Hasegawa 1/24 1973 Nissan Sunny Truck Long-Body Deluxe Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Nissan Motor Company was once a powerhouse in the automotive industry and its Datsun brand helped to revolutionize the small car industry. Datsun held some iconic cars in its line-up including the 240Z sports car, but one of their classics was the small pick-up truck that transformed a number of auto markets around the world.

Hasegawa has reissued their classic Nissan Sunny Truck kit with this Long Body Deluxe 'Early Version' release. You might not recognize that Japanese title, but in the US marketplace, you might know it as the 1973 Datsun 620 Little Hustler; in Canada it was the Datsun 620 Sportruck; and in Taiwan it was the Yeu Loong 753. Whatever you call it, this was one of several variations of the design that became a common sight on the road while it was in production between 1973-1979.

The kit is molded in styrene and presented on one parts tree of white parts plus one body shell molded in white styrene, six parts trees of gray parts, one tree of black parts, one tree of clear parts, one tree of chromed parts, and one set of rubber (vinyl) tires. Among the features and options in this kit:

• Right hand drive
• Nicely detailed interior
• Decals provided for gauges and radio face on dashboard
• Nicely detailed suspension and drive train
• Choice of sport wheels or plain stamped wheels w/chrome hubcaps
• Rubber tires
• Decals are provided to render different options

If you are a North American or European (not UK) modeler, the right hand drive might be a problem, but looking over the interior, you could convert this to left hand drive with a little tweaking. The molded-on details of the dash board insert are nice, but the kit also has dash board instrument and radio face details as decals as an option which would make the task of converting the interior to left hand drive easier.

This kit is a relatively simple build and you'll probably spend more time in the paint booth than on the bench building this gem. I think you'll find the interior and bed details nicely done compared to the two venerable alternatives from Monogram or MPC (when you can find them).

My sincere thanks to Hasegawa USA for this review sample!