This conversion kit turns Tamiya's or Italeri's GMC 'Jimmy' into a 40mm Bofors AA gun platform. Apparently, these vehicles were used by the free French forces in the North Africa and NW Europe campaigns (see reference).

The kit impressed me. It consists of many cleanly cast resin parts, with small parts for the sights as photoetched parts. You also get a bit of wire to make some handgrips. The resin parts are mostly air bubble and mouldshift free, though some of the larger parts had some bubbles. The smallest parts have some flash on them, although this is very thin and should be easy to remove. The gun barrel is nearly straight, but not quite, and the bigger resin pieces were also slightly warped. Some hot water or a hairdryer should take care of this. There are no decals, but Masters produce a separate set of PE masks for painting the markings of the 2e division blindée which used these vehicles (no 35005).

The instructions are good, although placement of some parts isn't completely clear. There are exploded views, some diagrams, and photographs which are quite clear and have withstood the photocopying process very well. There's one photograph of a battery of these vehicles lined up in a field. The conversion is meant to be used with the Tamiya kit, but with some cutting here and there it can be used with Italeri's Jimmy, and there are diagrams showing exactly how to do this. If I recall correctly, the Italeri kit has a hard top cab, while all vehicles in the photograph have soft top cabs like the Tamiya kit. There may have been hard top GMC's with Bofors, but you might want to check before you buy the Italeri kit! The instructions are entirely in French, so if you don't read French some things may not be clear.

As a bonus you get the steering linkage, which is not included in the Tamiya kit, and a canvas-covered windscreen.

This is an excellent conversion kit, it's worth every euro cent, and it will turn your GMC into a very impressive vehicle.

References are scarce, the only page I found on the internet is this one, which provides a short history of the vehicle (in French), along with some photos of the real vehicle, but be warned as this is a completely different version, with a metal body and a Bofors gun with power traverse:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jp2k/2db/materiels_gmc_bofors.html


-Eelke Warrink