DOVUNQUE 35 Truck
Manufacturer: DOC Models(Kit #72600)
by Stephen Brezinski
HistoryFor The Modeler
This WW2, Italian militarytruck was one of Italy's most common off-road military trucksserving in Africa, Italy, the Balkans and Russia. Dovunqueroughly translates into off-road, or go-anywhere. This vehicle isa development of the earlier 2-ton capacity Dovunque 33 truck,being improved to a 3-ton capacity with a 60 hp 4-cylinderengine. It was a 6x4, indicating six wheels and four (the rear)wheel drive. So despite being an off-road truck is was notall-wheel drive. The truck was produced by the Spa company, whichwas a subsidiary of Fiat Company.
Like the Fiat 626, theDovunque 33, 35 and 41 trucks were a COE type (Cab Over Engine)which allowed a shorter wheelbase for the size of the bed. In themountainous terrain of Italy and the Balkans this helped mobilityon the narrow roads. Sounds like some good diorama possibilities!
TheKit
The scan above of DOC'sDovunque 35 shows the 15 injection-molded, light amber resinparts, 12 soft rubber tires, and about 12 white metal (iniezionein Italian) parts. The truck frame and bed are at the right. Thetarp, or canvas, for the bed is at the lower left corner. Thedecals for three vehicles are at the top left. [You will noteabove that there are actually two truck frames shown; my kitoriginally came with two frames and none of the white metal partssupposed to be there. DOC promptly and graciously shipped me themissing parts after I e-mailed them.]
The resin molding isoverall well done with good, crisp detail. Some white metal partsare a bit thick, particularly the steering wheel so I replacedmine with a more in-scale steering wheel from another model.
Above are the kitinstructions with a parts list in both Italian and English. Thetranslation to English is a bit rough but understandable with thedrawing as a reference: for example, the "back and centralstocks" are the tire rims, the "fly wheel" is thesteering wheel. Though the 3-view drawings are well done andhelpful I would have preferred several exploded-view drawings tobetter help figure out what goes where. Clear photo references ofthis truck were very hard for me to find and I had to do somehard dry fitting to figure where some parts go.
ConstructionNotes
Fit was good with littleclean up of pore stubs. I did have trouble with getting a smoothfit with the front fenders (Part 11). Because the wheels are sofar forward and therefore visible, I regret not scratchbuilding anew front suspension with a more accurate axle, springs and wheelhubs, etc. In the photo above you can see what I mean, theinsides of the wheels are not accurate. While on the subject ofthe wheels, even with super (cyanoacrylate) glue, my tires wouldnot stay firmly on the wheels. Try white glue, let dry real well,and treat them gently. [Glue the finished model to a base beforefinal weathering to keep the model clean and protected.
The truck bed (part 5 thebody) has a good texture of wood boards. If you wish the reartarp open to view the bed I recommend that you add the insidetarp frames that hold up the tarp. From a WW2 era photo of thistruck, I saw that it had a series of slats under the tarp tocreate a stiffer, well supported cover.
A small sheet of clearplastic was provided by DOC to cut a windshield, though mine waswarped so I had to cut one from some clear styrene I had. For thelower, narrow, windshields I used Krystal Klear.
If you are going to add adriver, make sure to fit him and glue him/her in before gluing onthe canvas cover (part 3) over the cab. In the photo below youcan see how rear suspension can be articulated for rough terrain.
Painting& Markings
The truck colors on DOC'sboxart show it in a very light olive with a light graytarp/canvas. From several books on Italian WW2 vehicles Iunderstand that the typical Italian colors were a gray-green forcontinental vehicles, and tan for African vehicles. I am surethere were exceptions to this. For example, I have one colorphoto of gray-green Italian Lancia trucks in Tunisia, and tanvehicles in Sicily and Russia. Often, green camouflage spots orlines were added to the tan. An overall olive-green color andGerman markings are plausible to me as well.
I chose Poly-Scale GermanField Gray uniform color for a Dovunque truck in the Donbas areaof Russia, late summer 1942. The tarp was painted olive drab soas to contrast with the vehicle color. After adding a wash torecesses, I repainted with a lighter hue of the gray-green color,concentrating the bulk of the lighter color in the center of eacharea. The soft rubber wheels were left their natural black-graycolor though were weathered with paint to represent dirt,matching the base color.
The model decals suppliedby DOC include several white (vehicle loading?) markings for eachthe side of the cab. Three different license plate decals aresupplied though I had to scratchbuild license plate holders forthe front and rear. The DOC water slide decals were in-registerand went on well.
Conclusion
I was thrilled to findthis vehicle available in small scale and recommend it as adisplay model or for wargaming. DOC has, or intends to release itin versions of a hard body radio truck (#72604), and an armoredDovunque Protetto truck (#72606). Other 1/72 scale DOC vehiclekits offered are the Italian WW2 era Fiat 626 COE type trucks,Lancia 3 RO heavy trucks, the TL 37 tractor, and an AS 37Sahariano light truck.
I purchased my Dovunque 35kit from Philip at Tracks & Troops, Belgium, with prompt andfriendly service. I thank Lorenzo Tonioli of Italy for all hisassistance with reference photos and information.
Good modeling.
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