Wargaming

After all the building, painting and pictures of my German Army I thought I had better finish off my American 4th Armored division before I start the next battle.  Most of Combat Command A and B are complete except for the second Armored infantry company (pictures coming soon). The 3 infantry platoons were built and painted but the A/T platoon and headquarters were still on the shelves. Unfortunately, when I was moving a couple of years ago the 3 infantry platoons were also roughly handled and those that were complete were damaged. After building and priming the halftracks and 2 1/2 ton trucks I started building two Italeri Dodge WC 51s to add to the headquarters.

The first thing that strikes you when you look at the box is the size of the box and the great picture of the vehicle rushing through a storm. On the back of the box is several nice colored pictures with markings.

The box is a little deceiving and way oversized for the contents inside.  I remember the smaller Esci box was not even filled when I built my first 2 Dodges 15 years ago. The original Esci # was 8039 U.S. Light Truck WC 51 3/4 ton. Actually the only thing that fits the box is the instructions.

As with all old Ecsi kits from the early to mid 70s there is a lot of detail on the finished kit. This one is no exception. In fact for the size of the model it is probably a little overkill but overall it looks really nice when complete. The detail may be nice but the mold is showing its age. The amount of flash and the number of sink holes on this particular example took a lot of work and extra time to fix.

The instructions are fairly straight forward and clear except on some of the steering components. Also there are errors that I found on the springs and the front pulley mounting which is not clear. The picture below shows just how detailed this kit is.

More sink holes even on A surface parts like the tarp. Some penetrating all the way through. More putty and sanding.

Finished model. Now for the painting.

The base coat I use for the American Army is a mix of about 90% Tamiya’s XF62 and about 10% Vallejo 915 Deep yellow.

Finished model ready to join the Armored Infantry Battalion HQ.

Overall a great little addition to the American army. It is getting hard to find these so I was fortunate to purchase enough for my requirements several years ago. It would be nice if the mold was refurbished if anyone decides to reissue this kit.