Daniel Vinay, always one to contribute the unique and unusual to our Galleries, sends us his first personal creation for us. While Daniel was a young officer carrying out his national service in an engineering regiment, hefirst saw this exceptional vehicle which inspired to himto try his first project. His collection of 1/87 scale models already included a hundred models purchased from retailers, but he did not think this amphibious machine would be found in a shop.

Starting with a base Roco Minitank, Daniel built this Gillois raft by copying the essential dimensions and details from the actual vehicles. This was in 1969! The Gillois raft is an amphibious truck/bridgelaying machine designed at the end of the Fifties. There are two versions: the "raft" version loads and unloads vehicles from the same end, and a “bridge” version allows the coupling of several machines to quickly create a floating bridge for continuous crossing. Daniel built the raft version. This type of machine is no longer used by the French Army, having been replaced by the EFA bridging truck, which can be loaded and unloaded from either end and be connected with other machines to form a floating bridge. A wonderfully unique model!

Posted April 16, 2005