Model Forum / General / Models / March 2008

That's an S-280 electronics shelter and Italeri did a rather botched
job of it. I used to work in those things and the model is close to
two-dimensional in most areas.

It goes on either a 2 1/2 ton (M35) or 5 ton (M54/M813/M923/M925)
truck and in point of fact the kit used to be offered with the Italeri
M925 truck kit. Here's a review I did of it nine years ago.

Cookie Sewell

* * *

    Kit Review: Italeri 1/35 Scale Kit No. 367; M925 Shelter Truck; 217
parts (209 in olive styrene, eight in clear styrene); price varies
from $15-21

Advantages: common modern US Army vehicle finally in plastic, only
game of this sort in town

Disadvantages: Another retrograde kit from Italeri, with minimum
effort on their part

Rating: Recommended

Recommendation: For all modern US fans

    During World War II, the US Army discovered that making purpose-built
truck bodies for support functions had a number of serious drawbacks.
First, they were expensive when compared to series-production
vehicles. Second, they ran the risk of losing a necessary
administrative or support function if the truck broke down, and could
not easily be repaired. Third, a specialized vehicle had to be
developed for each specific function that the Army needed to fill. The
Signal Corps had over 75 different items which were used by them, and
required either a dedicated vehicle or trailer to perform the function
needed, and the Army Air Forces had more of their own as well.

    The solution, which appeared at the end of World War II and was
pioneered by the Signal Corps, was to create a simple drop-on body,
referred to as a "shelter", for these functions. A generic shelter
could be created, fitted out as need be, and then dropped on any
vehicle class for which it was designed. The first ones were
lightweight steel or aluminum with plywood walls and windows which
could be sealed with "blackout" slides. Later, in the late 1960s, the
shelters changed to ones with two layers of aluminum with a sandwich
of styrofoam insulation between them. By the early 1970s, the most
common shelters in service were the S-250, designed for use on 3/4 and
1 1/4 ton vehicles, and the S-280, designed for use on 2 1/2 ton and 5
ton vehicles. They served as message centers, radio relay nodes,
analysis centers, electronic warfare carriers, repair workshops, and
mobile parts logging and storage centers, among other functions.

    Italeri has now released a kit which combines their previously
released M925 (initial production model M939 truck with its original
10-wheel suspension and "universal" tires) with a new sprue of 23
parts for a basic model S-280 shelter. Decals and paint schemes are
included for a communications system vehicle from 2nd Squadron, 11th
Armored Cavalry Regiment, V (US) Corps, circa 1983-93, and one from
10th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, "Desert Storm" 1991.

    The truck portion of the kit is the second version of the M939
released by Italeri, and was a disappointment at the time of its
release. The M925 (with winch, but this can be left off to make the
truck an M923) was better than the M923A1 "Big Foot" version in that
it had the better done "universal" mud and snow tires used for over 60
years by the US Army, rather than the poorly executed big single tires
of the "Big Foot" version. (It wasn't even that - the "Big Foot" was
the A2 version of all M939 family trucks, and used a completely
different tire with modified wheels.) While the kits are reasonably
accurate dimensionally, they suffer from simplification (i.e. half-
molded air tanks which can be seen from the side of the vehicle when
upright, and other molding shortcuts which hurt the model. It also
comes with an inexplicable wood floor, which was not found on the US
models of the truck. This can at least be fixed by sanding the floor
(part 107B) flat and cementing a plate of .010" styrene over it.

    The S-280 shelter, however, is a real disappointment. While few kits
today come with interiors, this one skimps on the exterior as well.
Most of the details appear two-dimensional and lifeless, such as the
power and input access plate on the rear of the shelter (part 7E). The
door is about half its correct thickness - for one, the parts are too
thin rather than too thick - and is missing all of its large number of
internal details (locking mechanisms, ventilation/escape door frame
and components, etc.). Two heater/air conditioners are provided, but
both are tarped and pretty simplistic. The door is a separate
component, at least, so you could fit an interior if you had a
specific vehicle referenced and wanted to go through the effort.

    Worst of all is the cabling and turnbuckle system. Army regulations
require that shelters be tied down with steel cables to ensure the
shelters stay put, and for the most part, 3/8 inch (8mm) cable is used
with fittings and turnbuckles to keep it taut. In 1/35 scale, these
are braided wires approximately 0.010" in diameter (.25mm). The molded
cables with the kit are around .040" (1mm) and have very poorly
executed turnbuckles, so you will need to get some fine brass or steel
wire and some Grandt Line turnbuckles to fix this problem. Parts 2E
and 3E are locally made shoes for the shelter to ride on in the truck
bed (and not damage the steel floor from rubbing by its aluminum
skids, and vice versa) and are not part of the shelter.

    Overall, I was disappointed that Italeri still hasn't fixed the
problems with the original kit, nor that they didn't do a very good
job on the shelter. I wanted to use it in a future project which
involves converting another M925 into an M934 expando van (which I
worked in for three years in Frankfurt with 3rd Armored Division) and
use this truck for the Special Security Office van which always went
with us to the field. More work before that happens.