In Box Review of Tamiya 1/35th Scale
British Scout Car Daimler Mk. II
Kit no. MM118
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 1972
Out of production
Available at 4 locations overseas on the web.
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 1972
Out of production
Available at 4 locations overseas on the web.
HISTORY:
The Daimler Scout Car, known in service as the Daimler Dingo (after the Australian wild dog), is a British light, fast four-wheel drive reconnaissance vehicle also used for liaison during the Second World War.
In 1938, the British War Office issued a specification for a scouting vehicle. Three British motor manufacturers, Alvis, BSA Cycles and Morris, were invited to supply prototypes. Alvis had been in partnership with Nicholas Straussler and provided armoured cars to the Royal Air Force, Morris had participated in trials and production of armoured cars and BSA Cycles – whose parent Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) was involved in armaments – had a small front wheel drive vehicle in production.
Testing began in August 1938. All were of similar size and layout – rear engine and all four-wheel-drive. The Morris design was eliminated first – suffering from poor speed even after modification by its builders. The Alvis prototype – known as "Dingo" – could manage 50 mph (80 km/h) over a cross-country course but had a high centre of gravity. The BSA prototype was completed in September and handed over for testing.
By December, it had covered 10,000 mi (16,000 km) on- and off-road with few mechanical problems. Policy from the War Office changed to a requirement for an armoured roof. The BSA vehicle needed a more powerful engine and strengthened suspension. It was chosen over the Alvis and the first order (172 vehicles) for the "Car, Scout, Mark I" was placed in May 1939. The actual production was passed to Daimler, which was a vehicle manufacturer in the BSA group of companies.
The potential of the design was recognised, and it served as the basis for the development of a larger armoured car – a "light tank (Wheeled)", which would later become the Daimler Armoured Car. The first pilot vehicle was built by the end of 1939, later to be named 'Daimler Scout Car' but already known by the name of the Alvis design - the Dingo.
Known as one of the finest armoured fighting vehicles built in Britain during the war, the Dingo was a compact two-man armoured car, well protected for its size with 1.2 in (30 mm) of armour at the front and powered by a 2.5 litre 55 hp (41 kW) straight six petrol engine in the rear of the vehicle. An ingenious feature of the Dingo's design was the transmission, which included a preselector gearbox and fluid flywheel that gave five speeds in both directions, another was a four-wheel steering system made possible by the H-drive-drive train, giving a tight turning circle of 23 ft (7.0 m).
Inexperienced drivers found it difficult to control so rear steering was deleted in later production at the cost of increasing the turning circle by 65 % to 38 ft (12 m).The layout of the H-drive-drive train contributed greatly to its low silhouette, agility and - an important consideration in any vehicle used for reconnaissance, an exceptionally- quiet engine and running gear. Power was led forward to a centrally placed transfer box and single differential driving separate left- and right-hand shafts, each in turn running forwards and back to a bevel box powering each wheel.
This compact layout resulted in a low-slung vehicle with a flat plate that allowed the Dingo to slide across uneven ground but made the Dingo extremely vulnerable to mines.No spare wheel was carried, considered unnecessary because of the use of run-flat (nearly solid) rubber tyres rather than pneumatic types vulnerable to punctures. Despite hard tyres, independent coil suspension gave each wheel approximately 8 in (20 cm) vertical deflection and coil springs all round gave a comfortable ride.
A swiveling-seat beside the driver allowed the second crew-member to attend to the No. 19 wireless set or Bren gun. The driver's seat was canted slightly off to the left of the vehicle which, in conjunction with a hinged vision flap in the rear armour, allowed the driver to drive in reverse and look behind by looking over his left shoulder, a useful feature in a reconnaissance vehicle where quick retreats were sometimes necessary.
The Dingo remained in production throughout the war but to bring other production resources into use, the design was passed to Ford Canada, where an equivalent vehicle ("Scout Car, Ford, Mk.I", also called "Lynx") was built with a more powerful, Ford V8 95 hp (71 kW), engine, transmission and running gear. The vehicle superficially resembled the Dingo in general arrangement and body shape, was approximately a foot longer, wider and taller, a ton and a half heavier, less nimble [the turning circle was 47 ft (14 m)] and was louder. While rugged and dependable, it was not as popular as the Dingo, due to the intended use of covert intelligence gathering. Total production figures for each type were 6,626 for the Dingo (all marks) 1939–1945 and 3,255 for the Lynx 1942–1945.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Type: Scout car
Place of origin: United Kingdom
In service: 1940–1974
Used by: British Commonwealth and associated foreign units in Second World War, other nations post war.
