And now folks are saying that with the cab being too short the fenders and bonnet are too long on the HB kit in order to make up the difference.

(At least that would indicate the chassis works are the correct overall length - surely that would be a measurement hard for the mold makers to get wrong.)

A lot of good conversation on the same topic going on over at this thread:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/225302&page=2#1910927

Where is Mr. Marty when we need him? He'll get this sorted out in no time!

Now I wish I had measured the fender at the same time!

Hi, All! Aren't we obsessing just a little bit over this? I've seen kits where the critics raved over them, and then finding out that there were obvious mistakes in those kits that went un-noticed by those same critics.

I really don't much care if a certain part is off by one or two millimeters- Obviously, HB got it wrong, quite badly this time, proving that it's bound to happen even in the most "state-of-the-art" kits anyway. Don't get me wrong... I LOVE the quality that we enjoy in most of today's kits, even if they ARE a millimeter or two off.

My solution? I'll keep using the old ITALERI/TESTORS 1/35 Water Tanker Jimmies for the hard cab versions, and make the required improvements. For an old kit, at least the ITALERI truck frames more accurate than TAMIYA's. Tamiya even excluded some of the steering assembly parts which ITALERI incudes in their Jimmies.

I like to use the TAMIYA tire/wheel assemblies, or resin versions w/snow chains. For the price of resin aftermarket cabs, I can BUY TWO ITALERI Water Tanker CCKW's... The cargo-bed tarps, unfortunately, can only be adapted with A LOT of filing and sanding, if you go the cheaper route and use the HELLER 1/35 CCKW's plastic tarp. I went that route with one of my TAMIYA Jimmies, and I also wound up having to file and sand down the TAMIYA stakes in order to be able to match up the fit and height of the HELLER tarp assembly. A LOT of trial and error, there...

In any case, I don't know if the HOBBY BOSS CCKW 352 Jimmy includes a plastic tarp, and if it does, then it would be much shorter because the CCKW 352 rode on a shorter chassis, with a correspondingly shorter cargo bed, thereby negating the use of an HB tarp with a TAMIYA or ITALERI CCKW 353. (SIGH...) I wish the kit manufacturers would pay a little bit more attention when producing 1/35 US AFV's and softskins...

Dennis, normally I am not a rivet counter and generally I live by the rule that "close enough is good enough". However in this case I could not disagree more with your above statement.

In this case it is a matter of proportion. For the proportions on something as ICONIC as the WWII GMC hard cab to be mishandled as badly as this one has been is (to call it the way I see it,) grossly inexcusable!

If a model maker offers a product that is uniformly 1-2% over or undersized I don't have a problem with that. I don't have a problem because the model IS IN PROPORTION TO ITSELF! It will generally look just fine sitting on my motor pool display shelf.

However when a major part of a given model is found to be 5-10% short and instead of fixing the problem during the CAD design stage the manufacture chooses to simply extend another part 5-10% to make up the difference, that is changing the proportions WITHIN the given model. That is going too far. The model manufacture then runs the risk of the model taking on the look of one of the cute clown cars from the movie "Who framed Rodger Rabbit!"

In my opinion, (and please note this is my opinion and no one else has to live by it.) HobbyBoss have broken faith with their customers. As well as clearly breaking faith with their own stated mission to produce an generally accurate scale model.

Again the GMC cab is an historical ico. Restored examples of this vehicle are to be found almost EVERYWHERE, on every continent. There is no reason why a restored or even an unrestored copy of this classic vehicle cab could not have been borrowed or rented and rolled right into the design studio for measurement.

The minute I saw the first sprue photos I knew there was a problem. The cab was squashed front to back, looking more like a British Bedford but grossly unacceptable for a GMC.

Photos of the built-up HobbyBoss model from Armorama's own review pages;


Model by Darren Baker

I have two Italeri water tankers in my stash so I am good to go on substituting a better cab!

The fuel tank part of this model looks excellent. I hope HobbyBoss has it in mind to offer the two fuel tanks as a separate kit. These tanks were often used by themselves at fuel dumps and sometimes placed up on wooden towers to provide gravity feed refueling.

Maybe we should create an Armorama "Pillory Page" where particularly heinous model manufacturer's errors are posted and judged innocent or guilty by a panel of modeling peers.

If found guilty the model is permanently posted "in the public square" of this page for all to know and deal with cautiously in the future. (Not the company but the model kit itself!)

It's a thought!

The kit supplied fuel cans are too tall and out of shape as well, the handles are too long compared to Italeri and Tasca cans. The fuel can racks beside the tanks are also too tall. If you want to refine this feature, the racks will need to be trimmed down a little. I didn't take any measurements, it just doesn't look right.

I have seen the same criticisms posted elsewhere John. I have no direct experience with that issue but the safest solution is to always replace any gas can with the Tasca offerings. As Tony Tiger says; "They're GREAT!"

Outstanding side by side comparison of Italeri / HobbyBoss kits provided by Jon Arnold and John Hale can be viewed at:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/225302&page=2#1910927

Going thru the Nuremburg Toy Fair pics. Found one that showed H B short wheel base release from the side. The fenders look like they have the same long curve the tanker one's have.
I hope Italeri keeps popping the water tanker out, their cabs are going to be needed.

I had no idea the HobbyBoss fenders were THAT far off!

Overly long HB fenders above and Italeri fenders below. F.Y.I. - The Tamiya fenders are an exact match size with the Italeri ones.

John Hale Photo

As HobbyBoss CONTINUES to add to their line of Deuce and a Half offerings I want to re-launch this thread in order to reiterate the following:

The HobbyBoss hard cab molds are grossly flawed! The fenders and hood are too long by approximately 5-7 scale inches and to make up for this the windshield angle has been made more vertical and the overall depth of the enclosed cab has been squashed front to back by an equal amount.

This problem stems from an error made with their Bofers gun truck some years ago. It barely showed on this somewhat unusual open cab vehicle and went unnoticed in the marketplace. However to compound this early error into a completely new line of Deuce trucks is inexcusable and deserves to be pointed out!


More discussion of this topic at:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/225302&ord=&page=2

Somehow or other I get a premonition of a lot of Italeri item nr 201 (the water tanker) robbed of their cabs and fenders.
Maybe combine the leftovers with M3 halftracks to make armoured trucks ?
/ Robin

Robin - that would be the general description of the Deuce situation at my house.

Lots of Italeri water trucks laying around in my spares box less their enclosed cabs.

Just to use up some of the many water tanks I have laying around I built one Italeri water truck and substituted the Tamiya open cab and fenders for the closed cab. (It was a easy, direct drop-in substitution seeing as how both Italeri and Tamiya got their cab measurements correct!)

Also I am in the process of splicing two water truck tanks together to make a fuel trailer AND I am building an Army Air Corps flight line fuel truck conversion out of another water tank.

Gotta use 'em somehow!


Tamiya open cab on Italeri Chassis with water tank. - - - - - - - - Tamiya chassis with Italeri cab and converted fuel tank.

No, really?...

I guess their 2.5 ton Cargo Truck kit #6271 should be usable as well

H.P.

Go for it Pawel!

I am fairly sure the overall HB chassis length is correct so the Italeri cab should be nearly a breeze to drop onto the HobbyBoss chassis.

p.s. The Italeri hood is fairly easy to cut open if you should want to show off that full HB engine but if you do then be sure to use the more highly detailed HB firewall.

[quote
I guess their 2.5 ton Cargo Truck kit #6271 should be usable as well

H.P.[/quote]

I have successfully swapped both the Italeri water truck cab and the Italeri gun truck cabs onto the Tamiya chassis many times!


Italeri cab on Tamiya fenders and chassis.- - - - - - Italeri gun truck enclosed cab and fenders on Tamiya chassis.

Both models utilize the very nice Tamiya wood load box.

I've got the Tamiya and Italeri trucks. Has anyone combined them to make the shorter WB 352, and if so any plans or cut suggestions? I want to do a Canadian Artillery 25pdr tractor for the Korean War.

Check this thread, Page 6, for some help on dimensions for the short wheelbase Deuce and on chopping and re-sectioning the side walls of the load box to the shorter vehicle length.

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/203281&page=1

Or just buy the SWB Deuce from HobbyBoss and change out the cab, a LOT less work!.

Wish I'd come across this a bit earlier but I'm in the middle of building the steel bed 352 but not so far along that I might be able to do some corrections. I have a small stash of Italeri and Tamiya kits but I'm looking to see if I might be able to accomplish some surgery to the kit parts to correct the cab and fender/hood issues. HB also announced a wood bed 352 so I'm assuming it will have the same issues.

Chris - That is why I am trying to bring this thread back to life as it has be languishing for some time.

I want modelers who invest in the several new HobbyBoss Deuce offerings to know in advance what is there and what the problems might be. In order that everyone can make an informed decision.