Hi Guys
My mother in law was here in sweden for the christmas holidays, and decided I should get something for my birthday (in February) while she was here, so I bought Italeri´s DUKW. I wanted a suitable load so went for the Italeri 105mm howitzer as that will be released shortly. I read somewhere that it is the same kits that they had previously released. I built both OOB but the 105mm doesnt fit too well. I have the DUKW in action book and it shows some ducks carrying the 105mm and it sits high, but no close-ups. My question is .......
Was there some sort of frame/plinth to hold the duck up or did it just sit like in the pics below? Any help or pictures would be most helpful. Thanks in advance!

After seeing your pics, I just had to try to test-fit my 105 in the back of my DUKW.

Same problem -- those wheels are just a bit snug between the cargo bed sides. The pic on top of page 13 in the Squadron book shows the gun sitting down in in the cargo bed -- you can see the top of the tire over the side wall.

I'm not sure what the solution is -- you could try to thin the bed walls (not easy to do on an assembled model) or maybe sit the gun's tires on some wooden ammo boxes. Also, so the gun isn't propped on the front wall of the bed, I'd put the trails over the rear wall of the bed instead of inside it.

It can be done. I dunno how. Check this out
http://www.missing-lynx.com/gallery/usa/bcdukw.htm

Shorten the axel on each side of the gun just enough for the gun to sit on the floor.

Agree with Animal, look at the 2nd row, 4th picture from the right.

I remember those pics and if memory serves me right it wasn't an Italeri dukw but some expensive resin one, which might be why the 105mm fit better?

Vinnie

Thanks for the input guys.
Everything was built before I noticed the problem. Theres not much room on the axle either to cut out any of it! I think the idea of using some boxes as support is my best option now. That link to missing links was great. Some useful ideas there. The gun seems to have quite a bit of room there ... and I dont think this is the actual case.
Anybody any ideas why do some sit high and others low. Ease of loading??? Was the fit too tight??? How will Italeri manage this?
Thanks once again!

The howitzer was set on chocks and rigged into the bed. The kits might be using combat tires, which wouldn't fit in any case. This was a known problem leading to the notches cut into the bed after the war.

KL

I purchased a video form Vintage Video about DUKW's and they show a variant which had bulges in the cargo area which allowed for the 105mm howitzer's combat tires. So Italeri blew it by not providing these bulges in the new kits. On the other hand the two models must be dimensionally sound to NOT fit, if you catch my drift. Just looking for a sunny side.

I don't know if I would say Italeri blew it...considering how the kit is molded...


I'm still happy there is a nice plastic kit of the DUKW out. As for the varaint, I am sure it would have been better had Italeri provided the parts for the version that "fit". But there are also plenty of photo's of the combat tire M1 loaded up in the DUKW on chocks, as stated above, that the way they are selling it is still correct.

I have the old ADV/azimut DUKW and the Italeri 105mm did not fit in the cargo bay of that either.

Mike

I dont believe its all italeris fault really. From the posts above, the army had this problem and reworked the sides of the Dukw to suit. Thats why we have pictures of the 105mm sitting both high and low.


has anybody got any reference pictures of these chocks? What did they look like? I wonder will Italeri include those with their double package???
Would it be possible that the duck just towed the 105mm?