Wars: Second World War, Malayan Emergency, Portuguese Colonial War, Turkish invasion of Cyprus
Designer: BSA
Designed: 1938/39
Manufacturer: Daimler (Dingo), Ford Canada (Lynx)
Produced: 1939-1945 (Dingo), 1942-1945 (Lynx).
No. built: 6,626 (Dingo); 3,255 (Lynx)
Mass: 2.8 long tons (3 tonnes)
Length: 10 ft 5 in (3.18 m)
Width: 5 ft 7.5 in (1.715 m)
Height: 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m)
Crew; 2
Armour: 30 mm front, 12 mm sides
Main armament: .303 in (7.7 mm) Bren light machine gun or a .55 in (13.9 mm) Boys Anti-tank Rifle
Engine: 2.5 litre 6-cyl Daimler petrol of 55 hp (41 kW)
Power/weight: 18.3 hp/tonne (13.7 kW/tonne)
Transmission: Pre-selector gearbox, five gears forward and five gears reverse
Suspension: Independent, coil spring, wheeled 4×4
Operational range: 200 mi (320 km)
Maximum speed: 55 mph (89 km/h)
The Daimler Scout Car, known in service as the Daimler Dingo (after the Australian wild dog), is a British light, fast four-wheel drive reconnaissance vehicle also used for liaison during the Second World War.
In 1938, the British War Office issued a specification for a scouting vehicle. Three British motor manufacturers, Alvis, BSA Cycles and Morris, were invited to supply prototypes. Alvis had been in partnership with Nicholas Straussler and provided armoured cars to the Royal Air Force, Morris had participated in trials and production of armoured cars and BSA Cycles – whose parent Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) was involved in armaments – had a small front wheel drive vehicle in production.
Testing began in August 1938. All were of similar size and layout – rear engine and all four-wheel-drive. The Morris design was eliminated first – suffering from poor speed even after modification by its builders. The Alvis prototype – known as "Dingo" – could manage 50 mph (80 km/h) over a cross-country course but had a high centre of gravity. The BSA prototype was completed in September and handed over for testing.
By December, it had covered 10,000 mi (16,000 km) on- and off-road with few mechanical problems. Policy from the War Office changed to a requirement for an armoured roof. The BSA vehicle needed a more powerful engine and strengthened suspension. It was chosen over the Alvis and the first order (172 vehicles) for the "Car, Scout, Mark I" was placed in May 1939. The actual production was passed to Daimler, which was a vehicle manufacturer in the BSA group of companies.
The potential of the design was recognised, and it served as the basis for the development of a larger armoured car – a "light tank (Wheeled)", which would later become the Daimler Armoured Car. The first pilot vehicle was built by the end of 1939, later to be named 'Daimler Scout Car' but already known by the name of the Alvis design - the Dingo.
Known as one of the finest armoured fighting vehicles built in Britain during the war, the Dingo was a compact two-man armoured car, well protected for its size with 1.2 in (30 mm) of armour at the front and powered by a 2.5 litre 55 hp (41 kW) straight six petrol engine in the rear of the vehicle. An ingenious feature of the Dingo's design was the transmission, which included a preselector gearbox and fluid flywheel that gave five speeds in both directions, another was a four-wheel steering system made possible by the H-drive-drive train, giving a tight turning circle of 23 ft (7.0 m).
Inexperienced drivers found it difficult to control so rear steering was deleted in later production at the cost of increasing the turning circle by 65 % to 38 ft (12 m).The layout of the H-drive-drive train contributed greatly to its low silhouette, agility and - an important consideration in any vehicle used for reconnaissance, an exceptionally- quiet engine and running gear. Power was led forward to a centrally placed transfer box and single differential driving separate left- and right-hand shafts, each in turn running forwards and back to a bevel box powering each wheel.
This compact layout resulted in a low-slung vehicle with a flat plate that allowed the Dingo to slide across uneven ground but made the Dingo extremely vulnerable to mines.No spare wheel was carried, considered unnecessary because of the use of run-flat (nearly solid) rubber tyres rather than pneumatic types vulnerable to punctures. Despite hard tyres, independent coil suspension gave each wheel approximately 8 in (20 cm) vertical deflection and coil springs all round gave a comfortable ride.
