difficulties and went kaput. It has reorganized and is in business again. A cmpany called Alanger bought most of the old ICM molds and still sells them. ICM did a very creditable job on their 1/48 aircraft, the Spitfire Mk IX and XVI, and several Yak fighters. I would expect their efforts on these vehicles to be creditable, but we will have to see. After all, almost all of Hobby Boss's kits, EXCEPT for the Shermans and LCM, are superb, among the best available in 1/48 from anybody (how cosmic is that?). So, let's see what they can do. There is a SdKfz 222 at Kubinka, so if they go and measure and photograph it the way they purportedly did for their very good Spitfire kit, we could have a wiener.....
Is there an on-line ICM catalogue? I spent a fruitless morning searching for any scrap of info and came up with - nothing! Catalogue numbers would be good info.
I don't know if this is the kind of info that may be of interest, but if you go to internet hobby stores websites, you can see a list of the products that they carry. I find rollmodels.com and greatmodels.com particularly useful for this because of the simplicity of searching on them and because they carry a wide range of products. Greatmodels has pictures of the box art and even some links to reviews of certain kits. I have never ordered from greatmodels, but have found their site to be a useful resource for seeing what kind of kits are currently in production from various manufacturers and get the occasional "scrap" (or maybe a bit more) of information.
A quick check of both of these web vendors turned up a list of ICM kits.
Just wanted to make clear that neither of the sites that were mentioned in my post above list any ICM 1/48 armor yet (sorry if I left that impression). It's just that if one is not at all familiar with ICM, it is an easy way to see the types of armor kits that they have offered in their 1/35 and 1/72 lines. They have a range of quarter scale aircraft that might be of interest to some as well.
Hoorah for ICM !! It's GREAT that they have decided to join the 1/48th Scale Vheicle Line !! Give Tamiya a little competition... Hasegawa is also in the mix and so is Hobby Boss...But ICM !! Kits are Great and I welcome them as a modeler to the 1/48th scale Vehicle Line....Now?....When wiil The 1/48th scale "ADMIRAL By OPEL be released for sale...Another who has joined our ranks is Italiarie !! Looks like the 1/48th scale vehicle wants are being heard...Three Cheers to all thge manufacturers !!
