Back in the late 60s through the mid 70s Monogram released a bunch of kits designed by Tom Daniels. I built a dozen of them in my youth, but lost all of them during one of our moves when the box didn’t show up at our new base housing. Since then I have managed to collect all but a couple of the ones I had and several I didn’t have but always wanted. Now, thanks to Atlantis Models, some of these kits have been re-released, and I took the opportunity to grab the Pie Wagon.

The kit comes packaged looking like the old Monogram kit, including the classic instructions. The parts are molded in red and clear plastic with chrome and brass-plated parts and rubber tires.

Box Contents

There are four medium grey sprues for the plastic parts.

Clear Parts - The clear parts are very clear and crisply molded. This sprue includes several parts that will not be used in this build. The canopy is made up of three parts, and the canopy may be posed open or closed.

Instructions - There are 20 pages in the instruction booklet. Each step is shown as line diagrams with parts numbered, parts placement shown along with paint colors. As this kit may be built for either the Mitsubishi or Nakajima manufactured aircraft, the different manufacturer parts are noted. There are five different aircraft that can be built from this kit. Start by deciding which version will be built, as there are parts as well as paint color options to be used for the various versions. The instructions show the locations for all markings and stencils.

ICM have released several versions of this biplane, and the box art depicts a plane in snow-white camo in 1942 on the German eastern front. These rugged aircraft served in ground support and training roles throughout the war, even after being supplanted by the more modern Ju 87. They were only taken out of service in 1944 due to a lack of spare parts.

I was excited to be asked to do a build review of this kit, as ICM have a reputation for common sense engineering, interesting subjects and excellent fit. This kit is no exception.

The 1/48 ICM kit “Conquerors of Europe’s Sky” has three kits included, a B26C Marauder, a P-51D Mustang and the Spitfire Mk XVI.

The B26C is a new tool kit, the P-51D and the Spitfire Mk XVI is an old tool kit which came out back in 2006, so those molds are almost twenty years old.

Included in the B26C kit is:

• Eight grey sprues
• One clear sprue
• One set of decals for three different aircraft
• One mask template
• One instruction booklet
• One instruction page for paint and decal placement

Included in the P-51D Mustang kit:

• Five grey sprues
• One clear sprue
• Decals for one aircraft
• One instruction book

Included in the Spitfire Mk XVI kit:

Background

The Panzerspähwagen (Funk) P204(f) was a German command radio-equipped armored car based on the captured French Panhard 178. Command variants of the P204(f) used FuG 10 or FuG 11 radios, and the large Hochantenne (elevated) frame antenna, with some vehicles also fitted with a right-side telescopic mast. The Germans converted the P204(f) into a Funk vehicle by removing the APX3 turret and installing a fixed or open-topped armored box.

Panhard was a major French designer of armored cars, known for reliable and fast vehicles like the AMD 35 and later AML series. The 178 was one of the most advanced pre-war designs, so when Germany captured over 400 of them in 1940, they quickly put them to work in reconnaissance and security roles. The Germans redesignated it as the P204(f) and found its roomy hull ideal for converting into a communications and command vehicle.