What’s In the Box?
One of the more original releases in the Tamiya line of 1:48th scale armour and soft-skinned vehicles is the British 10hp Light Utility Car, or to give it a name familiar to its users at the time the ‘Tilly’.
The Tamiya kit portrays the Austin built version of the ‘Tilly’ very well, in the box there is the one-piece body shell and one sprue in crisply moulded mid-grey plastic and a transparent sprue for the windows, lamps and canvas tilt.
Thankfully for a vehicle so small Tamiya have omitted the usual cast-metal chassis and gone with an all-plastic kit.
The main grey sprue holds the parts for the vehicle including the chassis, wheels, front wings and radiator grille, separate exhaust pipe and fittings and as the interior parts.
A four-part driver figure is included but to allow him to fit into the kits cab properly he is rather under scale. A criticism which can be levelled at all Tamiya 1:48th scale figures unfortunately.
The transparencies are cleverly thought out, the windscreen is separate from the side window moulding allowing the latter to be omitted to depict the side windows rolled down, also on the clear sprue is the optional tilt with alternative open and closed rear flaps as well as one of the headlamps and two tiny side-lamps to mount on top of the front wings (fenders).
Accuracy
In outline and proportions the kit matches up very well to published drawings and photographs, so well in fact that Mike Shackleton, president of the Tilly Register, a collectors club for Tilly restorers and owners, gave it a hearty nod of approval!
There are some minor detail points to know about, early Austin Tillys had wooden tailgates, during production the design of the tilt changed at least three times, and the kit wheels are moulded with hubcaps in place. The hubcaps were often removed in service and later in production a different wheel was used that featured a distinctive flange to allow ropes to be fitted for easy loading aboard ships.
Fit
The breakdown of the parts is quite neat apart from one minor issue and the fit is pretty much first-class, I don’t understand why Tamiya have chosen to split the floor of the pick-up where they have; part A25 needs some fettling for a clean fit and will leave an obvious seam that needs filling or concealing so leave off the rear seats until you’ve taken care of this, the optional tilt will hide a multitude of sins.
The front wings are added to the main body once the radiator grill has been fitted and at the rear the tailgate is a separate part which can be fitted opened or closed.
The fit of all the main components is exemplary without a gap to be found.
