WHITE 666 SEMI-TRACTOR WITH SOFT TOP
Not a difficult conversion but one that offers something a bit different.




You start by shortening the rear frame by 25 scale inches and foregoing the bumperettes.

You will also need to remove the load box support beams from the top of the frame members. (Do wish HB had molded these rails separately or attached them to the bottom of the load box like so many other manufactures have done.)

Scratch building that rear cross member was a bit fiddly especially with the round cut outs for the protected tail lights. My hole punch set took care of that!

Overall views of the vehicle under construction.




Note: No extra toolbox on this side of the semi-tractor unlike on the cargo truck!

Have not found a lot of reference on the semi-tractor out there but there is a bit.


Notice the truck above is rolling on larger than standard rims and tires. I am told this was a post-war Army upgrade.

Now THAT might make for an interesting conversion!


In the lower photo it looks like the tractor just might have a front mounted winch as well.

Nice work! Is the fifth wheel scratch, or an AM part?

One thing I really liked about the HobbyBoss model was that the front wheel hubs freely rotate around the constant velocity ball joints until final gluing. This allows the modeler to locate the wheels at whatever steering angle they might wish.

One word of caution though, as I say the hubs rotate freely around the CV joints in ALL directions and there is nothing to keep them at a vertical angle while the glue is drying. Care must be taken to set the hub/axle assembly on a flat surface and weight the hubs so they will end up at 90 degrees to the ground.

p.s. You might notice that I cut out the unrealistic "pan" that HobbyBoss chose to use to enclose the bottom of the engine area. I just hate that fake effect!

A couple of other underbody items that I did not care for:

#1: The open undersides of the battery and tool boxes that form the steps up to the cab. I suspect the actual boxes looked a bit different than this but I think enclosing them in some way or other greatly increases the apparent mass of the vehicle when viewed from below. Being able to view right into these hollow boxes just did not look right!.



And #2: Definitely did not like the pushed up box shapes molded into the cab underfloor that are used to support the seat bottoms. They could be seen on the underside of the floorboard so I filled them in with a scratched floorboard and some "imagineered" structural supports.


Above: Under the hood you will notice a couple of frame mounting tabs that help keep the cab more correctly centered and some strengthening blocks that reinforce the union between the hood sides and the fenders.


There you have it, the finished assembly: I know it won't show all that much but that is just the kind of guy I am.

I will still have to add oil drain plugs to the transmission, transfer case and differentials.

F.Y.I.- I used the after market fifth wheel recently made available from the folks at "Custom Factory" in the Ukraine.

customfactory.org.ua

or e-mail to:

[email protected]


This detail was originally intended for converting the KrAZ-258 and 255 into semi-tractors
but it looked right to me for use on the White truck.

Another reference photo:



Check out the rear fenders on this one. Have not yet decided whether to include this detail in my model.

Earlier I spoke of cutting out the unrealistic "pan" around the underside of the engine. Whenever I do this to a model that doesn't have a full engine I try to add some rudimentary detail. This gives the engine more visual depth when viewed from below. My practice is to build up the lower part of the engine block, add a starter motor, generator and the main crank pulley.

It is not exactly super detailing but it does add some additional complexity and visual interst to the model.

- In competitions I like to exhibit my models on a mirror in an attempt to show off some of this additional underbody detail.

I will be adding air lines, drain cocks and brake lines to this model as well.

Example of mirror mounting:


1/35th scale semi-scratch built Mack NO6


Lots to show underneath! Looks like I need to have that front axle aligned, there's a little too much toe-in on those front tires! ;-D

Another fellow heading in the same direction:

Posted elsewhere by DocEvan; AND he is building his 666 as a semi-tractor!
_________________________________________________________________________

I loved my 666 kit! A fun, enjoyable build.

A few pics here:
http://public.fotki.com/amcan/white-666-tractor/

Hi Mike

Nice work !

Here's a French Army White used postwar in the Sahara desert (it's loaded with a Allis-Chalmers HD15A dozer) :



H.P.

Check out that front mounted winch no less! Thanks Frenchy.

Respect! Amazing work.

Scratch built rear cross member waiting for some new SKP Models taillights.


I used the stock towing pintle and hitch support from the original HB model. Second dark circle on the right is the electrical trailer taillight receptacle.

You're a man after my own heart!!!

We like!

Thanks Doc.

I like your White tractor as well. Your's kinda makes me wish I had gone for the hard cab. I really like that empty tool rack climbing up the rear wall of the cab!

I plan to add the soft top in the up position just to give the truck a little more appearent bulk!

I know it's up to you, but some tractors had the spare wheel mounted behind the cab :



H.P.

I like it H.P. ! It never occurred to me to mount it next to the drivers side of the winch. They are even using the same type of tire mounting braces used in the load box. Will definately be looking into this one!

Korean War? From the last photo from H.P.

Korean War indeed

Here's the caption : "WW II vintage tractor pulls trailer load of Korean Service Corps personnel, arriving at Arch Bridge from railhead, June 1952."

Here's another one (from my own archives )

Korea December 1950 :



You can notice some captured ZiS-150 in the background...


H.P.

Just a dry fit photo for sizing up the possibilities on mounting the spare tire:


I like the look of the mounted spare but do not like the way it hides the winch!

"Wheels of Victory" website says the larger tires and rims shown here, were a postwar upgrade to the standard military White semi-tractor.

Does anyone have a larger rendition of this photo???

What is the standard tire size? The standard ones look to be the same size as M54/M800/M900 series 5 ton tires/wheels, which are 11:00x20s. They look really nice too.