Introduction

ICM has to be one of the most prolific providers of soft skin vehicles on the market today. They also provide the modeller with various ways of purchasing these products, they release them as stand alone, or with figures and also multiple kit offerings. The latest offering from ICM provides three 3 axle World War II German military transports.

Review

As is common for ICM, they provide their models in a substantial flip top lidded cardboard box. This has an additional card lid, with the artwork for the contents. Inside the three models provided in this offering are provided in three separate re-sealable plastic bags, in addition the instruction booklets cover each model individually with the decals for each model protected within them.

The three models provided in this offering cover a Henschel 33D1, a Krupp L3H163 and a Mercedes LG3000 truck. All of these models have been covered individually in the past, and so this review will be kept short. The injection moulded parts for each of the three models are still very high quality cast mouldings, so we have nothing in the way of flash to worry about, access to remove parts from the sprue is good, there are some flow lines present on the castings but these have not caused any issues with the finished quality of the products. If I had to land a single complaint at ICM’s door, it can be an over abundance of ejector pins marks, most of these will be hidden in the finished models, however others will need to be addressed to prevent them being seen on the finished product.

As is typical for ICM, the oily parts and chassis are exceptionally well detailed, with the only thing a modeller needs to be aware of is making sure the chassis when assembled have the correct orientation, due to being multi-part offerings. The addition of some wires at prominent locations are all that is required to make these areas of the models especially eye catching and appealing. The wheels of the models will both please and upset some modellers - two of the models have injection moulded tyres and this will meet with the approval of most modellers I believe. The Mercedes truck in this offering, has vinyl rubber tyres which I know will not meet with approval with a large number of modellers, due to concerns about vinyl rubber breaking down after the painting and weathering has been completed.

The cabs of the vehicles are plain, but contain all of the needed detail a modeller would want to find. The interior roofs of the cabs are one of the areas where you will find ejector pin marks that need addressing. Moving on to the flatbeds, detail is good throughout and while no particularly eye catching options are provided, the modeller can always create the loop system and apply full or partial tarpaulin coverings. The exterior portions of the cabs are well detailed and have nice renditions of the emblems specific to each manufacturer’s vehicle. The underside of the mud guards is another location where you will find ejector pin marks that should be addressed. Each of the models has been provided with four finishing options, and is another aspect I greatly approve of.

Conclusion

These three models from ICM make a great combo release, for any modeller interested in soft skinned vehicles or World War II German transports. A little effort on the part of the modeller to add some wire to areas of the model will lift a good model to a very high standard. Finally a price tag of around £48 for three models is a fantastic price when a single model is typically more than that now.