Academy are to release the U.S. M35 2.5ton Cargo Truck in 1/72 scale.



Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Looks like it's got as many as 5 wheels on the ground...........

That depends. In the one view it looks like the tandems in the rear weren't glued level. This left the front axle of the tandem up in space. Even if they did a better job with the box build-up I still always anticipate the need to carefully check axles. My "other" modelling obsession is 1/25 scale heavy trucks, so this is a common experience with them. Just part of the fun of building.

I'm really looking forward to this kit, although my LHS can't seem to find the kit in their distributors (yes they tried more than one) system. Personally, I know the lady at the LHS really doesn't have a clue, but I still pay the same or slightly less to order from them than to mail order.

Anybody know if this truck is still used in Iraq or Afghanistan today? I could sure use some good items for 1:72 modern dioramas!

It's still used in Iraq.

It's available:

http://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?item_no=AC%2013410

I'm definately looking forward to adding one of these to my kit stash.
Charlie

My father drove one of these while in Vietnam. I have a couple of pictures of his truck and I am going to pickup one of these and model it like his. It will be a cool Father's Day gift.

I just bought one of these nice kits. Ideally Academy will take a leaf out of Dragon's book with their HMMWV and build all manner of variants out of this chassis. Hard-tops, gun trucks, wreckers, fuel tankers, maybe armor kits, etc

Not really much any more. There are still some on the base camps, but not out on the streets. They were used in the initial invasion phase in '03 and into '04. At that time, they were being replaced by the new LMTV 2 1/2 ton truck. The initail 3 ID units drew vehicles from PrePositioned stores in Kuwait, from PrePo Afloat, and from PrePo out of Europe. These stocks still had lots of M35A2s in them. I drew 5 for my battery alone. Once follow-on units started arriving in mid and late '03, they brought the newer LMTVs with them.




Probably too late, but...

Your father most likely drove an M35A1 in Vietnam. The M35A2 came out just at the end of the war and not many made it to Vietnam. It did not have the stack exhaust, but a tail pipe that exited between the right side rear wheels. The tail lights and front turn signal were different too. It also had a different engine, but you can't tell that just by looking at it.