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Patton's White Scout Car


Old Marine
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This is a model that I did of General Patton's modified White Scout Car that he used as a command vehicle in North Africa. I stumbled upon the images of The General's White Scout Car during and interent search and these photos and a short film clip with this vehicle spured me to do this model.

 

In the original reference photo you can see that the vehicle bumper number is IAC which I am interpeting to mean I Armored Corps. In the Next Photo you can see that this car also has a II Corps Bumper Flag.

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post-2843-1237815513.jpg

 

In this photo you can see the flag of the second corps just visible. I thought finding these photos with both unit markings was pretty neat. These photos must have been taken immedialty after General Patton assumed command of the II Corps. His staff had time to get the II Corps flag on the bumper, but not enought time to repaint the bumper numbers.

 

Despite what Hollywood says, I think that this is the vehicle that General Patton used to drive in to the II Corps area, not a Halftrack.

 

In the short film clip, (which I can't find at the moment) you can see the General climb up in to the Car and take his seat. After he is seated he slowly lowers himself down, evidently his seat was hooked like a barber's chair to raise and lower the seat. I thought it was quite a Patton Touch. No, I didn't build a hydraulic seat in 1/35 scale.

 

 

Ok, on to the model photos.

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post-2843-1237816616.jpg

 

This Model is just the basic Italiare (SP) White Scout Car. I reconfigured the interior with plastic sheets and rearranging the seats. The bank of radios I built up with plastic sheets, strips and made up what ever was "radio looking". I am sure the Signal Corps Specialist here can skewer me here, but I was just going for the look of the Commo gear rather that getting it precisly right. (Artistic License).

 

The front and back sheilds are made of Platic sheet and Plastic strips. It took a while and a LOT of back and forth to get the weird angles to fit right. Especially on the front shield. But, eventually it all fit together. The Anntene are just brass rods and the Anntene tie downs are 2 strands of hair that my wife donated.

 

The Figures are a complete mishmash of Tamiya, DML, Verlinden, Airfix, and anything else lying around. The Patton Figure is the Patton Figure From Tamiya's "Famous Generals Set" I scrapped off his Ike Jacket and resculpted it to resemble a M-41 Field Jacket. Another lucky touch was that the Patton figure came with the .45 Revolver and in the original Photo you can see the General wearing the same pistol. Some times you get lucky and you don't have to scratch build everything.

 

Well, I look forward to your comments and observations. I have a lot more models: Airborne Jeep and 75.mm Pack How, GMC Duec and Half, M-4 Sherman, M24 Chafee, M7 Priest, Grant, 8 Inch Howitzed and M4 Tractor and as time permits I will post them here for you to see.

 

Thanks

 

 

Dennis

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Nice one!! Great idea with the tie downs. Perhaps your wife could recommend some hair care products and you could go into business. She grows it and you sell it. Its win win!! w00t.gif

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The Meatcan

great job! thumbsup.gif

I like the II Corps patches on the sleeves. Are those Archer transfers or did you actually paint those? ;)

very cool!

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Beautiful work.

 

I've always liked that second photo and thought a model would be cool. You have certainly done a great job!! thumbsup.gif

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Fantastic job on one heck of a rough model to build... The Italeri model dates back to the old Peerless-Max molds... I have a Peerless kit of the M3A1 sitting three feet from me right now. I will say this though... you did your research... Finding that photo was great... Sometimes I'll sit here for hours, listening to music and just sifting through the thousands of photos on Google or yahoo or whatever. Like I said though, I have the old Peerless kit, and the Italeri kit was shot from the same molds, so I know how hard that was to make look like that. Excellent work!

 

Wayne

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I like the II Corps patches on the sleeves. Are those Archer transfers or did you actually paint those?

 

The Armored Patch on the General, the II Corps patches and the 3 stars on Patton's helmets, (which look more like Japanese Chrysanthemums under mangnification) were all hand painted. The Chevrons, stars, bumper markings and the fender flags are all custom made dry transfers.

 

 

Fantastic job on one heck of a rough model to build... The Italeri model dates back to the old Peerless-Max molds... I have a Peerless kit of the M3A1 sitting three feet from me right now. I will say this though... you did your research... Finding that photo was great... Sometimes I'll sit here for hours, listening to music and just sifting through the thousands of photos on Google or yahoo or whatever. Like I said though, I have the old Peerless kit, and the Italeri kit was shot from the same molds, so I know how hard that was to make look like that. Excellent work!

