Reo Gold Comet

[Chariots of Fire]

Now that the Pierce Enforcer is done I'm going back to the Reo project.  It was set aside after an initial build of the Reo cab and now I'm ready to tackle this one.  The doors and hood of the cab have already been separated and will be ready for hinges.

Here are the cab and other parts that are from AITM.

The hood separated easily with a straight cut across the cow.  The cowl section stayed intact so that it still meets up with the floorboards.  The doors were scribed open with an Xacto knife.  Small brass hinges will be used for the doors.  Thinking about the type of hinge to use on the hood that will make a reasonable replication of the real ones.  The grill is easily opened as well.  There is only a skim coat of resin on the inside of the nose that can be removed with a knife and smoothed up with small files.

[redneckrigger]

Beautiful cab right there Charlie! Is this one going to get molded? Sure hope so!

[Chariots of Fire]

It's already molded, Tom.  AITM has them.  What you see are the pieces that AITM has already cast.

[Flynlo]

Can't wait to watch your next masterpiece to come together Charles!!!

[Mopar - D]

Looking forward to seeing you build this one Charles. 

[Chariots of Fire]

A little bit on the work so far.  I have a thing for poseable front wheels so I began by making a new front axle based on the plastic one that came with the ALF kit.  Drilling out the pivot point doesn't leave much in the way of strength so making the new one from brass was the way I chose.  The axle is made of 5 pieces, a center web, two flanges, one on top, one on the bottom and the two sections of tubing that act as the pivot point.  The angle for the tubing was drawn out on paper first and then long sections of tubing were used to get the correct angle.  Using long pieces cuts way down on the error of trying to maintain the angle.  The frame is a previously used ALF frame.  I drilled out the rear axle and inserted a piece of brass tubing for strength and for a clean bearing surface.  Other sections of tubing were used in the wheel hubs along with a small screw and washer that holds the inner wheel in place.  The outer wheel will be glued to the inner one eventually.   Rear wheels came from a 1/25 scale Volvo kit.  Both the front and rears are 6 spoke design on this rig.  The resin pieces are the castings that came from AITM for the Reo.

 

 

 

[Aaronw]

The Pierce was nice, but it is your work on vintage trucks that really gets me excited. This should be a great project to watch.

 

I've had this style of REO on my list for a long time, so thank you for mastering the one at AITM. I now have one on the way and will be watching your construction of it closely.

 

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Aaronw

[Chariots of Fire]

I goofed on the fenders, Aaron.  But you don't see it unless you do something like this.  See how much lower the front fenders dip below the frame?  The ordinary bumper hides it but not when you extend it out.  It can be fixed by adding some plastic sheet stock to it.

[Oldmopars]

1 hour ago, Chariots of Fire said:

I goofed on the fenders, Aaron.  But you don't see it unless you do something like this.  See how much lower the front fenders dip below the frame?  The ordinary bumper hides it but not when you extend it out.  It can be fixed by adding some plastic sheet stock to it.

Cool truck. 

I am always inspired by the work you do. I have do doubt this one with be as awesome as all the others I have seen you do. 

[Aaronw]

That Newton rescue truck looks like ex-civil defense, I bet you see one of these cabs get used for one of those.

 

This is what I had in mind, so the fenders shouldn't be an issue. This particular example is a '49 so some minor differences, but a lot closer than starting from scratch.

I love these cabs, I was really tempted to buy an engine like this one that was for sale locally even though it is the wrong agency. Only room for one in the driveway though and I wanted a green one so I let it go.

 

 

 

 

[Chariots of Fire]

Will you modify the grill and hood sides to look like the '48?  A neat rig with all of everything out in the open to see.  Not buttoned up behind sliding doors!  I really like it.

[gotnitro?]

Very good progress

[Aaronw]

10 hours ago, Chariots of Fire said:

Will you modify the grill and hood sides to look like the '48?  A neat rig with all of everything out in the open to see.  Not buttoned up behind sliding doors!  I really like it.

 

Unless I can find an example built on the later chassis, but I think the state just bought the one batch of REOs in '49. The grill is a little different, but looks to be mostly the same shapes. I have been collecting information on the cab for many years with the idea of trying to make one. Just making a few changes will be much nicer. 

I've barely even touched the model bench in the past couple years but am finally starting to regain the interest. 

[Chariots of Fire]

I was thinking about the grill change.  I'll bet filling in portions of the grill with some putty would be all that would be required.  When it's dry just sand  the excess away with a small file.  (Draw on the new lines first).

[Aaronw]

The more I look at it, I may be best off separating the hood like you did, and then making new side panels for it from styrene. The top of the hood, cab, fenders and such all look the same, but the sides look like they come to more of a point, the badging is different and it also has those side vents. Kind of amazing how many little things you don't notice until you start to look for them.

[Chariots of Fire]

Study does its job, Aaron!  Front top of the hood on the older version looks like it is not quite so squared up.  I have a photo book on Reo's.  I'll check it out to see if there is a real difference in the hood shape.

