Mazda T2000 kit - Part 1: Look inside the box

 

Time for another kit from the Plaza Japan pile - this time the one that started my spending splurge, the Arii Owners Club Mazda T2000. 

If you aren't familair with this vehicle, and they are pretty rare outside Japan, read this article on Ptrolicious which descibes it.  The thing that piqued my interest originally is that this is a three-wheel truck, with a two-ton load capacity. In the UK, when you say something has a wheel less then normal, we think Reliant Robin or Bond Bug, nothing with a serious load capactiy. 

The T2000 exists for the same reason that the UK three-wheelers proved popular, tax benefits. But the Brits decided that loads needed more rubber on the tarmc, not so the Japanese. 

Inside the box is well filled with bright blue plastic parts along with some green "canvas" bits to cover the load. There is flash visible, but then that's what a kit costing under a fiver is likely to show. Not much, but to anyone used to modern injection moulding, it will be a shock. The cab is a seperate single-piece moulding not in the box. Presumably it is produced on a different machine. I'd expect it to need a higer presure to mould then the flat sprues.

Rubber tyres and a sheet of transfers are also in the box. And instructions. One side of A4. With tichy, tiny diagrams to peer at. 

My plan is just to stick this thing together. Brush paint it, and weather to cover up the brush marks. This is not going to be a serious modeling project, I'm just doing it for fun, and to get my modelling mojo back...