The Vehicle

Every armed force in World War II used civilian automobiles as transportation for “important” people. There were American Dodges, Buicks, and Fords. The British used Bentleys and Austin. The Germans used Opels and Horches. Brengun doesn’t specify which model of automobile this kit represents, but it’s obviously a “luxury” car, with a hard top and 4 doors. It’s definitely nicer than Hans-Joachim Marseille’s Kubelwagen.

The Kit

You get two resin staff cars in the kit. There is a PE fret an instruction sheet, and a small decal sheet with license plates for two cars.

Assembly

There really isn’t any assembly to this kit. I removed the pour block from the connectors at the bottom of the car, and then cut these connectors off of the bottom of the car.

Brengun did a marvelous design job on the mold for this car. The pour block is easily removed from the connecting parts with a saw. I then used a PE razor saw to remove most of the connectors from the bottom of the car. I used a #11 blade to remove the last of the pour connectors. This was one of the easiest resin prep jobs I’ve ever done.

Painting

I decided I wanted to do the “civilian” version. This requires removal of the blackout light on the left front fender. The same razor saw that removed the pour channels from the bottom of the car worked very well here. A couple of swipes with a fine sanding stick, and it was ready to paint.

I used Testors Gloss Black from the small bottle. The one I used sold originally for 39 cents. Yep, I’ve got some old paint, but it’s still good.

Once the paint was dry, I used dark gray to paint the windows. I needed a contrasting color to the black, and this worked.

When the windows were done, I sprayed Future on them to protect the windows and to make them glossy.

The next step was to add the chrome. A while back my IPMS chapter sponsored a “modeler’s workshop” on a Saturday. One of the car modelers was showing off how nicely the chrome went on his car using a silver marker. I had a silver marker on my workbench, and by golly it does work marvelously. My thanks to him for that advice.

I also used a black Sharpie to cover some sloppy paint work on a couple of the windows.

Decals

The decals are a front and rear license plate. I got the decals out, and checked where they were to be applied. There was no place on the back of the car to put the license! Then I looked more carefully at the instructions and discovered that there’s a metal license plate on the PE fret. Well, OK to that. I painted the back of the plate black, applied the decal to the other side, cut the PE part loose, and glued the license to the left rear of the car.

The decals were very good. Considering the tiny size of the front license, it still came off the backing paper cleanly, didn’t roll, fold or tear, and allowed me to align it on the bumper.

And I had finished my 1/144^th Staff Car.

Overall Evaluation

This kit is a little beauty. I really like the way it looks and it would be a wonderful addition to a diorama or just as an add-on to a German tank or aircraft kit. I posed my staff car with Wolfgang Falck’s Me-110. Falck was the commander of NJG1, and probably had a number of distinguished visitors who had staff cars like this one.

The molding is exceptional, the resin is workable, and it was a project which didn’t take a lot of time.

There are two pennants on the PE fret. Some German staff cars in the Google Images search have pennants on the front fender. Brengun doesn’t show this on the instructions, but it would be an interesting addition to the car.

Many thanks to Brengun for this really interesting and well done kit. And thanks to IPMS USA for allowing me to review it.