C’mon, Get Happy

“Cute” isn’t a word we normally use around here, but when a box full of German maker BUB’s smallest models showed up, it was an involuntary reaction. These things are - lord help us - adorable, and the small size seemingly hasn’t kept this maker from casting a ton of detail into the models’ exteriors or finishing them off with lush paint and tamped-on graphics.

It’s a deep lineup, and we only copped a handful, but what we saw started with a set of four Volkswagen Transporters. There’s a Samba 23-window camper, a Kombi passenger van, a panel van,  and even an open-backed pickup truck, each with rubber tires, great paint, sharp decorations, and passable interiors - pretty remarkable for models that clock in at around an inch and a half long.

The fun continued with a pair of luxo-campers: a Mercedes LO3500 “Salonwagen” bus with a full interior, replete with seats and tables, and a second offering done up as a Hymer-Borgward “Caravano” pop-top camper. This one had its own cabin detailing - and even a set of tamped-on “curtains” out back.
A brace of car haulers added finger fun to BUB’s super-small car model mix. On a red roll-off transporter, the rear ramps pull down, and a second level can be raised into position - pretty cool in this scale. A second race camel wore a separate, bonus Porsche 550 Spyder atop its VW-derived extended bed pickup - a kicking little model unto itself.

Done up in diecast metal, these are surprisingly heavy little suckers with a load of appeal, and they come in slick packaging. The downside: BUB is still lacking a US distributor, so getting these critters in hand may prove to be a challenge, at least for the time being. Hit the web, do a little research, and make nice with the currency exchange tables and you may be able to score any or all of this builder’s line.  - CRM

Bub 1:87 “Bub-Renntransporter”, limited to 1,000 pieces, item 07800. 1:87 “Rennstall Bunker” w/ Porsche 550 Spyder, item 07175. www.bub-toys.com.

Bub 1:87 Mercedes-Benz LO3500, from an edition of 500 pieces, item 7325. 1:87 Hymer-Borgward “Caravano”, edition of 1,000 pieces, item 7120. www.bub-toys.com.

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