All my RC tanks are unbelievable realistic, so real they are that reach a point where also suffer the same lack of reliability as the real ancient 1:1 scale tanks, if no more. Since my first steps in the hobby, when I started with my beloved Panzer III, I always wanted to have an alternative, a toy which brings me the confidence of being able to run it outside from the clean (Ha!) interior of my house and something that has spare parts easily obtainable which also don’t cost a kidney.
Admittedly, the 1:16 scale tanks are not made to be run outside home. Even when the aftermarket electronics I use are great and never failed me so far, almost every time I drive outside home I experience disgraceful issues which range from wheels jamming and wearing, suspension parts damaged, deep scratches, to broken or lost parts and discouraging issues like that. I thought that something with four wheels instead of an uncountable bunch of wheels and tracks should be easier to maintain and should be more durable, so, I took a look at the market and there were almost no options in the 1:16 scale. I always wanted an “Andrew’s Design-Metal Origins-Xion” SDFKZ 222, but the older version is the ultimate piece of shit you can face in your worst nightmare, and the newer version never saw the light neither it seems it will do, but according to the info I got, the prototype seems to be as bad if not worse than the original one. Jesus, sometimes this hobby can be as frustrating as sweeping in the desert.
I considered getting one of the RC Kübelwagens that were “available” one of them being the Tamiya one, which was discontinued like 15 years ago, so dare to imagine what it costs, and now multiply it by 5. The second option would be the Asiatam one, made of horrible cheap chinesium monkey pot metal, which is known for committing some sort of self destruction. Suddenly, another one from “Rochobby/FMS” popped out from nowhere. It was the coolest RC Kübelwagen I had ever seen, super realistic and with many functions… but in the wrong scale. Yeah, it was built in the 1:12 scale which has no sense for me, neither for most mere mortals. All our tanks are in the 1:16 scale, but if that is a too niche market, I’d produced it in the crawlers 1:10 scale or in the Tamiya trucks 1:14,5 scale. Why that in-between strange scale which matches absolutely nothing but the doll houses? I guess I shall never know. Wait, where is the driver? Heck! There is no driver! Ok, time to move on and keep looking for an alternative, I said.
In a sort of “desperate” situation, I built my own Beetle, which is a very cool toy, but the lack of suspension kinda dimmed the fun for me. Then, I built the truck, which for some reason I hardly ever use, even when it is cool and fun.
But one day I came across some reviews of that 1:12 Type82 that made me regain some interest on it. Then, I took a look at video reviews of it running inside and outside home, and I was delighted with how wonderfully that suspension moved. But nope, I did not want it, there was still no driver. I did not want to form part of those clans of poor Youtubers driving their ghost cars with sad faces. If you think that ia not creepy enough, well, you have to be aware that, while cornering, the steering wheel moves itself inside of the car, lol. Yeah, it made me feel death’s cold breathe in my neck.
But look at it, it is amazing, regardless. I did a vague Google search, and if there were no available WW2 figures in the 1:12 scale, one was going to be released soon. It was a figure of the unique Ed Harris Mayor König! Biggest issue was now ironed, but that scale… Yes! I know, the scale is wrong, buuuuuut once you look carefully at the toys, well, I thought it was a toll well worth to pay. So I did it.
You may wonder what makes it so special that made me get it, even when it was the wrong scale and shamefully comes in a Ready- to-Run way. You are going to call me romantic, freak or stupid, but I felt that, this toy, unlike many others, was created with love, forged with passion. Seriously, I had the feeling that special love and care was put on every detail of it. Love that started in the creator of the toy, which if I am not mistaken, owns some real Kübelwagens and Beetles, and love to the toy model itself, because what I saw on it, I never saw it before.
Let’s inspect it.
When it arrived, it came with a protective cardboard box, and, once opened, there was another foam box sleeved with nice artbox, which works as a transport box. Yep, I can say I even liked the box, lol. The car, shamefully for me, but thankfully for others, come in ready-to-run package. Which means, plug in the battery, source 4 AAA batteries for the transmitter which is also included and you are good to go. I’d rather gotten it in a kit, I don’t want anybody taking the pleasure of building away from me, but well, that is what we have.
But only with connecting the battery makes you see you are in front of something special, such attention to scale has been paid that, for example, the battery fits inside of the scale fuel tank. But if that does not blow your mind, well, the start button is exactly where the original start button is, press it, and it will be ON. So far, I have never seen any of those two details in any RC toy, ever.
Then I started looking at the detail here and there. First thing I noticed was the car’s doors. The four of them open, moving the handle, like you would do in the real car.
Behind the rear seats there is a trunk. I am surprised the Rochobby guys left the trunk empty. I mean, any other brand would be using that big empty space for fitting the electronics or batteries. Nope, not in this case. They leave it empty for your own use. I will make some cool accessories for it, like a 3D printed jerry can and things like that.
The rear of the car is practicable as well, and you find a shocking realistic motor, which even has a real belt driven working fan. This is sick, guys.
The motor itself is a tiny 130 motor which, after considering the size and weight of the model, and after some field tests, it proved to be all right. It is very well geared down, and it comes with a two-speed gearbox. Yes, shocking news, the car has gears! my Goodness… As far as the manual tells you, the gears simulate the first and the third gear, reaching the same scale speed as the original vehicle while driving in those gears.
But when you might think that is all, it is not. You can even select between 2WD and 4WD from your transmitter! I know the real car was only rear 2WD, but being able to drive it 4WD vastly improves the driving capabilities over rougher surfaces.
