1:100 FIAT 665NM Scudato Italian Armoured Car

FIAT 665NM Scudato in 1:100 scale (Zebranomodel)

A model of the Italian FIAT 665NM Scudato armored truck in 1:100 scale. It is not an armored car with a turret but a truck to which workshops added armor plates on the cab and on the cargo bed for infantry. The 1:100 scale is used on tabletop wargames and in dioramas with several vehicles.

The real subject

The vehicle was created in 1942 at the army arsenal in Turin in cooperation with Fiat, as the answer to a requirement to carry infantry under fire. The basis was the 665NM all-wheel-drive military truck, which received armor plates only a few millimeters thick once it came off the production line. The result was an armored cab and an open armored cargo bed with firing ports, so the crew could shoot from the vehicle. The armor protected against small-arms fire but was not enough against heavy machine guns. About a hundred vehicles were built and the Italian armistice of September 1943 stopped production; most of the vehicles were then taken over by the Germans.

Building and painting tips

Cut the parts off a little away from the shape with a sharp blade and sand the surface down. Match the type of glue to the material of the parts: super glue holds on resin, cement for plastic on polystyrene. The cargo bed is open, so paint its interior before you seat the upper edges. Put a dark wash into the gaps between the plates over an Italian gray-green or sand base and dust on the fenders; a tall vehicle with no weathering looks like a toy.

Who the model is for

• for players of tabletop wargames of the Italian and the North African theaters
• for collectors of Italian vehicles in a single scale
• for dioramas with infantry transport, not just with tanks
• for modelers looking for a less common subject for the display case

The model is supplied unassembled and unpainted. Glue, paints and accessories are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise.