ICM Model WOT6 British WWII Truck (35507) 1:35

[Mike]

Model WOT6 British WWII Truck (35507)

1:35 ICM

 

 

 

During WWII, Ford UK built a great many vehicles for the British war effort, as well as some 34,000 Merlin engines for Spitfires, Lancasters and Hurricanes.  The WOT.6 was a 4x4 light truck (3 ton capacity) with a short cab that housed a 3.6L V8 engine pumping out a fairly paltry 85hp that could get it to 75mph eventually.  The engine's location under the cab gave the load bed plenty of space on the chassis rail, and also gave the truck a sit-up-and-beg look.  The heat from the radiator had to be redirected by a fairing to prevent it being ingested by open windows, thereby cooking and possibly even poisoning the crew if it wasn't in the best of health.  Over 30,000 were built in a number of configurations, and they were in service from 1942 to the end of the war, with those in good enough shape carrying on into the early 60s.

 

 

The Kit

Another new tooling from ICM, who are working their way through the entire WWII vehicle list at quite a speed, while doing something similar to much of the Soviet back catalogue at the same time.  The kit arrives in a small box with their usual top flap on the lower tray, and inside the outer clear foil bag are seven sprues in medium grey styrene, a clear sprue in its own bag, four flexible black plastic tyres and a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) parts, each in their own bags, plus a small decal sheet.  The instruction booklet completes the package, and is printed on glossy white paper in colour, with black and red used for the diagrams throughout, and the decal options printed in colour at the rear.

 

 

 

 

 

British WWII softskins aren't much of a priority for many companies, so it will be happily anticipated by many for that reason, and due to the vast improvement in ICM's tooling in recent years they will be pleased to see that they have packed in a lot of detail to this release, and you can almost bank on there being other versions forthcoming in time if this one sells well.  Perusing the sprues shows plenty of detail all over, with the occasional ejector pin that's unavoidable if you're expecting top quality detail on both sides of parts.  Common sense has prevailed however, and all the marks are in areas where they either won't be seen, or where they're relatively easy to make good.  The construction phase begins with the chassis, which is made up from two main rails, with sub-rails and spacers holding things together, and front suspension moulded into the outer rails.  With the chassis completed by adding the rear end, attention turns to the engine, which is a complete rendering, and made up from a good number of parts for detail, including the block, pulleys, transmission and a short drive-shaft that threads through the holes in the cross-members.  The two long exhaust pipes with mufflers go under the chassis on each side, and the rear suspension is fitted, which is a substantial set of leaf-springs, then the axles and drive shafts are attached to the suspension and transfer box.  Brake drums, fuel tanks, steering arms and struts are all installed before the wheels are built-up around the rubbery black tyres, which have tread details moulded-in, and are finished off by the addition of the hubs, which attach from both sides, and are then detailed with additional parts before they are slotted onto the axles.

 

 

The undercarriage is almost done, and it's time for the upper surfaces, beginning with the engine bay, which has the front wheel-arches moulded in, and is then detailed with lights, front rail, radiator and some additional ancillaries to keep the engine running.  You even get a pair of lower hoses for the radiator to mate it to the engine, and two more longer ones diving diagonally down into the topside of the engine from the top of the rad.  There's going to be a bit of painting needed, as the engine can be seen from the underside, even though access is limited.  The bay sides are planted, and are joined by internal covers and instrumentation on top, which have a few decals to detail them up.  Some of the driver's controls are added on the right side (the correct side) of the engine, and a pair of seats are built up and added to the square bases installed earlier, then the front of the cab is detailed with clear parts and window actuators, before the sides are attached to the edges and lowered onto the chassis, then joined by the simple dash board and steering wheel on its spindly column.  The doors are separate parts and have clear windows, handles and window winders added, then joined to the sides in either the open or closed position or any variation of the two.  The cab is a bit draughty at the moment, until the rear panel  and the roof are added, the latter having a pop-up cover on the co-driver's side, with a couple of PE grilles then added to the front radiator frames after being bent to shape.

