Wood bed in a pickup, How to?

[gbtr6]

I got the Detail Master Mahogany bed it. Anyone use it and have any tips for install?  As a side note, I went to the local smoke shop and they gave me some small pieces of fine thickness veneers for free. Could be good for woodies and such too.

 

Thanks,
Perry

[Casey]

Which 1:1 pickup bed are you trying to replicate? The DM kit is generic, so look at detail images online of how the real bed planks and hold down strips (pe pieces in the DM kit) are used, then do the same in scale.

I recall seeing some  pickup beds with the hold down strips standing a bit proud of the wood planks, so you may not need to recess the strips much or at all.

[SSNJim]

My question is when you took delivery of a brand spanking new 1953 Ford pickup, how was the bed finished? I can't imagine a bed for a working truck would be a show quality stained and polished wood bed with chrome strips. I'm thinking painted body color or black.

[NOBLNG]

I’ve never done a real wood one. Try typing this in google.

“site:modelcarsmag.com wooden bed”

[Jim B]

As I understand it, the wood in the bed of a new truck in the 1940s &1950s (and maybe the 1960s) was coated with lamp black to preserve the wood.  It would not have been polished & shiny.

[SSNJim]

That's what I would have thought. I couldn't imagine it being how we think of a wood bed today.  Thanks!

Edited September 23, 2020 by SSNJim

[BlackSheep214]

Hmmm... interesting. I was going to replicate wood planks in a '53 F100 using thin balsa wood and stain them. My thought is measure each, cut out the plastic ones and somehow brace them and install the real wood on. Just haven't really nailed down my method yet. Time will tell....

I'll probably buy those stain pens and polyurethane spray to seal them in. I don't think they come in polyurethane pens.

[Tom Geiger]

I fully agree that wood beds were painted black at the factory as these were work trucks and wood just happened to be the material used for beds. I got marked down once at a contest for accurately panting mine black once!

But.. pickups have been customized and over restored with shiny wood beds for decades so people do like that look on collector vehicles. Same as the fact that very few cars back in the day had wide whitewall tires, but they’re all over shows today! 
 

As such, here’s two I’ve done. I don’t recommend cutting wood as it’s difficult to get multiple pieces to look tight in scale.  I use a dry brush method to paint wood grain I learned from Irv Arter. It’s not difficult, with a little practice you can do this. I do have a pdf I am happy to send to anyone, PM me with an email address since I don’t think I can send pdf files through the PM system.

[Tom Geiger]

FYI- Here’s my pickup with proper black painted bed.

And here’s the truck built back when this kit came out. A judge told me i would’ve placed but didn’t because I painted bed black!  People believed that! I gave up and filled the bed with wood!

[Danno]

 Tom and Jim are correct. One thing was consistent among early truck manufacturers: bed floors were utilitarian not beauty features. All were delivered in black, planks and hold-down strips alike.

As Tom mentions, the trend of “over-restoring” 1:1 trucks — even purported ‘factory fresh’ builds has spread to the modeling world. I cringe any time I see an otherwise painstakingly restored pickup with dance floor finished wood bed and chrome strips. Never happened that way when they we new.

Unfortunately, some scale builders google for reference and settle on over-restored examples to guide their “factory stock” models, not knowing any different.

I’ve been on the flip side of Tom’s experience. Judged a very nice model lower than the builder expected and he couldn’t believe his beautifully executed, deeply urethaned real wood veneer bed with alcladed strips cost him the win. He argued. But later, he came to us and confessed he did serious research with the restorers club and discovered we were right. 

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[Tom Geiger]

Thanks Dan! 
My favorite encounter with a judge was many years ago. I built a street rod with a VW chassis under it. I didn’t place in the contest at all. The judge sought me out to say they “disqualified” my car because I forgot to put a battery in it!  Otherwise it would have won the Street Rod category. 
I still remember the look on his face when I responded, “It’s a Volkswagen, the battery is under the back seat!”

[Danno]

Priceless!

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[Paul Payne]

I have a bunch of cedar cigar wrappers that are very thin and can be cut into any size strips you want. Don't smoke cigars, scrounged them out of discarded tubes. Can't recommend a source except for a tobacco store or a friend who smokes cigars ( they smell like cedar- not cigar!) Someday I plan on planking the AMT runabout with these- yeah, one more project.....

[gbtr6]

I used the cigar box veneer. Just went in to the local shop and asked. Got them free. They are varying thickness from relatively thick to very thin. I'll take more pictures soon. I have the PE bedrails I need to install too. I know it's not supposed to be pretty, but I can't resist.

Perry

Edited October 6, 2020 by gbtr6

[Vietnam Vet67]

Edited October 6, 2020 by Vietnam Vet67
addition of info.

[Shardik]

I made a wood bed for this one using coffee stirrers and styrene 'U' channel for the skid strips.  Unfortunately, my only experience with wooden truck beds had been at car shows, so I ended up with the typical natural wood and chrome skid strips (albeit considerably weathered).

[slusher]

On 9/23/2020 at 9:00 AM, Jim B said:

As I understand it, the wood in the bed of a new truck in the 1940s &1950s (and maybe the 1960s) was coated with lamp black to preserve the wood.  It would not have been polished & shiny.

They are putting would beds in trucks that never had wood beds on car shows and trucks going thru Barrett-Jackson...

[slusher]

On 9/24/2020 at 11:29 AM, Tom Geiger said:

Thanks Dan! 
My favorite encounter with a judge was many years ago. I built a street rod with a VW chassis under it. I didn’t place in the contest at all. The judge sought me out to say they “disqualified” my car because I forgot to put a battery in it!  Otherwise it would have won the Street Rod category. 
I still remember the look on his face when I responded, “It’s a Volkswagen, the battery is under the back seat!”

That was really wrong...