Forgot to mention - the kit has a one-piece windshield while your pics show a split screen. I suspect that Ford USA had tooled up a newer design that Ford Germany hadn't got round to when war broke out and the German factory was cut off from the parent firm.

Another view of the Ford V8 at the Dutch National Military Museum in Soesterberg.

The trailer is a Dutch Army field kitchen unit.

More info (in Dutch) : http://www.alfredstaarman.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/keukenoplegger-op-de-kaart-gezet-1.pdf

In 1/72nd scale :



H.P.

I like that trailer! Kinda looks like an old-time railway wagon crashed into the back of the truck...

Other German trucks and trailers had clerestory roofs but none quite so "railroady" as this one!

The German ambulance body for the Blitz and Mercedes comes to mind.

Good catch on that windshield divider. Not a perfect solution but still it would be easy enough to add a center windshield division to the existing truck kit to make it look "more" correct.

Building the '41 Ford would also be easy enough with the truck kits currently available out there. I like those big saddlebag gas tanks though I suspect those are a post war addition.

From what little I can tell by the photographs it looks like the '39 Ford truck kit has some sort of banjo rear axle so I guess I would just go with whatever rear end comes in that kit while adding (or scratch building) your rear suspension.





I love that I can satisfy my need to model Classic vehicles of the '30's and '40's by building select military kits!

Kinda off topic!

How about this little beauty for some kit bashing inspiration?

The owner has been able to trace its' lineage back as far as 1949 Alaska. So if it was captured and converted by the Russians or built originally by the Germans is unknown.

Curious mix: Ford front and GM/Chevrolet cab. Reminds the late war mix by the Wehrmacht on the V3000S production line at Antwerp, when cab workshops were destroyed courtesy of the RAF and thereafter used instead cabs made by the GM factory the other side of the road.

That's possible - it would explain the odd fifth wheel if it was a German war-build to start.

Here's a 1940 picture showing a similar rig used by the Dutch Army. The truck is an ex-civilian one :



H.P.

Tom, I just received your completed fifth wheel semi-tractor conversion set from Shapeways. - Amazing!

I am highly impressed - the work is beautiful and I've already pulled an Italeri water truck out of the stash to use for the project. I have a LOT of projects already on my work bench but I am terribly temped to drop everything else and jump into this one but no promises!

Perhaps Film at Eleven!

Tom - Questions:

- Is there any sort of landmark on the full Italeri frame for cutting it shorter to make the semi-tractor?

- Is there any sort of landmark on the Italeri frame to show me where to mount the rear spring shackles to build the semi-tractor?

OR

Do I simply build the frame and front axle (the forward end basically) and then use the overall wheelbase published in the TM to locate the final placement of the rear axle on the frame?

Also you spoke of having some sort of basic drilling jig for mounting the springs. I don't think you showed us that????

Hi Mike,

Glad you like the parts! For measuring, I added some CAD pics with measurements for parts placement, as well as pics of my jig. I used 0.250x0.100" strip, cut to a length of 149.5mm because that's the length for the tractor - the standard truck frame is slightly longer at the rear. Then I measured back the indicated number (115mm IIRC - see the drawing to be sure) and drilled the first 1.2mm diameter hole. Then measure back 32mm for the second hole - both are centered 1.5mm up from the bottom of the rail. Then I added a piece of strip across the front end (to rest the rail against) and a strip underneath. That way I can hold the frame rail firmly on the jig to drill the holes and mark the cut. (The extra pieces are centered so they extend out both sides, making it easy to do both right-hand and left-hand rails with the same tool...)

I cut all the unwanted details off the rails before drilling or cutting, as it gets in the way. Assembly starts at the front with the kit crossmembers up to the one holding the transfer box - everything rear of that is resin. Glue the front nice and square, let it harden, and only then start to fit the new crossmembers as per the drawing on SW. Dry-fit them and only apply glue when you're truly happy, as it's very easy to get them cock-eyed - don't ask how I know! I've got good at "painting" superglue into joints with toothpicks. Same goes for the prop shafts - I used the kit ones with a little cutting and shaping, using plastic rod drilled in the ends to fit the resin parts. It is much easier to wrestle the shafts in after the axles and T-box are glued in place!

By the way, when you fit the springs and axle at the rear, dry-fit and adjust until it fits absolutely flush before adding any glue! The holes and axle can be a tight fit and need a little finessing with sanding stick and round file...

Of course now I'm looking at what I need for a trailer...

Photos of Toms parts as received from Shapeways with just a light coating of Tamiya gray primer added to make all that beautiful detail show up better:

TOP VIEW: (left & right)

BOTTOM VIEW: (left & right)

CLOSE UP: (to better show quality and level of detail)



Since all the detail on the fifth wheel contact plate is in sunken relief, just the lightest touch with a flat sanding block will remove those very minor 3D print lines seen here.

(I did not even notice them until I enlarged the photograph here on this page!)

Thanks Mike - those look great! By the way, those cone-shaped disks on the bottom are spacers to go inside the Italeri front wheels to get the right width. If you change to AM wheels you'll need to adjust things to fit. Tamiya in their "wisdom" on their CCKW offer a brake drum on the front wheel that sticks out way too far, so adapting their wheels means modifying them and losing the whole polycap business.

Hi Mike, you PM'd and asked me to re-post the links, so here you go!

Thanks Tom

- Also could you post new links to those CCKW front bush guards you offer on SW ? All the links you have posted in the past to Armorama seem to have some sort of formatting problem and have never worked.

- I finally found the drawings on SW that you were referring to. They were listed under the separate "rear suspension only" part offering. I would suggest posting those same drawings under the "complete conversion kit" as well.

- Can't tell you how many times I said to myself "I don't need to view the 'rear suspension only' option because everything I need is already in the "full conversion kit". As it turns out everything I needed was there except those drawings - which are VERY helpful!

Thank You

Built the front portion of Italeri frame last night and installed the new transfer case and E-brake assembly.

The added detail and the part fit is OUTSTANDING !

Mike

Hi Mike,

I'll look at those images - I thought they were in the full kit product! (Added here for convenience) I realised the distance from front edge of frame to the first new hole is 110mm, not 115! They say memory is the first to go...

Sadly those early grilles are not mine - it was Mike Kalbfleisch that posted them. (He used to design for the Click2Detail website ages ago before it went bust, then he moved to SW.) The links are indeed broken, and search as I might on SW I could not find the actual products. In the end I just cut up a spare Tamiya grille to get the "short" side to replace the side on my Italeri grille - it works but isn't perfect.

OK I had the identity of the person selling the grills back-ackwards sorry.

But those links are still broken and I have never laid eyes on your grill work! However you now say SW refuses to sell them due to breakage problems so I now understand.
Sorry to bring up a possibly sore subject.

I will have to dig them out of my stash but someone was offering a line of very nice laser cut cardboard grills that looked extremely good! Again I have some around here if I can just find them.

Tom: With your Chevy 4x4 conversion, have you ever thought of doing the hood (bonnet) side panels with the "Chevrolet" embossed logo?

Limes Models (http://www.limesmodel.hu/ ) did have some but they seem to be into the architectural printing business now or best I can figure by the website but I don’t read Hungarian well and didn’t try a translator app. As usual others will know more.
I did find a vendor who has some but I have not used before. https://thebodi.eu/models/47/limes-model/lim-armor-accessories/1-35-scale#

HTH