Dragon have produced this great 1:35 scale model of probably the most famous military vehicle ever. It’s part of their Micro X Tech line which includes a bunch of other military toys, none of which is nearly as cool as the Willys. It’s die-cast, which for those of you looking puzzled at the back means it’s made out of metal, which is awesome, because… well metal is awesome.
Instead of resting on their die-cast laurels they’ve made it radio-controlled too. So you have a die-cast replica which you can drive around. The opportunity to cause havoc at a military modeling exhibition by driving it through the exhibits is possibly too hard to resist, or is that just me… yes, I thought so.
The icing on the cake is the controller, which is shaped like a WW2 Walkie Talkie, so you can pretend to call in an air-strike while you reenact the Dirty Dozen at your kitchen table…
The Unimog is made by Mercedes. This is the same company that makes the ridiculous SLR McLaren, which you may have seen wrapped around Paris Hilton, or not, depending on the social circles you move in… The point I’m making, is that Mercedes clearly feel their brand can encompass a broad range of vehicles, and Paris Hilton has too much money.
This particular variant is a 406 series. These were introduced in the 1960s which explains the deliciously retro look. This radio-controlled version is made by the ever reliable Tamiya who’ve decided it’s their duty to provide German Utility vehicle enthusiasts with a drivable 1:10 scale model of the Unimog.
The body is made from polycarbonate and sits on Tamiya’s heavy-duty CR-01 chassis which seems especially designed with rock crawling in mind. Otherwise it takes pretty standard RC equipment so you can tweak the hell out of it. Tamiya even provide cut-out and make boxes you can put on the back of your Unimog, to fully indulge your utility vehicle fantasy…