RPM 1/35 SAMOCHOD ZWIADOWCZY M.M.G.S.
BRITISH WWI SCOUT CAR M.M.G.S. 1916

Introduction

Anyone who knows me well knows that my first love in armor kits is WWII subjects. However, over the last few years I have acquired some WWI ones too. I have all the ones by Emhar and the few by Tauro, that are injection molded plastic. I know that there are some resin ones available too, but they are mostly out of my price range.

I see this kit, while on vacation to the east coast, in a hobby shop in New Jersey and thought I should have it.

I spent some time looking on the internet, for some history of this vehicle, but came up dry. Sorry about that folks. Can anyone out there fill me in on it?

What's in the box?:

The kit comes in a end opening type box. The box art shows a scout car with a driver and passenger in it. The passenger is standing up, looking through binoculars at an air battle between some biplanes and a Zeppilin. However, this is misleading as there are no figures provided in the kit. I really cannot think of any injection molded figures of WWI soldiers. Guess I will just have to modify some WWII ones into what looks like these two British soldiers.

Inside the box is one large cello bag that holds all the kit's contents. There is one large medium gray tree of parts and two identical cream colored trees. A very tiny decal sheet completes the contents.

There is no instruction sheet in the box. Instead, the instructions are printed on the back of the box. The kit parts have no part numbers molded next to them on the trees, so you will have to keep refering to the numbered parts tree drawings on the back of the box.

There are 25 assembly steps. They are labeled alphabetically, instead of numerically.

The large medium gray tree holds the fuel tank, floorboard and fender part, hood sides, body sides, rear body panel, ammo cans, head lights and their brackets, fuel cans, radiator and its frame, seats, steering wheel, Vickers machine gun and its pedestal etc. There is also a canvas roof piece, a 50 gallon oil drum and some other small parts not used for this kit. (73 parts)

The two identical cream colored parts trees hold the vehicle's spoked wheels, frame pieces, leaf springs, exhaust pipe, engine oil pan (there is no other engine parts provided) etc. (20 parts per tree)

The tiny decal sheet says "20 battery and M.M.G.S."

I would be very interested to know what M.M.G.S. stands for.

Conclusion

I think this kit will make up nicely. The canvas roof piece and other unused parts in this kit are, I think, common to the lorry version of this vehicle that RPM offers as another kit.

The molding looks crisp and well done. My only wish is that they had included the figures shown on the box art.

Recommended to modelers who have a few armor kits under their belts already.