 

Wayne, you are right this is an old kit. It's the same Peerless molds. I think Zveda that Russian company is producing this kit with the same old molds, and as you know the older kits weren't known for thier tight fits or scale accuracy, sometimes they were much more toy like. But some times that's the challenge to take something that everyone considers and unbuildable dog and bash it in to something decent looking. Aside from the Patton customizations there are a lot of other parts borrowed from other kits, gas cans, head lights, pioneer tools, seats and things.

 

I was reading in one of your posts about deciding on subject matter, and that is a tough choice. If you pick the wrong thing to build you can lose interest in it pretty quickly. I tried to make a series of M-4 Shermans, cast hull, welded, hull, flame, dozer, calliope, Marine version, I drove myself crazy! It was a nice idea but the execution was BORING. I thought I was going to go out of my mind if I had to built one more set of M-4 roadwheels and tracks! It got to be like production line work, I shelved the whole thing.

 

When I found those Patton photos, they just jumped out at me when I saw them. You know the feeling, you see something and it hits you and you think, " I can make that". As long as your mind is "in to" the project you don't mind the work. But it was a pain at times. The front shield has some of the strangest angles I've ever come across. It was mind boggling laying it out the pattern to cut the pieces.

 

The next project that I have been mulling over is another M3 Scout Car on Battan in 1942. I am thinking about depicting a Scout Car on Battan with a mixed crew of soldiers and sailors. I think the contrasting colors of the figures in Army Khaki and the Navy blue dungarees would work out pretty nice. It's odd how you get ideas for these things, I picked up a bag of 6 sailor heads (god that sounds wierd) made by Hornet miniatures. As soon as I saw them I didn't think "boat" I thought "sailors fighting along side the Army in the Philippines". Maybe the images from movies "They were Expendable" and "Battan" were etched in my head as a kid. Whatever, it should be a neat looking model , I'll let you know if this project ever gets off the ground.

 

Thank you all for your comments.

 

Dennis

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The Armored Patch on the General, the II Corps patches and the 3 stars on Patton's helmets, (which look more like Japanese Chrysanthemums under mangnification) were all hand painted. The Chevrons, stars, bumper markings and the fender flags are all custom made dry transfers.

Wayne, you are right this is an old kit. It's the same Peerless molds. I think Zveda that Russian company is producing this kit with the same old molds, and as you know the older kits weren't known for thier tight fits or scale accuracy, sometimes they were much more toy like. But some times that's the challenge to take something that everyone considers and unbuildable dog and bash it in to something decent looking. Aside from the Patton customizations there are a lot of other parts borrowed from other kits, gas cans, head lights, pioneer tools, seats and things.

 

I just built Peerless' old M-6 Tank Destroyer (Italeri box)... That's another rough one too... Everything is rudimentary and honestly, its better to just go ahead and replace a lot of the stuff from the parts box if possible. The kit, when set side by side with the newer Skybow or AFV Club WC series is like night and day. If you take your time and put a little thought into it, you can pull off a near miracle with it, but it takes a lot of patience...

 

I was reading in one of your posts about deciding on subject matter, and that is a tough choice. If you pick the wrong thing to build you can lose interest in it pretty quickly. I tried to make a series of M-4 Shermans, cast hull, welded, hull, flame, dozer, calliope, Marine version, I drove myself crazy! It was a nice idea but the execution was BORING. I thought I was going to go out of my mind if I had to built one more set of M-4 roadwheels and tracks! It got to be like production line work, I shelved the whole thing.

 

Believe you me, THIS one I know... I have darn near most of the kits of the Shermie in 1/35th scale... Tamiya: M4 early production, M4A3 (Original Casting), M4A3 (Newer Casting), M4A3 105mm (Newer Casting), M4A3E2 Jumbo, Dragon: M4A1, M4A3 76mm W HVSS, M4A3E8 Thunderbolt VII, M4A1 76mm W VVSS Operation Cobra, Italeri: M4 Sherman US Marines, Academy: M4A2 (with wading trunks), and even the Sherman based stuff, such as AFV Club's M10 Tank destroyer. The hardest part of any tank model is all the road wheels... but as far as shermans go, the AFV Club Bogie Trucks are arguably the best on the market as far as accuracy goes with their individually sprung road wheel suspension arms. This isnt the same kind as the old Testors (Now Italeri) M4A1 Suspension where you have both road arms as one piece and it slips over an axle to pivot in the middle... if you do these right, each road wheel arm is independently movable. Each truck consists of 10 pieces. And you think the road wheels are bad? I've done a few with the individual link tracks... the AFV Club ones with the separate end connectors!!! AAAAAGH!!! THAT will drive you batty and actually look forward to roadwheels!!!

