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Trucks
Scale truck modeling topics.
OTR Australian Army Diamond Reo
grubbyfingers
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - 03:09 PM UTC
1:55 Australian Army Diamond Reo Semi-trailer

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Australian Army procured a number of Diamond Reo prime-movers and Fruehauff flatbed trailers, primarily for use in Vietnam. They were to replace the existing WWII-vintage truck tractors that were simply beyond economical repair and had atrocious servicability rates.

There is one of these Diamond Reo / Fruehauff combinations at the Army Museum, Bandiana, here in Victoria. It was a visit to the museum and the coincidental re-release of the AMT trailer that provided the spark of inspiration.


Here's what they looked like in SEA service.

The Kits


The kits

The original moulds for these two date back many more years than this modeller would care to remember. They are typical of AMT of the era, being fairly crude compared to modern standards, but quite outstanding in their day. They are also the only game in town if you want to do early American iron.

Modifications

Both kits will need some modification to represent the Australian trucks more-or-less accurately.

The truck will need a shortened chassis, new scratchbuilt rear guards and the front axle needs to be setback and the front guards and bonnet altered accordingly. The cab also needs to be converted to right-hand drive. I obtained a resin dash to make this easier.

The trailer has a different arrangement of tie-down rails and rear bumper and lights. I also want to include a set of cages to drop in around the perimeter.

The Build Begins

As often happens with these old kits, there was a fair bit of warpage in the parts, particularly the chassis rails.


The warped chassis rails

Fortunately, with the plastic being so soft, they will straighten out in the build.

The Engine

The engine in the kit is a Cummins unit. As I have no reference showing the Australian motors, I'm assuming they had the same powerplant. The engine goes together fairly easily, but there is always a lot of cleanup on these AMT jobs.



The basic engine assembly

I replaced the starter motor with bits from the spares box and added a bit of plumbing. This is the first truck I have made in 25 years, so I have a fairly steep learning curve as far as plumbing and detailing goes. I added a bit of wiring and piping with fuse and electrical wire. It is largely representative as, again, I'm a bit short of reference despite hours of websearching.



A bit of plumbing

I wanted to have the front wheels steerable, or at least posed at an angle. The kit parts made this quite hard and I nearly destroyed the front beam in my attempt. I went with option two and simply sanded the ends down on my disc sander at 15°. This provides a simple and robust solution with minimal loss of hair.


The original front axle ...


... and with the ends sanded at 15°

I started glueing ancillaries, diffs, tanks, batteries, suspension and frame together. It was at this stage I realised I should have shortened the chassis! The kit has a sleeper while my subject doesn't. Okay. Back to the references to have a think about the best way to handle this. Fortunately I discovered the problem in a dry run before I had got much further than glueing the frame together. Watch this space for the fix.


A dry run of subassemblies shows the too-long chassis.
AussieReg
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#007
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - 04:27 PM UTC
Looking great so far Grubby, can't wait to see the donk painted up with the extras you've added, it should come up really well !!

Cheers, D
jimb
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Posted: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - 04:41 PM UTC
So far so good. I like the detail you put on the Cummins.

That was a neat idea on the front axle. I might have to try that one of these days. Some of the AMT axles are easier to make steerable that others. The one in the Ford LN/LNT kit is an easy one. Lots of room.

Jim
bpunchy
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Western Australia, Australia
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Posted: Thursday, July 22, 2010 - 12:14 AM UTC
Hi Greame , I remember these trucks in a compound on the corner of Morbank Ave , 2nd Mil in Liverpool , NSW .
Used to drive past all the time when I was a kid , and the old man was in the Army there .
I'm gonna lurk and follow .
animal
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Posted: Thursday, July 22, 2010 - 04:00 AM UTC
Great start. Looking forward to following this one.
old-dragon
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Illinois, United States
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Posted: Thursday, July 22, 2010 - 10:19 AM UTC
Very nice start sir...can't tell which I like more...the engine detail or the clever angle steering...easy - both!
casper
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Nelson, New Zealand
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Posted: Thursday, July 22, 2010 - 11:31 PM UTC
Grubby,
Impressive start to your project.
You gonna put an "egg-beater" on the trailer ?
grubbyfingers
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Friday, July 23, 2010 - 01:45 AM UTC
I'd love to. Monogram do a 1:24 Huey, but I don't know of a Sioux in that scale and that would be one hell of a scratchbuild!

Grubby.
casper
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Nelson, New Zealand
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Posted: Friday, July 23, 2010 - 05:08 AM UTC
Don't know if you have come across this Bell build:
http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Works/KenForan/MASH/MASH.php#top
http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Works/KenForan/MASH2/MASH2.php
http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Works/KenForan/MASH3/MASH3.php
http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Works/KenForan/MASH4/MASH4.php
http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Works/KenForan/MASH5/MASH5.php
http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Works/KenForan/MASH6/MASH6.php
Although 1/15th scale it's certainly inspiring.
Hope your builds are going well.
old-dragon
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Posted: Friday, July 23, 2010 - 11:42 AM UTC
Search around for the old monogram bell huey in 1/24 scale...there findable still...
grubbyfingers
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Friday, July 23, 2010 - 12:51 PM UTC
Hi Bob,

I think it has been re-released. I've seen a few around lately.

