Chevrolet C15a FFW by realworkingsailor - IBG Models - 1/35 - PLASTIC

[realworkingsailor]

So for those who missed it, I recently picked up a 1/35 model of a Chevrolet C15a Personnel Lorry from IBG Models (shipped all the way from Australia, and arrived on the afternoon before Canada Post went on strike...again....

 

As I may have referenced in a previous build (see my P-40 Kittyhawk build), my great uncle was an artillery officer during the second world war. I have, naturally, been doing a lot of research into what his regiment did during the war, and also the technical details, things such as vehicles and equipment used, etc. My great uncle was a Lieutenant in the 2nd Medium Regiment, RCA. He was assigned to "Q" battery as a Section Leader. A medium artillery regiment was comprised of 16 4.5" or 5.5" guns. The 16 guns were divided into two batteries of 8. In the case of the 2 Meds, the batteries were "P" and "Q" (formerly the 18th and the 25th batteries, when they were called up at the start of the war). Each battery would be subdivided further into 2 troops of 4 guns ("A", "B","C","D"). After late '42 or early '43, each troop was further subdivided down to a section of 2 guns. Each section would be led by a lieutenant, or a senior NCO. The division of the gun troops into sections was more a formality than anything. It didn't increase the regiment's wartime establishment in terms of personnel. Likely this was done to improve communications and therefore response times and accuracy of artillery fire. 

 

An artillery section leader was assigned a 15 Cwt (cwt=hundredweight for the uninitiated,) vehicle fitted for wireless (FFW), along with, I assume, a driver and signaller (15cwt would be about 3/4 ton). During the war, there were many different options for what type of vehicle was used. A few possible options I've been able to uncover so far include the British Bedford MW, the American built White Scout Car, the Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) Chevrolet C15a, or the Dodge D15 (also Canadian built, but known as Modified Conventional Pattern, MCP). Of these four (so far) possibilities, I am somewhat confident in excluding the Bedford MW, as I can find no reference to it in the 1944 Canadian Army Overseas Vehicle Data Book. The Dodge also does not appear in that book, however it looks to have been in use  by the Canadian army in the Italian campaign. Many of these Dodges were inherited leftovers from the 8th Army's desert campaign, handed over to the Canadian 5th Armoured division and artillery troops who arrived in Italy in November '43 sans equipment (there was a lot of wheeling and dealing done by the Canadian government to get more Canadian troops sent to Italy in the fall of '43). Anyway, the 3rd possible option I was looking at, the White Scout car was used in some artillery regiments, but it seems from my research that armoured vehicles would have been used closer to the front line. As the medium artillery regiments where more rearward (not totally out of danger, but there were definitely fewer bullets flying around), I don't think that they would have been equipped with many armoured vehicles, and those would have been saved for use by the Forward Observation Officers (FOOs) or other more front-line adjacent uses. Which has left by with the Chevy C15a as the most likely candidate for the type of vehicle my great uncle would have been riding around in for a good chunk of his time.

 

One of Canada's greatest, and least known, contributions to the second world war (as far as mechanization is concerned), was the production of some 850,000 trucks in various sizes. More vehicles than were produced by Germany during the same time period. A quite remarkable achievement considering the population differences! The CMP trucks came in a variety of sizes, but all featured standardized and interchangeable parts. Even the cabs were of a standard design (for the most part, Dodge did its own thing, hence the MCP designation). The only way to tell a Ford CMP from a Chevy CMP (from the outside, if the emblem had been shot off) was the front grill. Ford used a square pattern mesh, while the Chevy was a diamond pattern mesh. Under the hood was the only true difference, the Chevy used an 85hp inline 6 cylinder engine, while Ford stuck with its tried and true flathead V8, producing 95hp, although the performance ratings for each are identical.

 

 

The IBG Models Chevrolet C15a is a 2016 tooling. IBG produced a number of CMP variants, as the use of standardized parts in the prototype makes this an easy proposition. I managed to snag my kit from BNA in Australia and the shipping was not too bad, which was surprising given the distance (the same kit from Hannants in the UK would have cost slightly less, but the shipping was double).

 

 

The box is absolutely crammed full of plastic. As highlighted on the box, there are two different cab options, but each cab has the option of two different roofs. As the spruces are common to other releases, there are two different sets of frames rails (one for the 15cwt and one for the larger 30 cwt version), as well as options to display the cargo area with the tarp (as on the box), or open with the just the bows in place.

 

 

A multitude of bags keeps the plethora of sprues safe and sound. After cleaning, I can say that the mould quality is quite good, no visible flash, or seam lines anywhere. One frame was slightly warped, but I don't foresee that being too much of a problem down the road. 

 

 

The decals look decent, printed by Techmod, as you can see. I will be hunting for the correct markings, so the Formation signs and Arm Of Service (AOS) numbers won't be used for this build, only the WD numbers and the bridge rating.

 

 

There is a small sheet of photo etch included. Oddly enough, the grill for the No 12 cab is a Ford grill (note the square mesh), so small whoopsie for IBG there. The No 13 cab mesh is the correct diamond pattern, along with the Chevy bowtie.

 

 

The instructions are of a 3D Cad type rendering, including the painting instructions. I think this is the only real downside to the kit. It would have been nice to see a little bit of colour to help differentiate things a bit better, especially for the paint colour callouts, although on the plus side, they do show what each step should look like after completion.

 

Going forward on this build, I intend to model this as the Wire-3 model. The later Wire-5 had a solid rear cabin. I will need to get a few aftermarket goodies yet. Archer Transfers makes decals sets for most of the markings I will need, formation signs and tactical signs. I will be doing a little further digging to get the correct AOS number for the 2 Meds. I will also need to get a No 19 wireless set for the back. All of these I have located, but can't do a thing about until the postal strike is over. I won’t need them for a while yet, so I can commence building at any rate.

 

Wish me luck with this one!

Andy

[Old Collingwood]

Im in.

 

OC.

[realworkingsailor]

Question for Mods/Admins regarding build log titles. I’m just curious why the log titles are now being amended to include kit material for non-wood kits (Plastic, card, etc)? 
I noticed no change in the naming policy:

 

Again, I’m just curious, as the official policy includes no such provision. 
 

Andy

 

[ccoyle]

It's just a convention that has been carried over from naming ship builds, as is the all-caps formatting for media. Your humble moderating staff works hard to make sure the build logs have a uniform look and feel. 

 

P.S. What a cute dog in that screen capture!