I have completed my home-made Toyota Hilux Crew cab truck used by the SF in Iraq and Afghanistan. I constructed it by combining two 1/32 Toyota standard cab trucks to make the 4-door crew cab. You can see the in-progress shots and a description here. I completed it with some gloss burgundy spray paint and filled it with details. The M249 SAW is a Blast item and the rest of the pieces are either from the spares box or of my own making (PLGR on the front seat).

Hope you like it.








More pics here.

As always, all comments welcome.

This one turned out very nice Gino. Good work

Erik

awesome work gino!

one question though, does the special forces hilux all look like this or do they have hiluxes in later models? i've seen one "heavy duty" hilux from my local hobby shop with reinforced bull bars on the front.. i forgot the manufacturer of the kit, but im positive that it's in 1/24 scale...

another thing, is your kit still in 1/32 or did you downsize it to 1/35?

great work!!

Just like this one.



cheers

Lookin' pretty good there. Did you use Toyota's touch up paint? Because that color looks about right.
One change I'd make is on the X wing. I'm not saying it was never done through the roof, but the antenna wires I saw all ran in through the window. You will find roof mounted X wings, usually with elaborate 550 cord/tape combos or magnets, but experience taught us that the roof was a bad place to mount it, for obvious reasons, so we went to mounting them on the hood.

Arkuo14, to answer your question: This will have to be an Iraqi vehicle. I did not get to Iraq until '07, so I can only assume they were set up like this at one point. Currently they are only used as support vehicles, (FOB ops, for those lucky, or onlucky enough, to be on a FOB) with no guns or comms.
In '02 and '03 in Afghanistan, we did indeed use Hiluxes, but again not as you see here. We let AMF use the Hiluxes, while we ourselves used the Tacoma, outfitted similarly to what you see here. Gino has gotten as close as you can to a Tacoma in 1/35, without purchasing a resin kit.
There is a 1/24 Hilux, not a Tacoma, from Aoshima. I built two of them as gifts, but have two more almost completed for when I get home. They make several versions. You want the plain Jane version without the hopped up suspension. It builds up very nicely, but you need need to glom some GPMG's from the Esci Land rover, and pretty much scratchbuild all the kit for it. I may cast some reworked M240B's when I get back. If you do a search for Special Forces Tacomas, invariably most of the photos you'll find online are mine. If anyone has photos of a Hilux set up that way, I'd love to see them, as it would make life so much easier.
I'll post photos of Afghan Hiluxes and Tacomas soon.

Photos, as promised:

SF Tacoma "Black Beauty"


Another of "Black Beauty"


SF Tacoma "Goldilocks"


AMF Hilux, rolled with SF Tacomas, manned by Afghans, but no gun or comms.

Close! Tacoma.
Hey, I know those guys.

thanks for the info 18bravo! appreciate the help.. hopefully, some good manufacturer out there makes one SF hilux in injection coz the resin kits just costs so much.... thanks again!

18bravo, if im not mistaken, tacomas are just released in the states and/or some other places but not iraq.. did you guys ship the tacomas all the way there or was it bought some place near iraq or afghanistan?

All of our Tacomas were purchased in the states and shipped over. They were all left hand drive. Interestingly, no Hiluxes were ever (originally) sold in Afghanistan. There's even an article online about it. They were all purchased (or stolen) elsewhere, and entered Afghanistan. Pakistan was the primary source for stolen vehicles, including motorcycles. Many of the Hiluxes, especially the SUV's were right hand drive.

18 Bravo
Canada has had Tacomas since 98-99 up to present, I own a 1999. When I was in Tasmania last year they were all diesel Hi Luxes, and right hand drives, no Tacomas in Australia unless some one knows better. Are there any 1/35th scale Tacomas on the market?
Bill

Hey Boggie. I'm jealous. I've considered purchasing a Tacoma ever since the return from the Ghan. I have a video of me driving one through a river, with water coming up over the hood, and it still made it. I've been sold on them since that day. Pretty cool I might add, especially if you like Apache gunships, Tacomas, and Jacka$$ery all in one video.
Thinking back, I don't think ANY of the Hiluxes were left hand drive. All right hand, even the pickups. The Aoshima kit is right hand as well. Unfortunately no Tacoma in 1/35, or any scale for that matter. I even asked my local Toyota dealer if there was a die cast promo Tacoma, but there is none.

Thanks guys. As stated, mine is the best representation I could come up with short of buying MIG's costly resin one. It is still 1/32, but that is close enough to 1/35 for me. It is also more of an early '80s HiLux since the donor kits were early '8os Toyota trucks. The paint was just a fluke to matching a Toyota color. It is a spray can of Krylon Burgundy that I had laying around. I may have to add the antenna wire coming in the window now. And yes, the burgundy truck posted above (and here)

was one of my references while building the model. I think it was also Mig's reference as well since his is almost an exact copy, down to the gear and the flag in back.

Turned out really great looking Gino.

Very interesting model subject. I like custom trucks, the military kind!