Here, I have a pair of Deuces, 2 of the 7 Deuce and a halfs required by the dio, both built and painted,

The first being a soft cab, based on the Tamiya kit, shown here prior to painting.

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The second photo is after the base coat was applied.

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The second “Jimmy”, this one based on the Italeri “Hard Cab” with a hatch for the turret ring mounted .50 Cal. MG.

I have decided to consolidate all my Deuce and a halfs into this thread. This topic will eventually include ALL soft skinned vehicles in the diorama.

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The new stuff as of August 10th.

I’ll start the update with the Dodge ambulance. This is the old Italeri kit, updated with parts from the Skybow/AFV club Dodge WC parts and some PE.

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This is a pretty much OOB Tamiya GMC that I added the Tamiya .50 cal. MG and turret ring.

This is a Tamiya kit using the Trakz Tipper dump conversion and the Trakz canvas top for the cabin.

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This is another Tamiya GMC, this one with a Tamiya 50 cal. MG/Turret ring and a Trakz canvas cargo and cab cover.

This is an Italeri hard cab conversion with the newer Tamiya GMC chassis.

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This is the single Studebaker cargo truck that will be in the convoy. I was concerned about using this for awhile. Later, research proved they were absolutely used in all the express routes throughout the ETO, albeit in small numbers. (For any skeptics out there, I have proof, photographic and otherwise!) I replaced the tires/wheels with the Italeri as they were the wrong tread pattern.

This is the later limited issue hard cab Italeri GMC w/MG and turret ring. Mostly oob with a little PE here and there. Click on photos to enlarge

This is the most converted of the GMCs. A Tamiya GMC, w/Trakz cabin canvas top with a scratched rear end to convert it to the gasoline tanker version. I made the oval forms, connected them into two separate tanks and used very thin styrene to skin them. David Doyle, the author of dozens of research books on soft skins and armor and his friends helped me with photos and data on this one. I was looking through all my parts stashes to find the 43 jerry cans required to fill the racks on both sides. I used PE from the ABER kit here and there, Made inset door handles on the boxes containing the fuel hoses on both sides of the tanks. A piano hinge was used at the top of each and I used brass rod scored with a hobby knife to simulate those. Click on photos to enlarge

On this version, the underslung spare tire is replaced by a small storage box, and another box, directly behind the cab holds the spare.

Again, I used the Trakx canvas cab top. It is much better than the one supplied with the kit! Click on photos to enlarge

I see no reason to individually post all these vehilcles after a base coat of O.D. (In various slightly different shades, which do not show up well in these photos), so I thought I would throw in all of them so far. Only four soft skins remain to be built, three more jeeps and a 3/4 ton Dodge command car for General Patton. All the armor will be in another post!

I now have several vehicles close to being finished. This gasoline trailer is the first totally completed. There will be seven trailers, this one being the most weathered, the rest from almost new and all stages in between.

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Here are the built and base coated soft skins in a group. It may not look like it, but there are a total of 20 kits in the following three photos. 8 GMCs of various types, 1 Studebaker cargo, 1 Diamond T wrecker, 3 Cargo trailers, 3 Gasoline trailers, 1 Dodge ambulance, 1 D-7 Caterpillar dozer, and 2 jeeps.

OK, That is it so far. I have the destroyed and burned Mercedes truck/Search light unit which is completed and will be in “Logistics” Mercedes Finished thread!

I preferred to put all these into a single post because, particularly in the initial phases, they are a little boring.

Bob

As these progress, I will update them.