Esci Dodge Weapons Carrier in 1/72 Scale

This is the second Dodge I have built from Esci/Italeri. I think the kit is actually out of production so the only place to find it is eBay or second hand somewhere. One of my favourite truck vehicles of WW2. The first version I built I was not aware of the issues with the suspension height of this kit, so the second time around I was ready to fix my mistakes! It is an old kit and you can tell from all the mouldings it has been around a while. Some flashy bits here and there plus some seam lines and ejection marks, some of which I fixed and some of which I missed. The main problem is that the hull sits too high on the chassis if you build the kit straight from the instructions. So some surgery and some messing around chopping off bits of the axle will get you to point where the suspension looks correct. I should have taken a before picture too, but the gap between the wheel arches and the wheels looked double compared to my finished truck in the pictures. The plastic tarpaulin supplied with the kit is also too big and unrealistic. So I returned to my tissue paper and PVA glue technique to carefully make my own tarp cover for the back. Once painted it is quite convincing as a canvas, and definitely more so than plastic. I also added some tiny windshield wipers and a windshield from clear plastic. The winch was finished off with some woolen yarn wrapped around and painted. The original decals still worked fine with plenty of softener, especially on the bonnet. My driver is from AB figures as usual and he will slot nicely into the driver seat. I did finish this off with some flock and tufts on the base, and a good dose of earthy dusty powders. It’s a great little vehicle!!

4 thoughts on “Esci Dodge Weapons Carrier in 1/72 Scale

    1. its just tissue paper soaked in dilute PVA glue and water Pat. I just cut out the roughly required shape a bit too big and then soak and place! you can add more than one layer if you need to. and then trim off any excess when it is dry. I had to build a new metal frame for this kit but if the original plastic tarp is the correct size you can just apply tissue paper over the top.

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