¹⁄35

Echelon Fine Details kicks off its 2019 with decal sets for late war Panthers and Vietnam-era gun trucks.

12. SS-Pz.Div. Panthers (Pt.1) Normandie 1944 (AXT351031)
Covers 7 specific vehicles from 12. SS Panzer Division that saw action at Normandy,1944. Includes the option to renumber Panther "126" to "308", which actually makes it 8 vehicles in total. The variants covered in this set are zimmerited Ausf. D, late As and early Gs. The colours of the numbers are white outlines on black, just like their Panzer IV counterparts in Normandy. Also included are small matching tactical numbers that were painted on tow clevises. "204" clearly showed these numbers when it was found destroyed in Normandy. All the numbers have irregular outlines to reflect the rough surfaces that they were painted on - as close/detailed as possible to match the actual numbers.

12. SS-Pz.Div. Panthers (Pt.2) Normandie 1944 (AXT351032)
Covers 8 specific Panther Ausf. As (late) from 12. SS Panzer Division that saw action at Normandy,1944. The colours of the numbers are white outlines on black, just like their Panzer IV counterparts in Normandy. Also included are small matching tactical numbers that were painted on tow clevises. "204" clearly showed these numbers when it was found destroyed in Normandy, as well as "236" - as there was a faint visual of white numbers on the right clevis. All the numbers have irregular outlines to reflect the rough surfaces that they were painted on - as close/detailed as possible to match the actual numbers.

Gun Trucks in Vietnam: M54s (Part 2) (D356257)
This set covers two Vietnam War gun trucks, one M54A2 based "BRUTUS" and the other M54A1 "The BOUNTY HUNTER" loaded with a potent Quad .50 cal turret. In addition, one regular un-armed M54A2 that had personalised markings and a set of markings for a Seabees M51 dump truck., "BRUTUS" was fitted with 3 to 4 .50 cals (sides and back), plus 1 M134 Minigun in the center. Nicknamed the "ghost truck" by the viet congs because they kept killing it and it kept coming back. One crew member by the name of Larry Dahl sacrificed him life so that others may live and that earned him the Medal of Honor, posthumously. "BRUTUS" had the flashy mud flaps, much like "The Untouchables" on set D356256 except that they were in Orange. "The Bounty Hunter" is another well known truck that featured striking markings packing a mean Quad 50 turret. Depending on which Quad 50 turret kit you have, AFV Club (M35A1 "Nancy" guntruck) or DML's M55, decals for both are provided. There are slight dimensional differences between the two, particularly the sloping front. Each set of truck markings included all the fine stencilings during their service. All meticulously researched. Some of the trucks had the yellow-placards for the cargo bed sides. Armor plating templates for both gun trucks and unarmored M54A2 are provided.

Gun Trucks in Vietnam: M54s (Part 3) (D356261)
This set features two Vietnam War gun trucks that had M113 hulls loaded onto the cargo bed as a quick and effective fighting compartment. Both are M54A2 based trucks. Markings for "The Lifer" included fine stencils on the cabin and the fuel tank as well as tire pressure stencils. Markings for the "King Kong" are based on two different periods, one when it was part of 25th Transport Company, the other when it was with 54th Transport coy. It had other period markings as well, but these two periods were better documented. In addition, each were based on different M54A2s (different serial numbers), and so are the various fine stencils around the cabin and fuel tank. Be sure to study both carefully (differences in stencils, etc) before settling on which option to choose. "King Kong" had the "Okinawa" shields on the M113 copula whereas "The Lifer" had none. Both had additional .50 cals fitted to both sides of the roof hatch. Armor plating templates for both gun trucks are provided.