History

The CMP C15A (15 cwt) truck was one of the most used and versatile trucks used by the Canadian military during World War Two. The trucks were built in Canada, by both the Ford Motor Company and Chevrolet. The vehicles not only served in many organizations with the Canadian’s, but also served with several Commonwealth countries during, and after, the war.

Contents

The Mirror Models kit represents an early version of the C15A with the Cab 13 and the steel welded truck bed built by Chevrolet. Opening the box, you will find another kit packed with parts ready to be built. In the box there are 6 sprues of molded grey plastic, including the familiar CMP chassis parts that are standard to the CMP vehicles and the CMP kits from Mirror Models. Also included are 4 frets of photo-etched parts, a bag of resin parts, some wire, piece of clear plastic, clear plastic headlights, a sheet of decals, and printed instructions.

Review

As with previous Mirror Models kits, the frame parts are the same, well molded, and from experience build a great looking well detailed frame. The assembly of the frame uses photo-etched and some of the bits of wire included in the kit to build this great detailed frame. As with later Mirror Model releases, this kit has the molded plastic motor, but still uses resin parts to complete the drive train components. To add to the frame the tire are cast resin, and have a great looking tread pattern.

For the C15A kit, the new parts included are for building the Cab 13, this assembly uses a combination of the molded plastic and photo-etched parts. The parts for the cab are very well molded with no flash and no ejector marks. Parts are included to create a well detailed interior of the cab, including a photo-etch cab floor with a great looking anti-skid pattern, and photo-etched front grill.

A small clear plastic sheet is included for the front windshield, but will have to be cut to shape to fit. Once in place the outside bracing is detailed with more photo-etched. A decal is included for the instrument panel to add to the interior detail. It should be noted that cab roof does not contain the observation hatch, as this is an early version of the Cab 13 variant. Most, if not all, C15A built with the 2B1 body did not have this hatch. A lot of these early variants served in Africa and Sicily, while some were used by the Italians with the upper portion of the cab removed.

Moving on to the truck bed, as mentioned the part included in the kit represent the early 2B1 body, a welded steel bed. These are the same parts that were released with the early Cab 11 version of the kit from Mirror Models, and while well molded, there are some ejector marks that will need to be cleaned up as they will show after assembly. The kit includes photo-etched and bits of wire to add the detail to the bed.

The fuel tanks and storage bin behind the cab are provided in well casted resin, and include photo-etched details. While the brackets for the spare tire are not included, this is typical for some of the earlier models of the C15A.

For those not familiar with Mirror Models kits, the instructions are images of completed steps as opposed to diagrams showing assembly. There are pointers and tips included, which help during the assembly process. The instructions are printed on 8.5”x11” paper and in color.

A small decal sheet, with basic markings for a Canadian, British, and Italian version is included. The decals are very well printed, and look to be well in register. I would recommend that the builder research the specific vehicle they are building to ensure correct paint scheme and markings.

Conclusion

Overall, this is another great looking kit from Mirror Models. It is miles ahead of the old Italeri stand by for C15A. The early C15A Cab 13 is well represented in this model, and should be a great kit to assemble. Having built a few of the Mirror Models CMP variants already, I can say that the kits are well engineered and go together well. This is another highly recommended kit from Mirror Models.