Has anyone sen a Huey transported this way? They were usually slung under a Chook. It would make a good load, but I want to keep it fairly realistic. I'm looking at putting it in the local Vietnam Vets museum modelling comp.

I've seen pics of these carrying pallets, tarped loads, a wheeled loader and general cargo.

That brass Bell 47 is insane!! He must be the sort of guy who builds live-steam stuff. Beautiful work all the same, and robust, too. I love the working parts.

Grubby.
old-dragon
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Posted: Friday, July 23, 2010 - 11:22 PM UTC
I have once, eons ago when I was a kid. I have to guess now that the chopper wasn't airworthy at the time so they flatloaded it.
KoSprueOne
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Myanmar
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Posted: Saturday, July 24, 2010 - 06:10 AM UTC
Great start and subject. Watching this thread.
If you can't find a kit of the load in the subject photo, 'faking' it under a tarp(s) tied down over it might work too.
Carve some material to replicate the shapes then cover it.
Then the load won't distract from the tractor and trailer build model.
I dunno, just an idea




grubbyfingers
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Monday, July 26, 2010 - 02:32 AM UTC
I discovered a second error while creating the schematic. The kit tanks are 10 mm short. I scabbed a pair out of a Mack kit. I'll cut these down to size and sand off the lumps, bumps and chrome.


The Mack-donated long tanks that will be sacrificed for this build. The Mack is going to end up as a Scammell Contractor anyway.
Here is the chassis solution. Fortunately the glue had not completely cured so I was able to pry the parts apart with doing too much damage. I then cut 30 mm off the tail end of the chassis and re-chamfered the rails.


The dis-assembled and trimmed chassis.

I cleaned up the parts and then re-assembled them, with a new cross member toward the front as well. With the chassis frame sorted out I could mount the rear suspension and get the wheels on to make sure everything sat nice and level.


The rebuilt chassis with axles and wheels in place..
jimb
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Posted: Monday, July 26, 2010 - 03:30 AM UTC
Looking good!

Jim
bsoder
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Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 12:13 PM UTC
Very cool project
AussieReg
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Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 12:34 PM UTC
Looking great Grubby, some cool solutions to dimension issues !!

Cheers, D
grubbyfingers
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Friday, July 30, 2010 - 09:27 PM UTC
Thanks, Guys.

I've been thinking about the load, and I reckon I might put a couple of Heller Land Rovers on it. The Aussies used lots of them in 'Nam, so there's plenty of variety to model.


On to the tanks. The donated tanks were glued up and left to set.


The glued-up Mack tanks.

Once the tanks were cured I removed all the moulded-on strap and bracket detail(?) with a big flat bastard.


Comparison of the bastardised and non-bastardised tanks.


Both tanks after bastardisation and the resulting pile of filings.

Next comes the surgery. I marked off the two cuts on each tank with Tamiya tape as a cutting guide.


The tanks with tape as cutting guide.

Cutting round bits is always such fun! I worked out a new cutting aid this time. I found a discarded piece of aluminium L-section and simply held the tank against it with my hand. This provided ample stability for the cut and the tank didn't squirm around at all. Sort of an improvised mitre box. Anyway - it worked a treat.


A makeshift MacGyver mitre box made the cuts easy.

Here's the reason for the different cut lengths. With a bit of careful planning, (and doing the drawing FIRST this time!) I managed to position the join where it will be covered by the new straps. Up here for thinking!


The cut tanks showing how the join will be hidden by the strap.

old-dragon
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Posted: Friday, July 30, 2010 - 11:21 PM UTC
She's lookin good!
KoSprueOne
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Posted: Saturday, July 31, 2010 - 04:34 AM UTC
good idea for the placement of the cut.




animal
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Posted: Saturday, July 31, 2010 - 05:50 AM UTC
Very interesting build. Keep us posted on the build. I am really liking this one.
grubbyfingers
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Sunday, August 01, 2010 - 11:44 PM UTC

I thought the kit tank brackets coud be improved quite easily with a clean up and a thin strip of styrene.


The kit parts untouched, and slightly modified.

With the brackets glued in place on the tanks, I wrapped some more styrene strip arond the tanks to replace the moulded-on straps they originally had.





I also added some detail to the rear suspension. I raided both International Transtar kits in my stash to get enough air brake bits for front and rear spots on the bogie. I don't know what I'll now use on the Transtars, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I also scratched up trailer hitch and associated mounting hardware. Here's another dry run.




jimb
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Posted: Monday, August 02, 2010 - 01:17 AM UTC
Looking really nice. I like the details you added to the tanks & suspension.

Jim
old-dragon
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Posted: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 - 11:23 AM UTC
AMT parts requiring "clean up"?.....surely you jest sir..........
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