Suspension.
I have seen there is some debate about it. Some people complain against being way too soft. So soft it is, that even when the car is placed on the desk, more than half of the travel of the suspension is already compressed. Well, if you read the manual, the designer claims it to be correct as it is. And I do believe it is fine. If the springs were stronger, the car would be jumping and bouncing while driven.
I have found the suspension to be realistic like nothing I have seen before. When driving and turning fully speed it even leans to the sides, like it would happen in your real car, and again, unlike I have seen in any other RC toy.
Lights.
Most toys come either with no lights or crappy lights which only work when you are driving fowards. Not here. You have long beam headlights, short beam headlights, front notek, combined rear and brake lights, indicators and even warning lights. All what is needed, except the lack of rear notek which I personally would have loved ot have, and maybe, why not, some sort of dashboard light.
Mayor König.
Did you recognize him? It is Ed Harris! Incarnating Mayor König from the “Enemy at the gates” film! I mentioned infinite times that I can’t stand crewless toys, specially if it is a car with no top, where hidding the lack of a driver is impossible, so when I saw that a Mayor König was going to be produced, I had to order one.
There is not much I can say about it, because I did not built it, neither painted it. Not much to paint, though, because the uniform is made of real cloth. When looking for a suitable driver I considered of getting one 3D printed by my friend Charly, but then I realized the car was too special for having a static figure. This car deserved something better, something several steps further… and then is when I took a look at the super scarce and expensive articulable figures and when I decided to get this one, produced by “Pop Toys”.
I was a bit ashamed of buying some kind of articulable Barbie Ken with clothes, but hey, life is short and you better enjoy while you can, lol
Anyway, I found it to be mega cool, much better than expected. Our Mayor also wears a German uniform under his winter coat. You can spend time dressing and undressing your figure if you don’t have anything better to do. Oh, and it is worth to mention that the K98 fits perfectly in the car’s weapon rack and also comes with a few more accessories.
Final thoughts.
I love the car, but there are few things that I’d like to have on it. I am used to my own models, which have plenty of extra parts and stowage, so, I miss more accessories. Considering the 1:12 scale is almost non existant, it is very hard to get anything for it. For example, I’d loved to have a jerry can and a side shovel. Furthermore, a tarp hood is a great desire for me. The car would look much better to my eye and it would fit much better the winter driver and diorama.
I’d also make a working rear Notek, and lastly, for God’s sake, all those seats which have soft fabric seats should look like real seats and not like salt crackers. Why all those holes in the seats? I guess it might be a copyright reason, but if not, it goes beyond my understanding.
Anyway, I am known for being very critic with most toys releases. “It is a rip off”, “It is flawed on purpose”, “40 years using the same obsolete molds” even “those guys won’t ship you anything, it is a scam” and things like that can be often read at my website… but this car is an exception to all of that. It is GREAT. As I mentioned above, a lot of love and effort has been invested on it, and you can feel it on every corner. It is a great model which can be placed in your living room while keeping your wife happy and it is a good runner inside and outside, but beware, it is not by any means, a crawler. If you are looking for excellent offroad capabilities, you would do much better getting a crawler. But if you want a realistic scale car for normal grounds, go for it. It can be found for only 150 Euros, free shipping, which nowadays is an absolute BARGAIN, yes, with capital and bold letters. If this thing had the Tamiya name stamped on the box, if would cost easily 1.000 Euros and people would kill for it. But also, if it had the Tamiya name, it would have nowhere near the same quality.
The figure, well, that might be a tad different. No doubt it is cool as hell, but now, once the preorder time is gone, it costs near as much as the car. It is too expensive and it is hard to justify the price, unless you have a real urge of sitting somebody inside of the car. For me, it is an absolute must. And Jesus, the two of them together look amazing in the living room!
Yeah, yeah. I guess you might be saying: “Ok, is that all? You only bought two toys, everybody can do it.” or “Who are you, and what did you do with Rad?” or even better “You sold your soul to Rochobby/FMS, (insert the brand of your choice here) for a paid review”
Of course not.
As you can imagine, I was not entirely happy. Using my one-rules-all radio is a must for me, and if I couldn’t use it, I wouldn’t get the toy. And of course, I need sounds in every one of my RC toys. No sound, no fun, as simple as that. So, yes, I am replacing the original electronics with my own set up, using a Dasmikro V4 board, paying extra attention in not showing any wire, keeping all the original functions and adding some more.
I guess I will use the same motor sounds that I created for my beetle, because it is the same motor after all… but this time I will be adding some of the Ed Harris voice, extracting it from the “Enemy at the gates” movie, but in Spanish. I want at least one of my toys speaking my own language.
Right now I am trying to get all the required parts, which are some connectors, a speaker and a tiny 6ch receiver. Usually something like this would not take me long at all, but due to this new Austrian green government law, we cannot order almost anything from internet, so it is way harder to get the components we need, and if found, it takes way more time and much more money.
But rest assured, I will update this entry once it is finished. You will be the firsts to know, because I intend to sell the original remote controller and electronics, which are excellent for most, but not for me.
Disclaiming: Being equipped with a cheap Chinese phone and monitor makes me not able to take pics nowhere near as good as the official ones, hence this time I decided to upload some of original studio photos, along some of my own, while driving in the garden. Considering I did not build neither paint neither of the two models, I thought there was not much I could show… for now.
RAD INDUSTRIES 
Amazing car and tecnic post, perfect like always Rad
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