Hey guys, I'd like to pick your brain here for a sec. I'm trying to lay my hands on a 1/35 M1009, but these don't exist. My scratchbuilding project is working out quite well to start, but I may spend the best part of a year's spare time to get that right, and I'm not too keen on spending that effort on a 1/35 model. So I'm still looking for alternatives. Rebuilding an existing kit is easier than building one from scratch, so...

I now discovered these babies on the internet. They are Tamiya 1/32 kits but I heard they come closer to 1/35. Did anyone of you ever build stuff like that ? Do you think this would be a good start for an M1009 conversion, or is this too far from reality ?
Which one of both looks most like the M1009 ?

Thanks for advice,

Jan

The first one (orange) looks more like a CUCV than the second one. Especially around the headlight/grill area since the body goes below the grill like on the actual truck. CUCVs retained the Chevy bowtie emblem, but were painted forest green along with the rest of the truck.

Great googly moogly guys! ( was just dying to use that phrase ),

OK, for the intellectually challanged, what on earth is an M1009 CUCV!?!?!

Now, I would have normally been able to extrapolate from the provided info and put 'two and two together', but when one of those bits of info include a Monster Truck from Alabama, I am sorry to say, I'm coming up short!
"Help me Obi wan, oops, Rob. You're my only hope!"

Tread.


Is it some kind of US government sanctioned kit-bash?

GO with the orange one on the left, it looks like a CuCV. the other one looks like a Ford truck anyway. So now you have a cab and a bed, now you need a chssie,wheels and interior.
Vince

CUCV=Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle in Army lingo. A militarized full-size Chevy Blazer in civilian terms of late 70s early 80s vintage. Comes in several body styles:
M1008: Pickup Truck (with or without troops seats)
M1009: Blazer
M1010: Ambulance (called a "crackerbox")
M1028: Shelter Carrier (pickup modified to carry an S250 shelter)
SECM (Shop Contact Maintenance Truck): Looks like a construction contractor's truck with the bins instead of the pickup body.

Replaced the M880 series that were basically Dodge pickup trucks. Most have been replaced by HMMWV variants. I still have a couple of contract trucks and pickups used for plowing snow.

I'd try to use the suspension of an old Italeri HMMWV kit. I know you could make it work.

Howdy Rob,

Great to see/yak at ya! As usual, many thx for the info. Apparently I was looking too hard at this whole thing. I actually thought that the US Army had some kind of hybrid Monster AFV with Monster Truck tyre's for fighting drug lord's in the swamps and jungle's of Guatemala or something!?! #:-) #:-)
My bad......please pardon my sudden IQ drop (I hadn't had my first cup O'joe yet when I posted)
I'm better now.........

Tread.

A picture speaks louder than a thousand words...

Yesss ! I got hold of one of those clodbusters. Not too expensive, either.

The truck body is everything I hoped it would be. It takes some scratchbuilding to turn this into a perfect M1009, but far less than building one from scratch altogether - which I had set out to do already. In fact, it is a VERY nice little model . The truck body is a one-piece plastic casting. The booth isn't deep enough at all, but I intend to give the model a closed top anyway, so that doesn't matter. For the rest it takes some adapting and a chassis.
Following Rob's suggestion, I'll stick a Hummer chassis underneath. I'm wondering if Hummer wheels would be OK for the CUCV...

I need to :
- remove the fancy stuff like sunroof and chrome buildup on the engine lid.
- remove the side steps
- build up the back
- make minor corrections to bumpers and lights
- add a front grille
- find a right chassis for this.

I can skip building the interior : the windows are tinted !

I'll try to illustrate all this with pictures as I go along.

Thanks for all suggestions and support.

I'm in the process of trying to build a reasonably accurate Ford F-150 from the AMT/Ertl Monster truck snap kit...tis a big chore! I wish I'd found one of these first. Looks like it is closer to real than the Ertl thing.

I'm struggling wwith the wheel wells right now- they are WAAY big to accomodate the Monster tires.

Good luck Jan! Love to see it when you're done!

I don't know if this is readily available in Europe, but here in the states there are all sorts of aftermarket tires and wheels designed for 1/24 or 1/25 scale vehicles. Maybe one of these could be close enough to a 1/35 scale CUCV tire. One of my local shops has oodles of 4 tire sets on blister packs that are relatively cheap.

If not, use the Italeri HMMWV chassis and sand down a tire to something that approximates the basic CUCV tire. Then cast your own tires. I've seen many variations of tires on these vehicles. I gave the state police an old CUCV to use and they even have chrome hub caps on it.

Another optinon for the tires is to look into a company called Firs Gear, They make diecast model in 1/34th scale. I'm thinking that the tires on the real truck fit on a standard heavy duty 15 inch rim. As for useing the a Hummer chassie, IMO it might not work completely, the frame can be adapted, but the axles are all worng,the CUCV has a solid rear axle on a lift spring and the front is soliod also mounted with struts and springs.
Another note about First Gear, they don't make any modern chevy trucks, but one from the 60's would probley work just as good, not much as changed in frame and axle set ups over the years. Heck Me and my brother used parts off a 1985 Chevy truck to fix a 1965 Chevy Van, everything fit! We even put a Chevey 350 in a Chevette once, but thats another story
Vince

After thinking about this some more, I think another good mpdel to get parts form is Tamiya's Chevy LRDG. I'm sure you'll find alot there you might could use too.
Vince