Academy

1/72 US Ambulance & Tow Truck WWII Ground Vehicle Set-4

Kit Number: MH13403

Reviewed by  Phil Peterson, IPMS# 8739

MSRP: $19.00 Academy has released several 72nd scale vehicle sets that work well with aircraft modelers who want to do dioramas. This set is no exception. The Dodge WC-54 was used on US airfields all over the world, as well as to follow the advancing allied armies to shuttle the wounded back to field hospitals. The Clark Equipment Company CLARKTOR was used to tow aircraft, bomb trucks, etc. While I am not sure which version this is, it looks like one used during WWII and into the Korean War. The M1 Bomb Lift Truck was another very common piece of equipment. Enterprising Americans added boxes, 55 gallon drums and other things to raise the height of the bomb, making it easier to attach it to fighters - some ideas that you could add for your diorama. The kits are very well detailed with full engines in both of the vehicles. Of course, you can't see the one in the ambulance unless you open the hood. There are several injection pin marks that end up on the inside or underside so have no bearing unless you open the doors to the ambulance. I built the Clarktor first, and had no fit issues. It comes with a tow bar to mount on the fenders, and another one that is not listed in the instructions but could be used to tow a vehicle. The bomb lift truck also had no problems, but I left off part O5 as it stuck up too high per pictures I have seen. The Ambulance started out pretty good with lots of nice detail and the correct sit on the chassis (a problem with the other Dodge kit by ESCI/Italeri). There is a little detail in the back, and the option to pose the doors open and step down, but no stretchers are included. The main fit problem comes when trying to attach the built back cabin to the chassis. There is a small gap between the cab roof and cabin roof. I am not sure if there should be a separation there or not so I filled it but left the seam visible. I also had some separation of a body panel with the back door but that could have been my error instead of the kit's. The painting instructions are very basic and don't give much for detail work but the biggest problem I had was the red cross decals. The white is translucent which is very noticeable on the cross decals. The roof has a ventilator that attaches and a separate decal for it which is too big and I could just not get it to conform. The decals for the back doors don't take into consideration the door handles and the crosses on the side have a ridge on the body to get them to conform to. If I build another of these, I will paint those markings and avoid the fit issues. Overall these build into decent models and will look good in those aircraft dioramas. I was tempted to mark the ambulance with MASH 4077th numbers but will save it for parking next to an airfield tower. Thanks to MRC/Academy for supplying the kit. Get a couple of meat wagons and help those wounded off of that B-17. Model Rectifier Corporation 80 Newfield Avenue Edison, NJ 08837-3817

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