red ball express
The behind the scenes heros of the US Breakout

The Red Ball express was how the US Army kept it self supplied at the front using 2.5 tons trucks in an almost continual 24 hour convoy. Most of the soldiers were African American as the Army was segregated at that time. Over 6000 trucks kept the front lines supplied with an average of 12.000 tons per day. In addition to the 2.5 tons each segment of the convoy were escorted by jeeps front and rear, a wrecker and an ambulance which were usually at the end. I reused an Italeri command post diorama for the road, which required me to space the vehicles very close together, there would have been several meters between each truck in a real convoy.

The convoy used roads in one direction for loads and one back for empties. I used the kits listed in the inventory with Vallejo paints for the figures and vehicles. Resin loads were used for the 2.5 ton trucks and the jeep. The figures were Red Ball express drivers and co drivers by 3Djson, and one jeep driver and 30 cal gunner were 3D PrintingValley ltd, Bought though Etsy. I painted all the figures as African Americans using appropriate Vallejo paints.