This is my second CRI.EL truck kit, this time it is the 1:35 scale all resin Autocarro Leggero Fiat 15 Ter, here is a brief history of the truck.
The Fiat 15 Ter was designed by Carlo Cavalli and entered service in 1912. It was a very strudy and reliable vehicle, something that was proven when a convoy of 23 Fiat 15 Ter lorries made the first motor vehicle crossing of the Sahara travelling three thousand kilometres without mechanical problems.It was first used in war in the Libyan war of 1912 - hence the nickname "Libia". It had a four cylinder petrol engine of 4398 cc (40 hp at 1800 rpm) and twin rear wheels fitted with inflated tyres. It weighed some 1.4 tons and could attain a maximum speed of 40km/h. The soundness of the design was proven by the fact that it was not only used by te Italian Army but also by the British Army on both the Italian and Greek fronts. Also, it was produced under license in Russia from 1916 by a firm of AMO. 750 light trucks and 750 light staff cars of 15 Ter type were ordered. In Italy it was produced between 1911 and 1920 and remained n service until 1940.
The kit comes in a very strudy cardboard box which offers excellent protection to the enclosed parts, my kit arrived in perfect condition.
The parts are housed in four zip lock plastic bags with some of the larger items sitting in the box among the plastic bags, no damage was evident to any of the parts.
There is a good quantity of quality resin parts cast in a medium grey colour. Apart from the casting blocks there is little clean-uo to be done and most parts display very good crisp detail
The following two photos show the detail of some of the parts and also demonstrate how clean the parts are, casting s extremely good with no evidence of bubble.
I started the build by fitting the required parts to the chassis, cutting the casting blocks off the parts is an easy exercise using a razor saw then a light sanding with a sanding stick. As with all resin kits the parts must be glued using super glue (CA), I use a very runny CA which adheres the parts very well. All the parts fit extremely well.
The dash board is very basic in this truck, just two instruments, two switches and a pump, thats it. I have made the two instruments using 2.5mm brass tube cut to length then a dial fitted cut from my instrument decals, a drop od Futures holds the dial in place. The pump is made from various sizes of brass tube cut and glued with CA. None of the patrs are glued at present, I will paint the dash board first then fit the parts.
I exposed more of the chassis by removing the pieces between the chassis rails. I had to add two small strips of styrene to either side of the chassis rails to allow the pins on the fuel tank to have a place to mount, they should have fitted to the chassis but thepins are not wide enough apart.
I have fitted the major components to the front of the truck, the bonnet (hood) went on very easily as did the dash board come firewall. The floor ans seat mounting also fitted very well, the seat is only sitting in position for photos purposes. The steering column and drivers foot pedals are also fitted.
