Frenchy I knew you would be da man! You had me at the very first picture! GREAT link!

Looks like I will be chopping up another Italeri Deuce. (Has better open frame detail that the Tamiya.) But I will still be using the Tamiya cab, fenders, winch and gas tank, then the super single tires off the Italeri DUKW.

I love the "headache rack" over the soft cab, and with the spare tire on top of that, very distinctive!

I wonder why the bolster truck had an air operated release on the tow hitch? Maybe the idea was to drop the trailer and half unload the pontoons on the fly???

GREAT shot. Thanks Frenchy!


So many Deuces, so little time!

Learned a few new things today (and it is not even lunch time!)

In US railroad parlance (primarily logging operations) there is a railroad car known as a "Disconnect Log Car" or "Bolster Truck". These are used to adjust the length of the car to fit the length of the load being hauled. The rotating cross beam on top of this car is known as a "Bolster". I hope the similarity to the CCKW bolster truck is obivious. In certain oconditions this same type of technology is used in highway trucking to carry extremely long loads such as bridge girders. (Or Pontoons!) This type of technology has been in use since well before the turn of the last century.


If a steel or wooden beam were used to temporarily connect the two otherwise disconnected wheel sets that would be referred to as a "Span Bolster".

Here is an example of another type of bolster truck this time using a telescoping span bolster to connect the rear trailer to the main truck.



And again another example of a railroad use of disconnected bolster trucks:

And you thought it was just a round pillow!

I know, I know, perhaps more than you ever wanted to know about bolsters.

OK, MORE deuces : It is equally confusing to me why no short wheelbase deuce has ever been produced in 1/35 as much as why no closed cab?


Both photos by Mike Koenig

Ok most of this truck is a Deuce. Maybe the bumper came from somewhere else??

Mike Koenig Photo

Well, here it is. And I will probably be hated for it (at least from one person).
But I have had this conversation way more than once, on way more than just one site. And people never seem to be able to underatand the basics of the true situation. But here it is.

Tamiya Inc. is involved in W A Y M O R E than just 1/35 military model kits. In fact their 1/35 scale military miniatures line is only a very small portion of what they do. I really mostly wonder why it is that people can't just be happy when Tamiya releases a new kit, and be done with it.

If you really believe that it is such a travesty that Tamiya doesn't stop all production on ALL that they do to only release variants of the two and a half ton truck. I wonder why such indivuduals themselves don't stop their complaining, and just start a new injection molded model company, or a resin company themselves if they truly believe that there is such a HUGE market for such vehicles.

Now hate all you want, I can take it. Really.

Gary

OK let the hating begin.

I am trying to encourage further creativity in the hobby industry. What are you trying to accomplish?

Given your logic perhaps Tamiya should simply get out of the injection molded plastic hobby industry altogether. There certainly have been enough potential "customers" on this thread suggesting that Tamiya do just that.

Is that what you want?

My opinion in this thread is just that; my opinion. Ultimately what do I really know about it - I'm just the customer!

Also folks, I hope this thread serves as some small bit of reference as well as inspiration to get chopping on some deuce kits to produce the vehicles NOT supplied by the hobby manufacturers.

Again if you want to do a great enclosed cab deuce just pick up a Italeri water truck on eBay and knit that to a Tamiya deuce kit and you will have a nice finished model with very little hard work. Should you want to go for the short wheel base deuce that will require more chopping and some minor scratch building of the gas tank behind the cab and the double spare tire rack.

Either model would be a great starter project for any modeler wanting to try their first scratch project!

Cheers

Howdy,

Got the re-release of the Italeri GMC 6x6 with the .50 ring the other day. Was surprised to find it had a solid hard top. All one has to do is a little putty work inside (and let's face it, it's an Italeri, so there was bound to be putty work somewhere) and it looks okay.

Thanks to this thread, I've also got two Tamiya 6x6 cargo trucks, an Italeri Water truck and a Heller GMC (weird green plastic).

I am in the process of swapping the loads on the water truck and the Heller GMC. The Tamiya kits are going to be done pretty much OOB, one with winch and the other one with a gun ring. Would like to do the Italeri as a SWB or maybe a 4x4, if I can find the right measurements.

Thanks for all the pics and info everyone,

Brian Riedel

If you decide to build a 352, I guess this should help :

http://www.network54.com/Forum/110741/thread/1166366144/Katyusha+CCKW+352+-+a+scratch+project...

H.P.

This just in from Frenchy. This fairly well defines your first move if you intend to build the Short Wheelbase Deuce.

I'd buy the closed cab firetruck version in a heartbeat. Along with any other new versions.

Howdy,

Thanks for the info on starting a SWB truck. Now, what moves are necessary for changing the bed? Will it need to be scratch built?


Brian Riedel

Well the Tamiya load box floor is easy enough to cut down shorter but the side walls are another story. Scratch building these side walls would definately be easier. However the Tamiya side walls contain such nice detail it is a shame to waste all that.

Here is an example where I took the Tamiya side walls and respaced them for a larger 7 1/2 ton truck that had one more side post than the standard LWB Deuce:

And again here is an example where I had to respace the side wall uprights to make the shorter load box for the 2 axle Chevy 1 1/2 ton truck, very similar to the SWB Deuce:

This truck started life as the standard LWB Deuce model from Tamiya. To that was added the very nice enclosed cab from a Italeri water truck. And with a little cutting and chopping this is the result.

You will notice that each upright post has brackets that attach the cross wood slats to the upright. I make my cuts with a very thin blade jewelers saw and cut thru the cross wood just outside of the bracket. I then recut the cross wood to the new shorter length and reglue everything back together.

I will have to be playing this trick again very soon as I am working on a SWB version of the International Harvester 1940's military truck:

Here is a good detail shot of the fuel tank, its' protective cover and the dual spare tire assembly. Between the two spare tires was a simple, thin gauge, vertical metal I-beam separating them. (Never could understand, with a rubber shortage why the SWB truck would get two spare tires???)

Here is the passenger side of the fuel tank assembly with the filler cap.

What is shown here may not be exactly correct. See that circular weld line below the filler. This maybe a recent repair because I have seen these tanks before with a right angle cast filler pipe coming out exactly where that weld line is. I will do further research on this question.

Howdy,

Wow! Thanks for all the info and pics! Explains a lot of the process. Will have to give it a try soon.

Brian Riedel

Here's another view :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_64/7189799198/sizes/c/in/set-72157631419111812/

from this Flickr album (should keep you busy for a while )

H.P.

If you do choose to go the enclosed cab route then the two brackets you need for the spare tires will be included in the water truck kit.

Howdy,

Found while scrounging the web.


http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x99/guzbro/13_112104684_zps6a7ff0d9.jpg

Brian