Introduction

The Bussing-NAG company was built from an acquisitions in the 1920’s and 1930’s by Bussing. The new company started work on heavy duty diesel trucks and was commissioned by the Werchmact construction of 4.5 ton trucks for military service in World War 2 . Beginning in 1942 the Bussing-NAG L4500A began to replace the older Type 500A. The L4500A mounted a 6 cylinder engine to power the four wheel drive to support its 4.5 ton capacity. Production of the Bussing-NAG continued until the end of the war, with approximately 15,000 truck, both 4500 and 500, built.

AFV Club has now provided model builders a great looking Bussing-NAG L4500A in 1/35 scale. And, hopefully a tease, on the inside of the instructions it shows multiple variants, which hopes we will see other variants of this big truck.

Contents

In the box you will find the following:

8 – plastic sprues
2 – small frets of photo-etched
1 – decal sheet
7 – rubber tires, 4 poly caps
1 – set of instructions

Review

The Bussing-NAG L4500A from AFV Club comes molded in a tan colored plastic. Looking over the sprues, I was very impressed with the moldings. I found no flash, no sink marks, and no ejector marks that will show. The molded on detail and fine parts are very well done.

The construction of the frame is done in multiple pieces, thus the builder will need to conscience of whether the frame is square. Though this should be relatively easy, as some of the cross members will help. It should be noted that the exhaust piping passes through some of the cross members, hopefully this will not make the construction tricky.

Mounted on the frame is a well detailed engine. As always, with some extra wiring and tubing of the engine, it should be up in to a great engine to display. Unfortunately, the molding of the top portion of the bonnet will need some minor surgery to show it off, as it is molded in one piece.

The drive components underneath look for well detailed as well, and contain some fine parts. The surface detail on the components is first rate, and it seems a shame to have this nice detail on the bottom unviewable.

The rubber tires has some nice detail, to included raised lettering and tread detail. Unfortunately with most molded rubber tires there is a seam running down the center of the tire. While the seam is small, it does effect the centerline tread detail. Replacement with a resin cast aftermarket tire set may be required, if the seam or rubber tires are not to your liking.

Moving up the cab, there is a full interior, including some firewall detail. The dash instrument panel is cast with raised details, but the kit does not include decals for the instruments. This may be another area where you might want to source aftermarket decals. The cab does include the option to build with the doors open, thus you can show off some the great detail, including the interior of the doors.

The bonnet includes some great surface detail, including the hinge the runs down the center. Unfortunately it does not provide an option to leave open. If it is your intend is to leave the front hood open, I believe it would look better in photo-etched, which would improve the look of the side louvers as well.

The kit contains to front grills, but there is no mention of an option in the instructions. Maybe this is for a future release of another variant. One very nice touch is the inclusion of the Bussing emblem in photo-etched that looks fantastic.

The truck bed is extremely well molded with very fine wood grain detail. Looking at the floor of the bed, you realize just how big this truck is. The floor includes the wood grain on both side, which some company sometimes neglect to do.

A small fret of photo-etched is included with some small details, but mostly the mesh for the front grill.

The decals are printed well and contain markings for four different vehicles:

- 10th SS Panzer Division (three color camouflage)
- 212th Infantry Division (Dunkelgrau)
- A.Nachr.Rgt.524 (Dunkelgelb)
- 56 Infantry Division (Dunkelgrau)

The instruction follow the typical flow for this type of vehicle and look to be rather straight forward. But I do recommend dry fitting.

Conclusion

Overall this looks to another great kit from AFV Club. The molding is excellent, and the kit looks like it should go together well. The few minor issues that should not affect novice builders, can be corrected or replace rather easy. I, for one, am looking forward to building this big truck, and here hopes the different variants shown on the first page of the instructions will follow from AFV Club. I definitely recommend this kit.