This is the Italian
4x4 light truck version of the Italian TL 37 military towing tractor;
it shares many of the same parts as the TL
37 model. I have not assembled the model yet, so I cannot say
much about the fit.
The box art depicts an off-road truck with large pneumatic tires,
and painted in desert tan with a pale olive canvas cover, or tarp,
over the bed. This is an interesting switch with the DOC
MILITARY’s TL 37 model which is depicted as having a green
truck body and tan canvas. The truck has a hard cab with side windows.
Under the bed at the rear is the towing pintle.
Here are the five major parts out of the 10 light tan cast resin parts
in the kit. Overall casting quality is very good and clean but the
features are simplified. At lower left is the hard cab (part-2) with
no interior detail and the doors molded closed. Clear plastic window
material is provided to cut and fit, so little interior detail would
be visible when the model is complete. Above left is the truck bed
with crew seats and a storage box, and the tailgate molded closed.
In order to fit the bed onto the truck chassis in the middle, it looks
like we have to cut off the rear of the chassis (the area I have marked
in red lines). The truck chassis to the right is the same as in the
TL 37 model, which
I found to be pretty rudimentary. (I would not model this vehicle
rolled over showing this chassis underside.)
At the rear is a little block that looks like a poor stub, but may
be a poorly done towing pintle. The open canvas (part-5, “the
sheet”) is at far right and is decently done but also lacks
interior detail, like the stays and hoops that hold the canvas up.
DOC’s line drawing of the vehicle (shown below) shows a partially
closed off opening in the canvas cover but there is no part included
for this.
These parts of the wheel rims, tires and steering wheel etc., are
the same as in the other DOC
TL 37 kits. The tires look rough and with a bit of flash and the
rims a little simplified. The cast metal parts are thick and could
be better when compared to the resin model parts from MARS, Italian
Kits, and Modelkrack.
This is what you get from DOC for assembly instructions. The drawings
are clearer than in my TL
37 kit and they reference the part numbers on the 3-view line
drawings. It would be great for DOC to break assembly down to several
exploded-view drawings like with other manufacturers. An important
thing that DOC’s instructions do not mention is the cutting
off of the rear part of the cab (part-2) in order to fit the bed (part-3
stake body) onto the chassis (part 4).
Water-slide decal markings for three Italian and one German AS 37
trucks are included but there is no guidance as to where the markings
should go or the units and theatres the vehicles served in.
They may not be up to some other small-scale resin kit makers in quality
and detail, but as DOC released so many unique vehicle kits that no
one else released at the time, I bought many of them with no reservation.
They may not be superb display models (without a lot of scratchbuilding),
but they may make very good, durable wargaming models, something I
suspect they were actually designed for.
In addition to ACE Model’s
recent kit of their TL 37, ACE also has plans to soon release
their version of the AS 37 Trattore Autocarro Sahariano in 1/72 scale,
as kit #72283.
References
[1] The Observer’s Fighting Vehicle Directory of WW2, by Bart H.
Vanderveen, (1969).
[2] www.docmodels.com
[3] wikipedia
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