[Chariots of Fire]

In the past few days I've concentrated on getting some work done on the Port Vue rig.  I started out by making a new front axle out of brass and quickly found that the one I made was too long.  I cut it in half and tried soldering it back together after taking out a section in the middle.. It did not work well so I made a second one.  In addition some work was done on the axle ends where the wheels will mount.  

An upside down view to show the axle and the u-bolts.  Axle ends are all soldered brass as well and including the tie rod.  If you look close at the frame you can see where the floorboard of the cab has been bolted in place.  It's the only way I know to really secure everything in place for alignment of the various parts.  Resin parts as a rule don't have nice locating pins or places to insert them so it's important to hold things in place as the build continues.  I did the same for the bumper.

The wheel backs have tubing that fits over and under the tubing on the axle end.  The brass pins in the photo keep things all together.  Eventually they will be cut off with ends to keep them from slipping out.

The wheel backs have a section of tubing that runs through the brass bushing in the wheel.  a small screw and washer fit into the axle once it is in place to hold the wheel on the axle.  Same thing for the rear wheels.  The tie rod is held in place by a small bolt.  The bolt will be cut off once it is ready for final assembly.

The cab, fenders and hood are joined but are really separate pieces.  The bumper is bolted to the front of the fenders.  The hood is hinged so that it will open to reveal the engine (eventually).

I made up some hinges for the  hood but there was an issue with keeping the hood flush with the firewall.  I thought of using springs on the hinges but getting the right size and tension was more than I wanted to handle.  So I mounted a piece of tubing to the center of the firewall and then drilled out the back of the hood for the next size of tubing that would fit into the one on the firewall.  The firewall tubing will be disguised as a coil with a wire coming out of the bottom.  The radiator is from the ALF kit.  The resin wheels on the front will simply be glued to the wheel portion in back once final assembly is ready.  All wheels will be painted blue like on the real rig.

[DRIPTROIT 71]

Looks great Charles.

[Casey429]

I've seen Port Vue's Reo several times over the years on parade duty. Sharp rig. They also have an open cab Mack R model, which is the only one I've ever seen. Excellent work on your replica too. 

[Chariots of Fire]

Thanks, Casey.  From what you recall does the rig have anything else besides the spotlights and the long side seats that are visible?  I've not been able to come up with a good view of inside the open body.

[Chariots of Fire]

I had to make a slight adjustment in the bumper location and it occurred to me that if I made the bumper out of brass and then plated it I wouldn't have to fool around with Alclad or BMF.  So now the bumper is nickel plated.  Since I was at it I changed the front fenders as well by adding a small piece of REN shape to the bottom of each one.  Once painted the difference in materials won't be noticeable.  The hood also needed a bit of shimming on the passenger side.   May as well get the little things out of the way.  Next up will be to try and build up a 6 cylinder Gold Comet engine.  I'm also waiting for a package of brass hinges to come in so the cab doors can be mounted.

[leafsprings]

Very nice work on this classic. Some Gold Comet dimensions for you.  The Mack diesel might be a good  donor block candidate

Edited February 13, 2021 by leafsprings

[Chariots of Fire]

Oh,Wow!  thanks for the drawings!  I found a block to start with but now I will have to check the dimensions to see if it is close.  These also give me some details I was looking for.  Images I found are not that clear.  thanks again "Leafsprings!!

[DRIPTROIT 71]

14 hours ago, leafsprings said:

Very nice work on this classic. Some Gold Comet dimensions for you.  The Mack diesel might be a good  donor block candidate

I used to think that I had some good reference materials. You seem to have it all. I’ve been wanting to find something like this for a couple years. White bought this engine and used it under their name from what I understand, and I’m wanting to build a 9000 project with one of these. Thank you for posting this!! 

[Chariots of Fire]

Using the images above and the dimensions shown I was able to capture a reasonable engine.  I found that the Opel Blitz engine was close to the correct size but I had to make some changes.  The manifold and spark plugs are completely reversed so I cut off the bell housing from one end and glued it to the opposite end of the block.  Then some fabrication was done for where the crank case pulley and water pump pulley are located.  The outside water jacket was a pieceo of exhaust manifold from the parts box.  I made the distributer and added the Opel carb and manifold pieces without any changes.  The air cleaner was too small however so I found a clear wiggly eye in the parts box and attached it to some tubing and painted it black.

Three pulleys were turned on the lathe.  I'll keep them unpainted aluminum.  A strip of black electrical tape will be wound around the pulleys for the fan belt.  The driveshaft was in the parts box but the shaft itself was made of brass tubing so that it could be put in place, and slid to its full length in the holes in the end of the transmission and the differential

The paint color is a bit light for a Gold Comet engine but the engine will be given a dark wash to give it some tone and some highlights.  The exhaust manifold needs some browning up as well.

The engine sits in the frame using front and rear mounting points.  The mounts are drilled for pins so it can be located in the same place each time it is set in.  During the building process it will be taken out and put back any number of times for fitting various other details.