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One thing you couldn't say about it is that it was pretty. All
other virtues were built-in! DUKW was a 2.5-ton, six-wheel amphibious
born out of the need to support amphibious operations in World War II. Its primary use was to ferry ammunition, supplies, and
equipment from supply ships in transport areas offshore to supply
dumps and fighting units at the beach. It was first used in
"Operation Husky," the invasion of Sicily in 1943. A whopping total
of 18,000 trucks was used by the US Army and Marine Corps, i
addition to 2,000 vehicles supplied to the British.
The acronym-loving military officials designated it DUKW (D-model year 1942, U-amphibian, K-all wheel drive, W-dual rear
axles), but everyone else just called it "duck".
In the Normandy Invasion of 1944, DUKWs played a vital role in
the overall success of the landing, but also suffered large losses
due to high seas during the crucial first days of the operation.
For example, at Omaha Beach, the 1st
Infantry Division attempted to deploy its 105-millimetre howitzers,
gun crews, ammunition, and sand bags in DUKWs; all but one of the 13 DUKWs of
the 111th Field Artillery Battalion sank.
Italeri DUKW
Until Italeri released a 1/35 DUKW kit in 202, there was really
no proper scale kit of this very important vehicle. Bengt Johansson
is the author of this model, and the description contained below
based on his comments on the kit's construction.
To break from the usual "construction start with the xxx" (fill
you favourite part) style of description, We'll rather walk
through the model and list the modifications made to a
particular area.
 Hull
Fine as it was, the Italeri kit had visible ejector pin marks on
the ribs of the hull, these were filled in and sanded smooth. At the
beginning of the construction, the hollow wheel wells were also
properly furnished with plasticard.
Bengt opted for new rivets for the model. These were most
prominent along the edge of the top decking where it joined the
hull, but there were many of them in other places, too. Altogether
the model carries over 250 replacement rivets.
Cooling air intakes in front of the of the windscreen were
detailed with wire mesh, and exhhaust pipes replaced with scratchbuilt items.
Bow
Compared with the kit, Bengt added a couple of new details. The
headlight guards were scratchbuilt. Signal horn was made from a
couple of scrap bits including an ink pen reservoir. The tools came
from Academy "spares". Holding straps were made from metal foil with
buckles added from fine copper wire.
Driver's compartment
The plumbing of the pneumatic drive for the windscreen wipers was
added together with a few more scratchbuilt accessories: med kit at
the back of the driver's seat and fasteners for a machine gun
(visible behind the passenger's seat). A personal GI sack and a fire
extinguisher added a final touch to this area.
Cargo comparment
Compared with what was offered in the Italeri kit, there wasn't
much more detail that could be added to this area. The only
modification to was the addition of tarpaulin tie-down hooks along
the outer rim of the compartment.
The looks of a hollow cargo area like this can be grossly
improved by a realistically worn finish. How this was done can be
judged from the pictures. A group of accessories "thrown" in the
rear not only adds more life to the area, but also emphasizes the
purpose of the DUKW, making the model self-explanatory even to the
uninitiated viewer. The cargo net came from Tracks & Boots. The
ropes are actually treads pulled from a carpet. The Shell jerrycan
came from Pluss Models, and the remaining drum plus bags from Tamiya.
Stern
At the rear, details like light guards, variuos fasteners, mounts
for the crane and hooks for the were all scratchbuilt. The helmet
visible as an additional bumper (TODO: wording?) is another Tamiya
accessory item.
Additional images, click to enlarge
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A
Duck of All Work
