Harley Davidson Flathead WLA-45

This is the Italeri “WWII US Army Motorcycle” More specifically it is the 1/9th scale Harley Davidson Flathead WLA-45. It is only the second model I have built specifically for someone, the first being a knocked out T-55 for Norman Swartzkopf. I built this for another hero of mine, my brother, who loves motorcycles and has returned to the family from the world of substance abuse and addiction. So this model was special. It was fun model to build, a little more difficult than armor because of all the exposed parts. There were some places where things just didn’t fit right, but in the end it was a satisfactory experience.

There is a great website dedicated to the WLA-45 Flathead which was an excellent resource. However on my last visit to it, it was down. I’ll add a link later if it comes back up. I understand that Harley has made Italeri remove the name Harley Davidson name from the model. Their loss, the model does a fine job replicating a hero of WWII. Ironically American taxpayers paid for this Harley, which was built for the war effort. Additionally it was G.I. blood that was spilled on it during the war. This bike really belongs to the people of the United States of America and the soldiers that rode them. Perhaps there is a line that should be drawn in regards to trademarks.

I have also included a photo of the 1/35 scale version (also from Italeri) to give an idea of scale and size.

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