Hi guys'n'gals,

Finished the first of two builds for the Softskins build. This is a conversion of the Italeri Dodge ambulance kit, based on a preserved vehicle. The serials, unit codes and 'Signal Corps' logo are home-made decals. The cable reels are built from plastic card and stretched sprue, and the roof rack & ladders are from plastic rod. I tried making these from stretched sprue, but they were just too fragile and after the third attempt I went for the oversized rod instead.

very nicely done Dave. My only nitpick is the tool handles. Paint them the color of the vehicle and drybrush wood finish were you would get wear and also a light rusting/shiny edge to the shovel blade.

otherwise very nice mate

Thanks Mr Roo.
Any compliment from you is worth having when it comes to softskin builds, so I'm flattered. I'll remember the point re. the tool handles, that's one of those areas where I'm never too sure......

Hi Dave,

Looks very impressive, and I like the roof-rack, and ladder.
If you want to make a conversion in the future, you can also consider to use copperwire instead of plastic rod; it comes in a lot of different sizes, and is easy to work with.

Keep up the good work, hope to see more pics in the future, John.

I like your build and conversion. very clean build of the overhead rack. The weathering looks good on the vehicle as well. One thing I would do next time would be to square off the exhaust pipe and drill it out a little.

I should have squared off the end of the exhaust, but every time I try and drill them out, either the pipe breaks or the drill does!!!

Try using the tip of a new exacto blade to kind of center the starting hole. then follow up with a drill of the size needed.

Great conversion, super weathering, great color, a nice addition to the soft-skin collection. Only thing I would question is, where are the door handles? I think someone commented on this when discussing the Italeri Dodge kit once before. Other than that, I welcome something different. Great job.

Howdy Dave,

It looks real nice Dave, but it does look a bit 'shiny'. Maybe it's the flash. I've always liked these vehicles.

Tread.

I like it also. I'm with you Dave, anytime you get a compliment from Mr Roo on a softskin you must have done SOMETHING right. I applaud you taking an older kit like this, converting it, and coming out with something completely different. Well done.

Dave:

I curious where you found the original vehicle, especially since you made your own decals for this rig. Do you have some photos of the original vehicle you could share? Is it a post-war variant or some kind of field-expedient?

Reason I ask is because I have always thought all WC-54s were purpose-built as ambulances. If you have evidence otherwise, I think lots of Dodge lovers would enjoy seeing them. I've seen WC-53 radio trucks and Chevy 1 1/2-ton panel delivery Signal trucks -- both of which look similar to this rig -- but not this variant.

Please don't take this post as a flame or attack -- I'd just like to learn more.

I've built the ambulance version of this kit and thought it turned out well. Really like your extra added detail to the commo version

these are two pics of Dodge WC trucks in which the truck is not marked as an ambulance. The first is a restored Radio truck the second an unmarked WC54 in the islands.

There is, in the Dodge folder of Roo's Truck Archieve in the gallery, another pic of a restored one done as an MP vehicle.

These would have been field modifications done when they needed vehicles for a particular purpose and the normal ones were not availiable.

Hope this helps you out Hollowpoint.

Thanks for posting that pic there Roo, I keep running outa space and can't afford to join the A-guard at the moment. Guess where I got my reference pic from before making the model folks!
Spud - never noticed the door handles!
Tread - it's the lighting that makes it look glossy, the actual model is dead matt, and there's no flash but two spots so that there are no shadows.

Thanks, Cliff and Dave! It's wonderful to learn something new each day.