A swiveling-seat beside the driver allowed the second crew-member to attend to the No. 19 wireless set or Bren gun. The driver's seat was canted slightly off to the left of the vehicle which, in conjunction with a hinged vision flap in the rear armour, allowed the driver to drive in reverse and look behind by looking over his left shoulder, a useful feature in a reconnaissance vehicle where quick retreats were sometimes necessary.
The Dingo remained in production throughout the war but to bring other production resources into use, the design was passed to Ford Canada, where an equivalent vehicle ("Scout Car, Ford, Mk.I", also called "Lynx") was built with a more powerful, Ford V8 95 hp (71 kW), engine, transmission and running gear. The vehicle superficially resembled the Dingo in general arrangement and body shape, was approximately a foot longer, wider and taller, a ton and a half heavier, less nimble [the turning circle was 47 ft (14 m)] and was louder. While rugged and dependable, it was not as popular as the Dingo, due to the intended use of covert intelligence gathering. Total production figures for each type were 6,626 for the Dingo (all marks) 1939–1945 and 3,255 for the Lynx 1942–1945.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Type: Scout car
Place of origin: United Kingdom
In service: 1940–1974
Used by: British Commonwealth and associated foreign units in Second World War, other nations post war.
Wars: Second World War, Malayan Emergency, Portuguese Colonial War, Turkish invasion of Cyprus
Designer: BSA
Designed: 1938/39
Manufacturer: Daimler (Dingo), Ford Canada (Lynx)
Produced: 1939-1945 (Dingo), 1942-1945 (Lynx).
No. built: 6,626 (Dingo); 3,255 (Lynx)
Mass: 2.8 long tons (3 tonnes)
Length: 10 ft 5 in (3.18 m)
Width: 5 ft 7.5 in (1.715 m)
Height: 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m)
Crew; 2
Armour: 30 mm front, 12 mm sides
Main armament: .303 in (7.7 mm) Bren light machine gun or a .55 in (13.9 mm) Boys Anti-tank Rifle
Engine: 2.5 litre 6-cyl Daimler petrol of 55 hp (41 kW)
Power/weight: 18.3 hp/tonne (13.7 kW/tonne)
Transmission: Pre-selector gearbox, five gears forward and five gears reverse
Suspension: Independent, coil spring, wheeled 4×4
Operational range: 200 mi (320 km)
Maximum speed: 55 mph (89 km/h)
THE KIT:
Tamiya is an old prolific plastic model company based in Shizuoka, Japan. This kit was with them being associated with Model Rectifier, based in Edison, NJ.
This kit comes in a shrink-wrapped tray and lid type box.
The cover art shows a Daimler Mk. II Scout Car (nick-named Dingo) illustrated in color and posed against one of Tamiya’s SIGNATURE all-white backgrounds that they use for the majority of their box arts.
Three British soldiers are shown. Two of them are in the car. They all wear tropical tan uniforms. The driver of the car wears a black beret. Next to him an officer is standing and adjusting the bill on his officer's hat with this right hand. He holds a map board in his left arm. The third man is standing next to the car. He wears a steel helmet, a rifle slung over his right arm and two canvas sacks on suspenders over each shoulder. He wears high brown socks over low shoes.
All the uniforms are short-sleeved shirts, white belts and shorts.
The Dingo is overall tan. It has a white circle on a red square, with a red mouse on the circle, on each side of the nose of the car.
At the top of the box art it says: Combat crew of three. Easy to assemble.
One side panel of the box shows 3 box arts of other Tamiya kits: A German 88mm gun Flak 36/37 w/crew, a Panzerkampfwagen II and a U.S. Willys Jeep. No kit numbers are given for these 3 kits.
Kit was made in Japan, over Model Rectifier’s address in Edison, NJ.
Tamiya is an old prolific plastic model company based in Shizuoka, Japan. This kit was with them being associated with Model Rectifier, based in Edison, NJ.
This kit comes in a shrink-wrapped tray and lid type box.
The cover art shows a Daimler Mk. II Scout Car (nick-named Dingo) illustrated in color and posed against one of Tamiya’s SIGNATURE all-white backgrounds that they use for the majority of their box arts.
