1:35 GMC CCKW radiator grille, pattern 4, for Hobby Boss kit

1:35 GMC CCKW radiator grille, pattern 4 – a replacement grille

A standalone part for a model, not a kit. It replaces the front radiator grille on a model of the American GMC CCKW truck from the Hobby Boss kit in 1:35 scale, and the pattern 4 designation refers to the particular form the grille had on the vehicle.

The GMC CCKW truck

The six-wheeled GMC CCKW was among the most widespread Allied vehicles of the Second World War and its supply columns kept practically every operation going from Normandy to the Philippines. It was built in enormous numbers, in versions with a wooden and with a steel bed and with a closed and an open cab; a number of vehicles received tanker, workshop or rocket launcher bodies. It was exactly the extensive production run and the parallel manufacture that lay behind the individual parts of the vehicle differing between batches.

Replacing the part on a model

Cut the original grille from the kit off as close to the outline as possible, level the surface and dry-fit the new part first. The front of the vehicle is one of the few places where a model looks the viewer straight in the eye, so it pays to spend time making the part stand square and symmetrical. You will find it easiest to paint it off the model and to fit it right at the end.

Who the part is for

• For builders who build a vehicle from a particular period photograph
• For modelers completing a series of Allied trucks
• For scenes where the vehicle stands with its front toward the viewer
• For those for whom the shape of the kit grille does not fit