In 1950, Volkswagen brought out a vehicle that, like the Beetle before it, would become an icon of the 1960’s – what we now know as the Micro-Bus. It was available in many different versions over the years: panel vans, pop-up camper vans, and even as an open-bed pickup truck. But one of the most popular was the Samba Bus, also knows as the 23-window van due to the large number of windows. There have been a number of versions of this vehicle in kit form over the years; let’s take a look at the latest one from Revell.

The kit is molded in white, with chrome and clear trees as well. Four vinyl tires and a large decal sheet round out the list of parts. All engraving is crisp, and there is no flash to speak of. Seams are fairly light and easy to remove.

The instructions are a 12-page booklet of clearly-drawn line drawings. Parts are named and numbered, and there are numerous paint call-outs that appear to be fairly accurate.

History and Performance

The GAZ-69A was a four-wheel drive light truck designed and built for the Russian military in the late 1940’s. Supposedly, the design was based on the American Jeep provided to the Russians during the war as part of the Lend Lease program. The four-door GAZ-69A was a field car for officers or up to eight troops. The car weighed in at 1,525 kg, with a carrying capacity of 500 kg. The car was powered by a 55 bhp, 2.12 liter diesel engine. The car was exported to several nations in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

If you enjoy building armor, you must get this kit.

Upon opening the box, one finds 15 sprues comprising 501 plastic parts, 1 photo-etched sheet, 216 individual track links (you will need 202 for the main tracks), and decals for four versions covering vehicles used in both the North African and Italian campaigns. There are 29 parts not included in the instructions, and several for options that are either/or. Molding is very fine with no flash that I could find. The instructions are in booklet form, with a parts sprue layout which you will need during construction. Ejector pin marks are not a problem with this kit. At several points during assembly, the plans call for adding bolt heads which can be found on several of the sprues and which will need careful lifting off – but there are plenty of extras for your next project.