 

When I found those Patton photos, they just jumped out at me when I saw them. You know the feeling, you see something and it hits you and you think, " I can make that". As long as your mind is "in to" the project you don't mind the work. But it was a pain at times. The front shield has some of the strangest angles I've ever come across. It was mind boggling laying it out the pattern to cut the pieces.

 

I've done this... When I was at Fort Carson, the local AMPS Chapter would meet on post... They had two contests, two months in a row... The Sherman shootout in October, and the AMPS Regional in November. For the Sherman Shootout, I did an Early Production Sherman coming off the boat on D Day plus 2. I was scanning my Sherman references, and found a picture of the tank that the Early Production model is marked after. This is H2 - Hurricane. The tank is equipped with the deep water fording intakes as it comes off the LST. I kyped the wading trunks from the Italeri Sherman US MARINES kit, and dropped the wading trunks on the back. I took a gold with that one. The following month at the regional, I built another M4 Early with a complete interior, and took a silver. Shermans... you both love and hate them....

 

The next project that I have been mulling over is another M3 Scout Car on Battan in 1942. I am thinking about depicting a Scout Car on Battan with a mixed crew of soldiers and sailors. I think the contrasting colors of the figures in Army Khaki and the Navy blue dungarees would work out pretty nice. It's odd how you get ideas for these things, I picked up a bag of 6 sailor heads (god that sounds wierd) made by Hornet miniatures. As soon as I saw them I didn't think "boat" I thought "sailors fighting along side the Army in the Philippines". Maybe the images from movies "They were Expendable" and "Battan" were etched in my head as a kid. Whatever, it should be a neat looking model , I'll let you know if this project ever gets off the ground.

 

My next project... well, I need to put the finishing touches on the M10, a Pershing, the Tamiya CCKW 353 Deuce and a half... If I get bored with a kit after awhile, I start something else, so I always have several models in various stages of construction... working on a few resin kits for a fellow forum member has got me interested in modelling again and since finishing those, I've been working like mad on the M10, CCKW, a dodge 3/4 ton weapons carrier, the pershing... I've recently picked up the new Dragon M2 and M4 halftracks... and the Hobby Boss M706 (V100) so I'll probably work on one of those... and I have the Trumpeter LAV-25 and the AFV Club Strykers waiting in the wings too...

 

GOD I LOVE THIS HOBBY!!!

 

Wayne

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GOD I LOVE THIS HOBBY!!!

 

I can tell. Model making is every bit as addicting as collecting militaria. I do the same I usally have 4 or 5 projects underway at once. On my desk is an M-18 Hellcat and a DUKW that are nearing completion alond with and Air Corps Jeep.

 

Keep building.

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GOD I LOVE THIS HOBBY!!!

 

I can tell. Model making is every bit as addicting as collecting militaria. I do the same I usally have 4 or 5 projects underway at once. On my desk is an M-18 Hellcat and a DUKW that are nearing completion alond with and Air Corps Jeep.

 

Keep building.

 

Thanks for reminding me... I have the Academy Hellcat half finished and the DUKW waiting in the wings right now... Like I said... I have a lot I've started and never finished... pinch.gif

 

I wont even mention the 1/32nd scale Tamiya F-14, Trumpeter A-10 and SBD, and the Academy F16... aw damn... now I got the urge to pull them out and fire up the air brush... :blink:

Wayne

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  • 2 years later...

Hello, just noticed the post.. couple years late... comments regarding the vehicle in the 2nd pic where you can see patton's pistols.. this was his basic configuration from his days in 2AD through Africa.. this picture appears to be of Patton viewing 2AD during gunnery.. it is attributed to him watching combat but a source has told me it was 2AD gunnery .. no matter a great series of pics of his command scout car and a great model.

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