• When I dry fit the chassis to the body something didn't look correct. The wheels stood too far from the mudguards and the interlocking hole in the fuel tank was not filled by the body pin. As a result the model stood at a height of 33.0/33.5 mm. The problem was traced to the rear bumpers which are moulded on too high and are upside down (and too much near the rear body). I cut them off and glued them to the lower body edge in the correct place giving the chassis a hair longer (but correct) 68.5 mm length. The rear chassis now fit correctly in its place and the model's height now was more correct, at 32 mm.
• The tank is moulded on a flat frame; it is much too slim and shallow. I filed off the frame and I shimmed the tank to make it thicker. With strips of thin metal I fashioned the straps.
• The rear transversal beam of the chassis frame is missing. I made it with plastic strip and stretched sprue to produce a "€œC"€� profile, but I could have made it as a solid rectangular section as well.
• The moulds have two pieces not indicated in the instruction, which are not unused parts. One is the drive shaft which transmits the power from the engine to the gear box. Academy doesn't show it in the instruction because a transversal beam of the chassis frame is incorrectly moulded straight and does not allow placement of the shaft. I cut the beam off and then I glued a plastic shim. After having shaped it to a curve, the frame was reassembled. Now, having its way unobstructed, I glued the drive shaft between engine rear and front of the gear box.
• The kit's drive shafts were warped. I had to replace them with segments of stretched sprue.
• The second piece not included in the instruction looks to me to be the air filter (a bit over-sized) present on the right side of the engine. As I was building my truck with a closed hood I left it on the sprue.
• The 9.0x16.0 wheels are well done and don't need modification.

• The hood's sides were foldable and each had six cooling louvers (at least in every war time photo I've seen), but the kit's hood has smooth sides. With thin stretched sprue I added the hinges and louvers.
• There are holes on the underside of the fenders beneath the lights. I filled and sanded them, which unfortunately removed the molded on support rods. These I replaced with plastic strip.
• The brush guards are missing the horizontal cross bars, but they look good and I choose to keep them as is.
• The forward edge of the spare wheel housing isn't straight as presented in the kit. It should be curved, reaching the driver door. I filed and sanded it to give the correct shape.
• When the body was assembled, two holes remained above the forward doors. I filled them with plastic shims.
• The right side tool rack was shimmed on the lower rod to can be placed parallel to the body side. The shovel is missing and since I didn't have a spare one, I left it as it is. If the shovel is added, it must be placed with the handle facing the rear and the blade facing forward.
• The rear step lacks its hinges. I made them with stretched sprue glued just under the rear doors. I kept it closed, but if glued open the folding system has a different layout from the one suggested by the instruction. The step will need to be glued after having adding the Red Cross decals.
• Just outside of the rear bumpers I made the rear lights with rounded plastic rod segments and plastic strips.
• The interior is well done and needs little modification, but it is not visible unless the doors are glued opened. Since I was building mine with closed doors I didn't make any further changes.
• On the little rectangle moulded on the left side I added the fuel filler and cap. For a late WC54 the small rectangle must be replaced by a large vertical rectangular like depression where the fuel filler & cap could sit without overhanging the side panel. On the inner side, a second segment made the pipe which went to the tank.
• The spare wheel is moulded inside out. To correct it is not easy: I should have to remove plastic from the wheel rim to have a rounded cup like inside. Drilling out the large cooling holes and the smaller holes for the bolts would complete the job. In the end I kept it as is.
• I left my ambulance back closed. Anyway the interior is well done and few details are needed to make it correct.

Decals

While the red crosses are the type used for the ambulances delivered by October 1943, the registration number 751018 lies out of the known production batches (see above).

The unit markings look incomplete. For a better understanding of the US medical units see here for an interesting article at med-dept.com.

Regarding the red crosses, based on the photos I've seen, the kit's versions were used only on the late production vehicles, while smaller crosses would be more correct, being used both early or late model vehicles.

Conclusion Well, my corrections look very well to me. On the other hand, its faults are very strange; a well detailed kit but with a chassis which needs the above changes left me bewildered. But it's worth the effort to improve and the WC 54 would work well in diorama settings such as a battlefield, an airfield or other. It could be found in use where ever the US Army, US Air Force or US Navy was present in WW2. Or it could be used accurately in a Korean War location. A good model, when not built out of the box. A better decal set would be welcome.