Introduction

The following is the introduction supplied by ICM Holding on the instruction booklet.

The passenger car of increased comfort with a powerful engine, Admiral was the top of Opel’s pre-war model range. From February 1938 to October 1939 only 6404 Admiral cars were produced by Opel. At the start of the World War Two most of the cars were requisitioned and used as personal transport for senior German officers of the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. These cars were used on both the Western and Eastern fronts up to the end of World War Two. Opel’s Admiral cars were produced in different types, and in particular more than 2000 cars were produced as soft top cabriolet versions.

Contents

This is one of ICM Holding’s latest releases in the 1/24th scale car models. This model of an Admiral WW2 German Passenger Car with Soft Top is packaged in a good quality flip top box, which will protect the included model parts from all but the roughest handling by various postal services. The sprues inside the box are packaged in five re-sealable plastic bags which in conjunction with the box prevented any damage to the plastic parts. Below is a breakdown of the kit contents:

• 5 grey sprues
• 1 clear sprue
• 1 chrome sprue
• 4 vinyl rubber tyres
• 1 decal sheet
• 1 instruction booklet

Review

First Impressions
The first thing that strikes you when receiving this kit is that it is especially well packaged, which will do a good job of protecting the model parts. Upon opening the box you will see the parts are also well packed. The parts are cleanly moulded with no flash present; there are some flow marks in the plastic mouldings, but these do not appear to have caused any deformities in the parts. There are a number of ejector pin marks some of which will need to be filled and cleaned up, but most will be hidden.

Mechanicals
ICM Holding have supplied a very nice engine and gearbox with this model, which should look good build straight from the box. The engine could be further enhance with the addition of some wiring in the form of fuse wire or similar. Something that I am particularly pleased to see is that ICM Holding have decided to supply a radiator with both a front and back face.

Chassis
The chassis for this model has been supplied as a multi-part affair; this has allowed much greater detail to be imparted to the various mouldings, but it will mean care will need to be taken to insure that the chassis is assembled squarely. The axles, drive shaft and suspension have a good level of detail over all, but again could be further improved via the addition of some brake and fuel lines. The wheels have some nice detail in the form of chrome hubcaps and decals for the centre detail. The tyres despite being vinyl rubber have good tread detail and no seam around the circumference of the tyre. The point where the tyres join the rubber sprue will need clean up, but that will be easier to tackle than a seam line. The front wheels cannot be depicted turning left or right, which is a pity.

Interior
The interior of the vehicle is quite good detail wise. The seats have nice detail and a moulded pattern which is a nice touch. ICM Holding has provided separate door cards which hide any ejector pin marks in this area from view. The down side is that the door cards and for that matter doors are a single moulding down each side and will require some pretty major surgery and filling if you want to show the doors open. I will admit to being very disappointed in this aspect as the model would look better if the doors could be shown open. The dashboard has some very good moulded detail and decals for the instruments which should look good. One inclusion which really caught my is the sun blinds being supplied as separate parts, an area which is often overlooked.

Exterior
The car exterior is very good with a nice selection of chromed parts to lift the detail and add some bling. The vehicles lines have good contours, but again I wish the doors had been supplied as pose able. The boot or in American trunk, cannot be shown open as it is moulded as part of the rear panel. The bonnet/hood can be shown open or closed and I am very pleased to see this on the model. By allowing the bonnet/hood to be shown open ICM Holding has allowed the modeller to display that very nicely detailed engine. The light lenses are very good due to good clarity and with the chrome backs should look fairly convincing to the viewer. The cloth roof has some subtle detail imparted, but being a cloth roof I expected more undulations to be present and there are none; however as I do not know what structure was used to support the cloth roof this may be accurate.

Conclusion

This model from ICM Holding is a bit of a mixed bag, there is some very nice detail overall and some excellent detail in the form of the chassis, engine and gearbox. The downside is that the doors cannot be shown open without some surgery by the modeller, that is something I find disappointing. Moulding faults are absent with the exception of some ejection pin marks which may be an issue. Considering the pluses and minuses of this model it is difficult to assess the merits as it really depends on what the modeller is looking for in the model, for me it has enough plus points to appeal, with the door issue being the only negative of note for me.