Hi Donald

Thanks for an excellent build log. A question if I may? I am mid way through my own build of this kit although I got a badly moulded one and have had to repair many parts. I want to display the rear tailgate dropped and supported by its chain. Despite numerous pic searches I can’t seem to find a clear one of how the tailgate hook and chain are fixed to the main body. Do you have any info? Much appreciated and keep up the good work.

Andy

The front bumper roller set is called a Fairlead and allows the winch cable to be threaded thru to exit forward on the vehicle when needed.

They may not have been modeled on the kit but in reality the necessary frame mounted shelves and rollers would have been present on the vehicle to route the cable through to the front.

But then doesn't appear all vehicles had this feature so your model, as built, is correct.

Sorry for coming rather late to the party here:


Here is my somewhat horrible photo of the Diamond T in the Victory Museum, Auburn, IN. You can just see the bumper mounted fairlead present there.


But then this photo, found on the internet doesn't seem to have one.


But then in this Diamont T ad drawing there is clearly a fairlead present.

The two tailgate chains SHOULD be of exactly the same length. This was the common construction practice on all pickup truck tailgates up through the 50's. Two chains of equal length with hooks on the end. In the down position the hook would go through the bracket on the tailgate as seen here. In the up position the hook would go through both the tailgate bracket and the eyelet on the truck body to lock the gate in place. ** Operators would usually put a cloth sleeve or a piece of old hose over the chain to keep it from clanging on the truck body every time the vehicle stopped.



** Donald, you had a question mark on your photo earlier next to the folded tailgate chain on your model. This arrangement for the tailgate in the up position is exactly correct.

Model 980 had no front fairlead, Model 981 had a longer winch cable, front fairlead in the LHS of the front bumper and presumably additional pulleys to feed the cable along the chassis to the front

Thank you so much for the pic - it really is a great help.

Best

Andy