Introduction

Bedford, a subsidiary of Vauxhall Motor, itself a subsidiary of General Motors, started making the Chevrolet Bedford truck in 1929, in the 1930’s the name Chevrolet was dropped and they became known as Bedford. The 15cwt truck from Bedford began development in 1935, with the QL, a four wheel drive, entering service in 1941. The QL filled many roles in the military, including the QLR mounting a van box to house wireless radio equipment. Many of the Bedford QL trucks served with the British Army into the 1960’s.

IBG Models has started a line of Bedford QL Trucks and now bring us the wireless van in the QLR in 1/35 scale.

Contents

4 sprues of plastic, including the chassis tub
1 sprue of clear plastic
1 sheet of decals
1 instruction booklet

Review

Opening the box from IBG Models, I was little surprise to only find four sprues, but from the look the grey plastic sprues contain all the parts for this truck. Looking at the moldings, they look to be very well done, no excessive flash and no visible sink marks, but there are a few ejector marks that will need to cleaned up if you plan to leave some doors open showing the interior.

The kit includes an engine with very well molded details, and with some bits of wire and a little extra work, a great looking engine could emerge. The frame is a multi-piece assembly, and you will need to take a little extra care to ensure it squares up. The drive components and suspension look to be very well done and straight forward to build. The tires are a two piece assembly and should need just a little sanding when assembled. The tread detail is well done, and the tires include side wall lettering detail.

Moving to the cab, it looks to relatively well done. All controls seem to be present, with raised detail on the dash. Unfortunately there are no decals for the dash displays, thus you may want to look at sourcing some aftermarket ones. Being a fully closed in cab, you may want to plan your painting, as well as masking of the windows, as they are mounted on the interior side. The kit does provide the option to model the cab doors open, thus you can show off your work.

The wireless van also looks to be very well done. The kit includes both some great looking exterior detail, as well as interior detail. The interior detail is decent, with the inclusion of wireless radios, a desk, and what looks to be an encryption machine, but unfortunately there is no seating. The interior almost screams to be details, with bits of wire, some maps, other documents, and chairs. As the kit does include the option to leave the doors open, it would show off any effort put into the interior.

The instructions are presented in a 19 page booklet, with assembly spread over 37 steps. The steps are shown as CAD drawing detailing the assembly steps, and do look to be well laid out and relatively easy to follow. There are some paint callouts referring to Vallejo Model and Air colors. The instructions show two paint schemes and markings:

Polish 1st Armoured Division HQ, England, Spring 1944
Divisional Artillery HQ, 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, Germany, April 1945

The kit decals are printed by Techmod and look to be well in register and well printed.

Conclusion

Overall this looks to be great kit from IBG Models and great subject. With a full interior in both the cab and van that scream for some scratch built detail, this kit could produce an excellent model to be proud of when complete. The only real draw back I see with the kit, and common with other IBG Model kits, is the lack of photo-etched details. There are a few places that could use some extra fine detail, and with that, it would be a smashing kit. I would highly recommend this kit.