PMMS
Trakz
WTCT 6A Amphibious Trailer
Trakz TX 0107

1/35th Scale

Review by Terry Ashley

The original WTCT 6 amphibious trailer was developed to be towed behind the DUKW or LVT series vehicles to deliver stores ashore during amphibious landings as was followed after the first 300 built by the improved WTCT 6A which had a number of updates such as stronger tow bar system, a wooden bumper system around the sides and rear and other detail items. There isn’t a lot of photo reference on these trailers but for more details and some nice photos see the Hard Corps Models site but one thing to note when looking at the images is that most are of the original WTCT 6 trailer which had different details as well as two crescent foot hole cut-outs on either side not present on the 6A trailer.

This new full resin kit from Trakz represents the later WTCT 6A trailer and consists of 20 main resin parts with a further 36 very small and finely cast wing nuts, tie down loops and latch parts. The parts are cast in a very light cream resin with the parts being mostly blemish free although there were a few air holes exposed when the casting blocks were removed from some parts but these are easily filled. There were some under surface air holes visible on the top cover but if you don’t go poking around with sharp implement these will disappear with a coat of paint but look a little disconcerting.

The main hull is a large single hollow casting and has a relatively small casting block on the bottom which is fairly easy to remove and the most notable thing is it’s perfectly square without any warping which extends to the vertical sides on the inside storage compartments and wheel wells. The separate front ‘boat’ section is again cast perfectly square but has a large casting block which takes a bit of removing as it’s difficult to grab hold of the part due to its shape so take care when removing the block so as not to break off the lower towing hitch brackets.
The fit of the main hull and front section is good but it does depend on the care you take removing the casting block from the front section as gaps can result if too much resin is removed.

The two double wheels are well cast perfectly round with nice tread pattern and rim and hub details with some minor resin film in the rim holes but easily removed while there are locating pins on the inner sides for precise location of the two wheels. They are also designed so if you line them up correctly the casting scar will be at the bottom of both wheels so easily hidden at ground level and the small stub axle fits snugly into the corresponding hole in the hull sides as the real trailer had no suspension.

The large top cover panel (part 14) has a fair bit of excess resin to be removed from the inside as well as one side but this is easily done although some trimming is needed after clean up as the side against the casting block is slightly thicker than the other side and you will have to shave some resin off the insides so it will sit properly in the recesses around the top of the hull but again this is easily done using an X-Acto #11 to shave off the resin (remember the face mask) and some minor trimming was needed at the corners to fit but other than that the top section fits very well into the hull top recesses.

The separate top compartment door (part 15) also is slightly thicker on the casting block side but due to the details on the door it is virtually impossible to reduce this down without damaging the details but if assembling the door closed you can reduce the thickness as the inner detail won’t matter and if showing the door open it can be rested on the thicker side to hide this.

There are brackets on the bottom of the front boat section for the towing hitch and ground support and you first should drill out the locating holes for the resin pins that holds these parts in place. Large resin hex bolt heads are provided to fit over the end of the pins after assembly to both hold the pins in place and add the detail as it should be and the other smaller resin details around the hull are straightforward to fit. The only part that was a bit messy was the large pole on the front hitch (part 8) which has some large casting seams along the sides and a couple of air holes that marred the detail and will require some attention.

As mentioned there are numerous small wing nuts, tie down loops and latch parts which fit around the top hull and you are required to make the small hooks that fit from the tie downs loops to the latch from thin wire (not included) which shouldn’t be a problem but there are a few of them but they do add to the final detail definition and the grab handles on the front panel (part 3) should also be made from wire.

Apart from the trimming as mentioned above assembly was straightforward and the adjustments and additional parts required are nothing out of the ordinary for a resin kit.

The instructions are in the form of a single “letter” sized page with a numbered parts layout diagram on one side and a couple of photos of the assembled trailer on the other with the part location indicated plus some additional text notes and while this was mostly adequate due to the straightforward assembly a larger picture of the tie down/latch assembly would have been helpful.

Conclusion:
This is a nice representation of the WTCT 6A Amphibious Trailer which is quite large being 19cm (7 ½”) long after assembly with well cast and detailed parts with only some minor adjustments needed as far as resin kits go and will provide a useful accessory for Pacific dioramas with a DUKW or LVT which would make for a large impressive scene or just to model on it’s own with a couple of figures.

Hard Corps Models will be producing a decal sheet with marking/stencils for this trailer to finish it off and Trakz will also be producing the initial WTCT 6 Amphibious Trailer in the future.

Highly recommended for USMC fans.

The resin parts:

Click on thumbnails for larger view
Note the resin parts are very light in colour and the images have been
darkened slightly to better show the details
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Thanks to ModelMecca/VLS for the review sample and to David Harper of Hard Corps Models for additional info


Page created 16 January 2005

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