Three British soldiers are shown. Two of them are in the car. They all wear tropical tan uniforms. The driver of the car wears a black beret. Next to him an officer is standing and adjusting the bill on his officer's hat with this right hand. He holds a map board in his left arm. The third man is standing next to the car. He wears a steel helmet, a rifle slung over his right arm and two canvas sacks on suspenders over each shoulder. He wears high brown socks over low shoes.
All the uniforms are short-sleeved shirts, white belts and shorts.
The Dingo is overall tan. It has a white circle on a red square, with a red mouse on the circle, on each side of the nose of the car.
At the top of the box art it says: Combat crew of three. Easy to assemble.
One side panel of the box shows 3 box arts of other Tamiya kits: A German 88mm gun Flak 36/37 w/crew, a Panzerkampfwagen II and a U.S. Willys Jeep. No kit numbers are given for these 3 kits.
Kit was made in Japan, over Model Rectifier’s address in Edison, NJ.
The other side panel of the box begins with a small repeat of the cover art. Over a one-paragraph history of the car, over features of the kit: Authentic copy of interior details. Steering wheel moves the front wheels to the left and right. Front and rear wheels equipped with special plastic suspension. Three figures included: driver and officer in car and infantryman standing beside.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX;
The kit holds 3 tan parts trees and the decal sheet in 2 stapled-shut clear cello bags.
The instructions consist of a single-sheet, printed on both sides in 23” x 8 ¼” format, folded three times to fit the box.
The face side begins with a black and white wartime photo of a Dingo, that is in front of a British tank. Both have crewmen looking out the tops of them.
Below that is the history of the Dingo and it’ specifications. Over painting and applying decal instructions, showing a line drawing of each of the 3 figures. The standing infantryman is shown from the front and back. The driver figure is shown standing and adjusting his beret with his right hand.
Below them is an international assembly symbol explanations and a 4-view profile illustration of the car. It is in a desert camouflage of sand and black wave pattern. Bridge classification badges, Division signs, vehicle and unit numbers are shown.
The reverse side of the instructions says: Please read this before beginning assembly, over a line drawing of one of the parts trees and the 3 figures, down a left hand column of the sheet.
Down the right side of the sheet there are 9 assembly steps
Trees are not alphabetized. They do, however, have part number tabs next to the parts on them. This means careful study of the instructions to get the right parts for each assembly.
The 1st tan parts tree holds: the figures (the officer and infantryman are divided into separate full bodies and arms, the driver is in separate torso, lower body and arms). Also on this tree is a rifle, map board, 2 steel helmets, rolled canvas back-pack, pistol holster, ammo pouches, bayonet in scabbard and canteen (20 parts)
The kit holds 3 tan parts trees and the decal sheet in 2 stapled-shut clear cello bags.
The instructions consist of a single-sheet, printed on both sides in 23” x 8 ¼” format, folded three times to fit the box.
The face side begins with a black and white wartime photo of a Dingo, that is in front of a British tank. Both have crewmen looking out the tops of them.
Below that is the history of the Dingo and it’ specifications. Over painting and applying decal instructions, showing a line drawing of each of the 3 figures. The standing infantryman is shown from the front and back. The driver figure is shown standing and adjusting his beret with his right hand.
Below them is an international assembly symbol explanations and a 4-view profile illustration of the car. It is in a desert camouflage of sand and black wave pattern. Bridge classification badges, Division signs, vehicle and unit numbers are shown.
The reverse side of the instructions says: Please read this before beginning assembly, over a line drawing of one of the parts trees and the 3 figures, down a left hand column of the sheet.
Down the right side of the sheet there are 9 assembly steps
Trees are not alphabetized. They do, however, have part number tabs next to the parts on them. This means careful study of the instructions to get the right parts for each assembly.
The 1st tan parts tree holds: the figures (the officer and infantryman are divided into separate full bodies and arms, the driver is in separate torso, lower body and arms). Also on this tree is a rifle, map board, 2 steel helmets, rolled canvas back-pack, pistol holster, ammo pouches, bayonet in scabbard and canteen (20 parts)
The 2nd tan parts tree holds: the car’s chassis, sides, hood, springs, axle, fuel cans etc. (26 parts)
The 3rd tan parts tree holds: wheels, fenders, push bar, steering wheel, exhaust pipe, rear-view mirror etc. (47 parts)
The decal sheet completes the parts in the kit.
Also added is a color kit catalog.
The detail is very good.
Recommended.
Recommended.