RPM's 1/72 Mack AC "Bulldog" Type EHC 3

In the first years of the 1900’s the Mack Brothers Company in Brooklyn, NY, with big success shifted from making horse drawn carriages to producing gasoline-powered buses. So even before 1914, Mack had got themselves an international reputation.  At the outset of World I, the Mack brothers shifted production, now to making trucks for military purposes.

The heavy duty AC model was introduced in 1916, the unusual snub nose hood and dash mounted radiator were its most distinctive features. With its chain drive rear axle, the AC model soon earned an unparalleled reputation for reliability and durability, and was called on to help accomplish nearly impossible tasks. While other trucks were bogged down in the axle-deep mud of the French countryside, the AC proved to be unstoppable. 

The truck earned its nickname when in British service (some over 2,000 units were delievered to Great Britain) either from engineers testing AC's or from Tommies in France saying that the rugged snub-nosed truck either looked like or had the tenacity of “a bulldog”. And as at this time, the symbol of Great Britain was the bulldog, this was high praise indeed. Adopted as the standard 5-ton truck, 4.470 Mack AC trucks went to France with the American Expeditionary Force. And the American soldiers soon came to express the same high opinion of the truck. Mack AC’s were delivered to the French Army as well.

For more info, click here!

For more pictures, click on the thumnails below:

For some super detail-pics (taken by Francois Antoina) of a surviving Mack, click here!

  On the kit

Click on the pictures for an enlarged version! 



Built RPM Mack model by Jura Scucka
Click here, to see more of his models!

The kit comes packed in a medium-sized card-board box, typical of RPM, with the parts well packed in plastic. It contains some 60+ parts in soft light-grey plastic, many of which are quite small and delicate. They come on two big sprues. Most of them are used to build up the chassis, wheels and transmission, which are quite well detailed. In the kit is also included a nice replica of the 4-cylinder engine. To me, the breakdown of the parts seems quite logical, and should not pose any big problems. Actually it seems to follow much of the breakdown of the original vehicle, meaning that anyone anting to build this kit as a wreck, will find that easy to do! The detail is first rate. Just the engine and transmission consists of more than twice the number of parts that you get in HäT's FT-17, and then most of it will be hidden under the bonnet! (And the level of detail then! The steering wheel actually connects to a spindle on the front wheel shaft, the gear lever connects to a gearbox under the cab, etc. It is tempting to this kit in either a dis-assembled state, or as a wreck, just to show off all the hidden goodies.) The fit is good, much better than on their FT-17 - but one or two dry-runs are still recommended.

As always with RPM, the instructions are first rate. The kit also comes with a small but sufficient set of decals.

The parts themselves are sharp and finely detailed. Except for one part of a sprue there was no moulding flash. Ejector marks to be found here and there, but few are placed so that they pose any real difficulty. 

Note that this is one in a series of four, but as far as I can see the sprues in the four kits are identical. What differs are, basically, the instructions and the box art. I think this setup is nothing to gripe about, especially since it means that anyway you build it, you will end up with a number of left-over parts to drop into your spares box - can't be bad.

Click here to see the kit built!

You can get this kit from most big modelling suppliers, like Hannants in the UK or Jadar Models in Poland.

  Verdict

This is an excellent kit, on a neglected and unusual subject, the first big WW1 soft-skin in 1/72 scale! This is possibly RPM's best kit ever, and of the best soft-skin models in this scale I've ever seen. The level of detail is quite amazing! Very well done, Andrzej Gomela of RPM!