The world's first 2WD sidecar, the Imperial Japanese Army Type 97 Motorcycle Rikuo, is now a 1/35 scale model kit!

Wanting to enjoy a slightly unusual vehicle in a model, different from tanks or military trucks. What seems likely to catch the eye of such people is “G50 1/35 Imperial Japanese Army Type 97 Motorcycle with Sidecar Rikuo”. If thinking “Isn't it just an old motorcycle with a sidecar?”, that is not all. The Type 97 Motorcycle with Sidecar is an existence modified as a military vehicle based on Rikuo, becoming a plastic model where you can enjoy its unique structure and usage on a 1/35 scale. While being a compact model with total length about 78mm, because not only vehicles but even human figures and equipment parts can be combined, it is a kit where you can savor up to the fun of building up small scenes.

Knowing about the Type 97 Motorcycle with Sidecar, what draws interest first is the drive system. General motorcycles with sidecars run on wheels of the main vehicle side, but to heighten rough terrain driveability for military use, this vehicle adopted a two-wheel drive system transmitting power to the sidecar side wheels as well. Furthermore, it possesses a background making mecha lovers spontaneously want to investigate in detail, having been completed as the world's first two-wheel drive motorcycle with a sidecar. After being officially adopted in 1937, it was used for various missions beginning with reconnaissance and communication. Rather than only gazing at it as a model, the place being able to assemble while imagining “Why did it become such a structure?” would be the true pleasure unique to plastic models with historical vehicles as subjects.

You might be curious asking “If it's 1/35, how big will it be when completed?”, but total length of this kit is about 78mm. While being a size easy to place even on desks or collection spaces, because it is the classic 1/35 scale in military models, being easy to combine with vehicles, soldiers, buildings, etc. of the same scale is also a charm. Not to mention enjoying the figure of the Type 97 Motorcycle with Sidecar as a standalone, preparing roads or ground to reproduce a scene during reconnaissance, or lining up with other vehicles to express a corner of troops, you can expand ways of enjoying after completion. Package size is 16x26x4cm, weight is 128g, and it has a structure containing 1 vehicle.

What is interesting in this kit is the part that it does not conclude with vehicles alone. Because 1 figure each of a driver and a machine gunner is included, by combining human figures to the completed vehicle body, an atmosphere of “Type 97 during mission” can be produced at once. Furthermore Type 11 Light Machine Gun is included as well, becoming a structure able to show character as a military vehicle more impressively. Models are mysterious things, and while if vehicle alone it looks as a mechanical sculpted object, just by adding human figures there you want to imagine scenes thinking “Where is this vehicle heading?”. Making stories inside small scales would be the major fun of this product.

Furthermore, the point that option parts of windshields for sidecars are prepared is also a place to pay attention to. In plastic models, just having such selectable parts increases fun during production. Time spent thinking “In which figure shall I complete it?” is part of model building as well, and deciding one's own completed image while referencing materials seems interesting too. Directionality differs from overwhelming volume like large kits, and the place being able to enjoy condensing characteristic silhouettes unique to the Type 97 Motorcycle with Sidecar into a reasonable size can be said to be individuality typical of this kit.

I think the charm of this kit lies in the depth of capacity where it can be enjoyed even displayed as a standalone, yet can play an active part even as a fine supporting role if built into dioramas. Rare mechanism named two-wheel drive sidecar, driver and machine gunner, Type 11 Light Machine Gun, and windshield for sidecars, despite being a small kit, highlights are unexpectedly abundant. People saying “I want to make Imperial Japanese Army vehicles other than tanks too” or “I am looking for a slightly changed 1/35 military model” seem likely to be able to enjoy unexpectedly dense model time from this single vehicle of about 78mm.