Italeri

1/35 DUKW British Royal Army (*)

Kit Number: 6466

Reviewed by  Chris Bryan, IPMS# 45187

MSRP: $45.00 Website: www.modelrec.com The Italeri British Army DUKW, in 1/35th scale, is essentially a re-box of older releases, but don’t be fooled by that; this is truly a good kit. When I opened the box, I found five sprues of cleanly molded parts and a small sprue of clear parts. The only other thing apparent at this point was this was a typical flat kit. Construction began with step one on the instructions, which is the basic cab assembly. I built the British version instead of the U.S. variant, so I skipped step 2.a. Other than that, the assembly was clean. I did leave the seats out for painting later on. Next, I moved on to the upper body assembly, leaving the glass out for later. Also, the tools were left off in this step so that they could be painted and detailed. Step three focused on the wave break. This was one problem that I did find with the kit. There is only one option for the wave break and that was the deployed option. I chose to show the break deployed but, with a few simple modifications, it could be displayed in a stowed position. The winch assembly on the rear of the vehicle was another small problem. Parts 53 and 54 needed to have the locator pins removed and sanded for the parts to line up correctly. Next, I moved on to step five, which was the assembly of the lower hull. The lower hull assembly is basically a flat kit, which means that it is made up of multiple parts instead of a single casting. With a little care and patience, these parts fit beautifully. Because Italeri has characteristically produced flat kits, many modelers have shied away from them in preference of the "shake and bake" kits, thus depriving themselves of some great subjects. Step six began with assembling the halves of the front wheels. At this point, I jumped ahead and assembled the rear wheels as well. Past experience dictated that by assembling all of the wheels and using a hot solvent like Ambroid, and clamping them, that a small amount of sanding would eliminate any seam. The front axle assembly went together cleanly and was a good fit. The only issue was that the directions showed part 76c located on the wrong side of the leaf spring. After the front assembly was in place, the rear assembly was built and installed. Once again, the parts’ fit was good with the exception of the axle mounting/hangers. There was a small gap along the edge of the brackets where they meet the lower hull. The easiest and cleanest fix was the fill this gap with white glue and wick away the excess. After the front and rear axles were installed, the upper hull was mated to the lower hull; the fit was extremely tight. Almost no glue was needed. With the upper and lower hulls mated together, I moved onto step eleven, most of which I skipped because it deals with the U.S. version. Step twelve is the U.K. version and although a nicely molded canvas cover was included in the kit, I chose not to use it. I did, however, want to suggest a canvas cover so I made tarp hoops from rebar tie wire. After all that was done, primer and paint were applied, followed by decals and weathering. The decals lay down nicely with an application of Solva-set. After all of this was cured and complete, the tools were attached and the Dukw was finished off with a series of filter washes and pigments. This was a very enjoyable kit and I will most likely build more DUKW’s. My thanks to Ed Sexton and MRC Academy for the review sample. [ (*) Editor's Note: There is no such thing as the British Royal Army -- unlike the other services, the British Army is the Army of Parliament and not of the Crown.]