1:35 US M51A2 5-ton 6x6 Dump Gun Truck

An armored bed instead of gravel

Armed trucks came about in Vietnam out of sheer necessity. Supply convoys passed through stretches where ambushes waited for them in the vegetation beside the road, and escorting jeeps were not enough against that. Transport companies therefore began reinforcing beds with steel plate, adding sandbags and mounting heavy machine guns. The five-ton dump chassis was ideal for this improvisation, because its bed was robust straight from the factory and would take the weight of armor and gunners alike.

Every such vehicle was in its way unique. Crews gave them names, painted nicknames on their sides and worked out the placement of the weapons from their own experience of the last ambush. That is exactly why these vehicles are popular among modelers: they leave room for an interpretation of your own, which you will not find elsewhere in uniform army equipment.

Before the build

In the box are injection-molded plastic parts for assembling one vehicle. The more demanding passages are the frame with its axles and the fitting of the superstructure, which it is good to try dry until the glue has joined the main assemblies. Have a disc file and fine sandpaper ready for the final work.

The price does not include paints or glue. The choice of olive shade is worth attention, because it is exactly on the large flat areas of the superstructure that the shade and the weathering that follows will show. Many builders look up the recognition lettering in period photographs, since every example carried its own combination. The scene around the vehicle will also benefit from small things, such as rolled tarpaulins or crates of ammunition belts.