 

Now for the truck bed, beginning with the sides, which have two stiffeners added, then are covered with bumpers along the top and bottom edge of the outside face.  The bed floor fits into a groove into the bottom, and is kept square by the addition of the front and rear sides.  Under the bed are a number of stowage boxes and racks for additional fuel or water cans, which are happily also included, then they are joined by the two parts per wheel that form the wheel arch that are braced on the outside with two small struts.  Then it's the fun part!  Adding the bed to the chassis, which is kept in the correct place by two ridges under the bed that mate with grooves in the chassis rail.  At the front, two light-hoods are fitted above the lights, and the prominent pedestrian unfriendly hood that deflects the rain and hopefully redirects the engine heat from being sucked back into the open front windows on a hot day.  The cab is detailed with additional lights, horn, wing mirrors, grab-handles and even some pioneer tools, then the windscreen wipers.  Moving backwards, the four c-shaped hoops that support the canvas tilt are applied to the outside of the bed sides, reaching roughly half-way down the sides to obtain a strong join in both 1:1 and 1:35.  The final act is to add seven rods along the length of the roof section of the tilt frame, which will need some careful alignment to ensure all the hoops are vertical and correctly spaced.  Now you can paint it, but you've probably got a lot of that done already in truth.

 

 

Markings

It's a softskin, so British green is the colour you'll be using the most of.  There are four decal options in the box, and all of them look very similar to the casual observer as there are minimal markings due to the subject in hand.  The decal sheet is pretty small as a result, but it's also quite colourful due to the unit markings that are included.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• France, Summer 1944
• L5496558 France, 1944
• Great Britain, Summer 19445
• 30YX68 Great Britain, Summer 1945

 

 

 

Decals are printed in-house, and have good register, colour density and sharpness, which include those useful instrument dials with black backgrounds.

 

 

Conclusion

As soon as I saw this in the box I thought it was an interesting subject, and it looks like ICM have made a nice little replica here.  Plenty of detail, some PE parts, and some rubbery tyres for those that don't want to have to paint them.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

Available in the UK from their Importers, H G Hannants Ltd.

 

Review sample courtesy of

[Andrew Jones]

Pity there's a couple of fairly basic mistakes in this kit , firstly the body is not a G.S. type but in fact represents a Machinery Body, and secondly the tyres are of a post war type not seen on wartime WOT6's .  The mistakes probably stem from using a restored lorry as a pattern , pity really as the kit itself is very nice .

 

Andrew

[Circloy]

Fail to see how the inclusion of a machinery body is a mistake. ICM obviously set out to produce a model of a British lorry they had been able to measure and by all account appear to have succeeded, even down to the tyre pattern.

 

Not all lorries were fitted with general service bodies & the modelling world would be poorer if we only had models of 'GS' types.

 

ICM don't claim this to be a general service truck so whilst it may be an odd choice it doesn't make it a mistake. The inclusion of WW2 census numbers and post war tyres appears to be the only mistake of note.

 

Coupled with the equipment frorm Resicast's own machinery truck, available separately, this could be used in a much more interesting diorama than yet another 'GS' type loaded with boxes & drums.

[MarcoVanBasten]

I admit that I am not a specialist on British trucks, but only now that I have opened the box I have just bought, I have noticed one thing.
It seems very strange to me that there are only 4 wheels and no spare.
I don't remember ever having a military truck without a spare wheel, even just to put it on the back with the load.
Can anyone help me?

[bootneck]

I was told, by a fellow modeller, that the chassis for this was also used postwar but with a different body.  Problem is that he couldn't advise me of which company produced the civilian postwar version.   I can understand this happening, mainly due to the severe austere conditions and lack of funds, that companies would re-use wartime chassis' for their commercial requirements.  Can anyone advise of who might have produced the postwar version and what the bodywork would have looked like?  It could be a good reason for doing a conversion project!

 

Cheers,
Mike