Hi,
I am interested in building a 1/35th German motorcycle & sidecar. Can anybody point me in the right direction as to what kits are out there & the ones that are recommended, please?
Thankyou. I look forward to reading your comments.
Happy New Year!

Joe.

You have options: I'll go from cheap and crude to expensive and highly detailed.

Old Tamiya 35016 BMW w/sidecar (made in the 1960s probably)
Italeri 0315 BMW R75 w/sidecar
Vulcan 56007 Zundap K800 w/sidecar
Zvesda 3607 BMW R-12 w/sidecar
Revell of German 03090 BMW R-12 w/sidecar
Masterbox 3528F BMW w/sidecar (includes PE)
Lionroar 3508 Zundpp KS750 w/sidecar

May I suggest you go to www.greatmodels.com and do a search using "1/35 motorcycle" and you'll see it all.

To add to the list IBG has a Civilian BMW R12 with sidecar and a military version of the BMW R12 with sidecar.

35001 Civilian R12 with Sidecar
35002 Military R12 with Sidecar

I have built most of the motorcycles listed by Roy and I own the Civilian BMW R12 civy version.
The Tamiya and Italeri motorcycles are quite old. You end up with something that is easy to built and will look like a BMW or Zundapp Motorcycle but they are lacking some details.

The Vulcan models Zundapp K800 with Steib Nr28 Sidecar is one of the most brilliant kits I have built. The sidecar is of the Civillian racing variant and has a torpedo body. Kit has preformed PE spokes. And quite a few more things in PE. Superb crisp details, a lot of fiddly bits, Springs for the seats. Not the easiest of builts but certainly worth it. This is my result with the kit


The Zvezda kit of the BMW R12 was a bit of a welcome surprise. My experiences with Zvezda in the past were not that great but this bike was quite complete. Good details, crisp details, all plastic, again not the easiest of builts but it will end up with a brilliant looking motorcycle plus you get choice of two figure options. Two in kradmantels and one in wehrmacht attire and a dead pig in the sidecar. See below the Zvezda BMW R12


I only saw the contents of the Revell box once but I got the quick impression that it was the same as Zvezda. But I could be wrong there.

I built several of Masterbox' BMW's They are all nice kits but if you want to go for the nicest details then the kit Roy suggests is the best bet. Comes with quite a sheet of PE made by Eduard and will certainly boost the details of the kit.

I have not yet built the lion Roar Zundapp but it is high on my list to be bought in the very near future.

The IBG BMW R12 is a neat kit which in detail can be compared to the Zvezda R12.

I hope you have the answers you were looking for

With friendly greetz

Robert Blokker

LionRoar / GreatWall Hobbies actually make two German motorcycle / sidecar kits: The Zundapp KS750 Roy C. mentioned above and the similar BMW R75 combo.

From looking at several reviews and the sprue-shots, both come with lots of fine PE and some of the best engine detailing I've ever seen on a 1/35 motor. Also, both kits come with really fine trailer kits (I believe you get 2 trailers - of different types - in each kit.). Kits of course include a super nice MG-34 and various side-panier boxes. Interestingly, these kits also offer a gas-can and mount, though that is a dubious addition as there are apparently no war pics showing this - but, heck, it's a cool idea, and those Germans did mount cans on almost everything else!

Notably, the side-cars (both driven) and their mounting differ between the kits, as is wholly-appropriate as the bikes and their cars differed. The Zundapp bike never came solo, so far as I know, whereas the Beemer did. I'm not 100% sure, but I think that these kits also come with 4 PE spoke-wheels, with the tire being assembled using "wafers" for fine tread detailing, AND some additional all-styrene wheels (but maybe without spoked hubs of any sort... which means you can add extra "stacked" spares as often seen in field photos...)?

PS: Price... You can get the LionRoar kits shipped for about 30 US all-up from vendors on evilbay. Not really more costly than those MB or Vulcan or Zvezda kits which cost ca 20+ plus shipping on the evil B... I'd guess that you should expect to pay around 25 -30+ for any of the better and more-modern kits shipped, so... You pays your money and picks your poison!

I'm ordering the Zundapp soon and maybe the BMW -

Bob

I've only built the Tamiya one, so I can't really speak for the other ones. I'll say this for the Tamiya kit. It's certainly not the best one out there, but it's cheap and easy to build, plus it's almost everywhere. The figures aren't horrible considering they're one of the old Tamiya kits, but they're still midgets.

Regards,

Mark

No offence Mark ... but I beg to differ!!

I have the Lion Roar Zundapp with side car and the R75 single pair, and they are works of art compared to the older Tamiya and Italeri bike sets. It was reported often that the Italeri bikes were miles ahead of the Tamiya bikes, so if you are going for the cheaper variants, think on this. The Italeri figures are rubbish as well! This Italeri set was my first work shown on Armorama in 2001!!!!

Frank, I think you missed the point of my post. I don't know about the Italeri bikes and I haven't built any Italeri kits (oddly enough), so I'm not saying anything about them. What I am saying is that the Tamiya kit is cheap, easy to find and definitely not the best kit out there.

The Italeri kit is probably better than the Tamiya kit, and I wouldn't know because I haven't built it and I haven't seen it.

The Italerie kit is in many ways similar to ole Tammy:

Cheap
Easy to find
Easy to build
Ends up looking similar to the real thing
Figures are so-so

More modern kits like the Zveda/Revell kit are better. But if you need this as a "background element" or need more than one for say a "Kradmelder advancing" dio the kit is worth a look.

I have built both the R75 and the KS750 Gespanne from Lion Roar. They are really, really nice. A bit on the fiddly side, though, but I didn't regret coughing up the extra buck. My only gripe is they didn't co-operate with Mini-Art for a pair of figures on this one.
I'd recommend them for the experienced builder any day of the week!
Cheers,
Guido

Masterbox are on sale at Lucky Model right now, both with and without etch.

Masterbox set is on sale in model hobbies. Highly reccomended uk site.
Considering getting it myself at the moment..
http://www.modelhobbies.co.uk/shop/master-german-motorcyclists-194043-3539-p-15515.html

http://www.modelhobbies.co.uk/shop/master-crossroad-eastern-front-wwii-3572-p-29202.html

http://www.modelhobbies.co.uk/shop/master-german-motorcycle-troops-move-3548f-p-26691.html


as you can see it's better value to get one of the all in one sets..

http://www.modelhobbies.co.uk/shop/master-wwii-german-motorcycle-sidecar-photo-etch-p-24307.html
http://www.modelhobbies.co.uk/shop/master-wwii-german-motorcycle-sidecar-3528-p-14486.html
http://www.modelhobbies.co.uk/shop/master-wwii-german-motorcycle-sidecar-photo-etch-p-24307.html