ICM Mercedes G4

Introduction

This is a kit that I have not really had that long. I bought it roughly a year ago from Jadar hobby in Poland for a very reasonable price. After I had received it I realised that I had bought it for an absolutely amazing price! The detail on this kit is outstanding. The parts are crisp and have very little marks from the manufacturing process. I had originally intended on building this vehicle with a 1/35 figure of Adolf Hitler standing in his usual hateful Nazi pose. I had quite an ordeal tracking down a figure of him, eventually getting one shipped from Hong Kong at an extortionate price! Unfortunately for me when I decided to make this kit I realised to my dismay that I had lost the Hitler figure. I can only presume that when I had my last big clear out and moved my model kits, paints and tools to my new/old writing bureau, the figure was thrown out with the rest of detritus that I had collected over the years.

With the figure missing, I was faced with a new scene to place this vehicle in. Fortunately for me the answer came in the form of Masterbox figures; specifically their kit entitled "Fraulein, what are you doing today?" and an ICM figure kit of WWII German road police which for some reason has two German vicars included? The kits that I will be using for this scene are:

Setting the scene

The scene that I will try to show is one where the G4 has been stopped by the police and for some reason only known to the figures, the policeman is issuing a summons to the driver/occupants. While this is going on; an SS officer has seized the chance to speak to the Fraulein while the car is stopped. This is a simple concept that I hope will work out in the end.



The build of the G4

This kit is not one for the faint of heart. The detail is only surpassed by the shear number of parts and assemblies required to make this kit. The rear suspension and drive train alone took several hours to make! I will show the assembly through photographic stages as normal rather than writing in detail about every single part of the build:

The Figures

The figures are almost made to measure for this kit. I am sure that Masterbox manufactured this kit so that the modeler has the choice between the figures for a number of vehicles. In the G4 however, there are two additional seats, so the vehicle can accommodate all of them. Following clean up, assemble and priming of the figures, they were test fitted to the vehicle to ensure that they "sat" correctly in the interior before painting began:

Painting the G4

I had two choices for the colour of this vehicle: dark grey or light grey & black. I did think about this a little while but opted for the light grey and black version simply because I like the colour scheme:

More updates soon