Here they are, side by side shots of the built up Bandai and Tamiya 1/48 scale Kubelwagen kits.









Both models have been detailed with scratch bits, the Bandai having more of them, including a skid pan over the engine that is not included in the kit and lots of small details. The Tamiya has a scratched jerry can mount and windshield cover and a few other niceties. A couple things the Bandai has that the Tamiya does not are a top and an engine.



Not sure if this post will help elucidate or merely confuse on close examination the Bandia seems a little taller in relationship to its width, but not by much, while its nose is definitely shorter and narrower by a bit. Is this that better or just different. Worse yet, did the shape change over the production run? I leave that you to decide. For me, both kits were fun to build and came out looking good, good enough in fact to park next to each other.

Konrad

Konrad; Thanks alot for posting the comparison pics. The only thing that is really "Apparent" to me and its only a minor issue is the extra width of the Tamiya Kube's windshield...probably an easy enough fix. Both look to be decent enough to build and display on the same shelf. Chris Schwach

I was obviously wrong about about the Bandai wheels being 20% narrower, having lost the Tamiya wheels on my kit long ago... The Tamiya wheels are still too thick compared to actual photos, but only by about 10%, and they do look MUCH better than the Bandai wheels... An excellent case for cross-kitting...

I am sure the much narrower, and taller, Bandai body/hood is MUCH more accurate, as is the smaller windshield.

Too bad both windshields are not up on your kits, as this point would really stand out.

Thanks very much for the effort!

Gaston

Hello Konrad:

The difference in width of the hood is obvious to me, as is the difference in windshield width. A spillover of the wide hood on the Tamiya kit is that the fenders are, relatively speaking, significantly narrower at the front. One other thing which jumps out is the difference in width between the lower bodies of the two kits at the front - the Tamiya one is narrower, both in absolute terms and also in proportion to the hood. I'm no Kubelwagen expert, but either the two kits represent different variants or one of them is off dimensionally. Regardless of other issues, however, I must say that the Tamiya kit has much more finesse of detail, as would be expected with close to 30 years separating the kits.

Cheers and thanks for posting the photos,

Scott

Scott Taylor
Thachweave Products
http://thachweave.tripod.com

rough comparisons with photos indicates (but NOT conclusively) that the Tamiya Kubel is very slightly wide (at most 1mm) at the nose, and the Bandai Kubel is too narrow at the nose, the Tamiya kit being closer to the mark. Note I did find one photo that "showed" the Tamiya kit is bang-on for nose and fender width, but again, as we have discussed beyond the possibility of nausea, this could easily be a "distortion" (or perhaps the true appearance) caused by the position of the camera, i.e., its being closer or farther away from the Kubel could make the protruding nose larger or smaller compared to the overall width of the front fenders. It just never ends, does it?

early Kubel, as that is what it really is. Many of the Bandai kits of so long ago were designed using the plans in the old Bellona series of plans booklets the ancient ones around here will remember with fondness. While some of those drawings were OK, others were not accurate, and the Kubel drawings looked very similar to a set done for US Army tech intelligence during the war. The Kubel was one of the German weapons (or vehicles) that had US manuals issued so US troops could use them in service.

Note that the Bandai kit has the later smaller headlights, while the Tamiya kit has the correct early war headlights. In other respects, the Bandai kit is a 1940-early 1941 Kubel, and the Tamiya is late 1941-early 1942, with a mid-1943 spare tire mounting (but that will be hidden). There are several DOZEN details that must be picked out to date a Kubel accurately, but many of those are small and not all obvious.

Thanks Konrad for posting it.

To me, both look like Kubelwagens .

SeanSki
http://www.pme.org.pl
--
"Car's grip is greatly reduced when wheels are not touching the ground" - Steve Matchett

The Bandai kit comes with the late-war canvas roof with the split rear window.

The Bandai is the 4WD version as well (yes, they made them, and even built some quads on the VW sedan body - Jan at Hauler does a nice set of wheels to do that conversion, which can be seen lurking in the Cast48 accessory review on this site) - it can be built as a 2WD if you like, but I did it as the quad. This kit has lots of little bits added, BTW, as those familiar with the kit will note. I like the wheels as they are one of the earlier hubcap variants for the KW. If you buy some resin wheels for any of the Tamiya KW or VW kits save your spares for any Bandai's you may have - the will work My next KW will feature the 'moon' hub cap wheels from the Kafer, which really dresses the old girl up - it really was a production variant, and leave me with a set of wheels for a Bandai (still have some of them in the boxes - just sentimental I guess).

Konrad