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Benbros Qualitoys

A104 Mobile Searchlight

To complete the trio of Army trucks based on the Dodge vehicle, Benbros created A104 Mobile Searchlight which was arguably the best. It had good play value but did not actually light up!

 

Details of the truck casting, colours and trim are on the A102 Mobile Anti-Aircraft Gun page because all three lorries in the Army series used identical models. All carried a 'regimental' square decal on the left-side door which could be red & yellow or dark-blue & yellow, large or small. The Seachlight truck seems to have mostly had the small dark-blue & yellow version.

 

The Searchlight itself was a single casting which fitted on each side onto the arms of the holder bracket. This enabled it to move up and down and, as the bracket turned on a central spindle, the Searchlight could be pointed in almost any direction. It was painted dark-green in harmony with the truck except for a thin grey plastic membrane which was inserted to create the effect of the lens of the light.

 

As with the other Army models, A104 Searchlight shared a multi-model coloured box with a blank panel on one end-flap on which was stamped 'A104 Mobile Searchlight' or sometimes only 'A104' to identify the model inside. 

 

It is not a common model so can be hard to find and surprisingly, the boxes seem more common than the truck. Both lorry and searchlight tend to suffer from fatigue more than the other Dodge trucks so perhaps that explains why it is scarce.

Benbros Qualitoys Mobile Searchlight
Benbros Qualitoys Mobile Searchlight

Benbros Qualitoys A104 Mobile Searchlight

 

DARK-GREEN truck & pmw

silver trim

side red/yellow or dark-blue/yellow decal

DARK-GREEN Searchlight

Model id. on Box

Benbros Qualitoys Mobile Searchlight
Benbros Qualitoys Mobile Searchlight

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