Paul Payne Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 When I started the thread about the truck, boat, and trailer, I had no idea that the truck would become a project in and of itself- originally I thought I would do a little weathering on the winch spools and cables, and try to paint over the Havoline logo and lettering, as well as removing the towing winch from the bed. I had also considered fabricating stone guards for the headlights- and then the headlights and auxiliary lights needed a little help- at least new lenses or maybe outright replacement. And then- and then- I decided to weather it after looking at lots of heavily used but still very able power wagons on the internet. OK, all right, what now? First was a complete disassembly- lots of little screws, and a lot of carefully loosened glue joints, and a few minor broken parts- the front winch broke where it joined the bumper, the spare tire post, and the seat mounting posts- all very fixable. But- there were those klunky door hinges- had to go! Speaking of go, I decided to drop in a hemi, decided on the one from the 53 Studebaker- mated to the power wagon's transmission and fed by 2 4bbl carbs. Another feature I wanted was a push out windshield which meant removing the windshield and back glass without damage, then filing down the windshield glass to fit the opening. I discovered that the die casting alloy was very hard when I went to cut off the door hinges, and when I ground away the screw bosses (the screw holes will be filled before painting). One reason for a complete disassembly was to completely remove the paint, so I started with the frame and fender casting chucked into my usual bath of oven cleaner. Three days later- not much! another 3 days- more, but not enough. So, I tried stripping the door skins in acetone and that did it- fast! I am now working on the cab, then comes the fender and frame assembly as well as the grille, hood, and bed (the bed bottom is plastic, so no acetone!) I also began thinking about door hinge design and came up with one using straight pins with wire wrapping them and the tails to be glued inside the door skin. the other part was cut and filed from brass channel, the inside width of which determined how many coils to wrap around the pin. Here's some pix, more soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippi Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 Your 46 Power Wagon is looking pretty good there Paul. Looks like it came apart with not to much trouble. I'll be watching this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 Zippi, thanks for following- I think you will enjoy this! The main and auxiliary power trains are an almost vinyl plastic which is quite flexible- need to test the paint I use- might just spray with diluted white glue and use weathering powders- in this case ground pastel sticks and old makeup my wife donated to the cause- we shall see! One thing I have not figured out is how to remove the wheels and tires from the main drive train without breaking off the axle ends- one thing I want to try is rubbing the tires with pastel to dull them down- treads are already sanded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted July 10, 2021 Author Share Posted July 10, 2021 Filed out hinge pockets on the drivers door, fitted my one completed hinge into the upper pocket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Cool project! I love the look of these trucks.👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted July 16, 2021 Author Share Posted July 16, 2021 Had to rethink the hinges- didn't leave enough extra metal on the channel stock to bend a 90 degrees angle without distortion. For the other half of the hinge, the wire arms were too short and could not be secured to the inner door skin. Looking into the stash I discovered brass square tube that fit inside the channel, and some short copper tubes Betsy gave me from her jewelry stash. I will remove one side of the square and reduce its depth to match the inside depth of the channel. Now that I've thought out the process I just have to do it! Pix will follow when I have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROY FERGUSON Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 (edited) The ends of the axles are ribbed so children can not pull wheel off. Carefully slit the stem on the back of the wheel and work the tire off the axle. When you put truck together you can use a small amount of a glue to hold stem on axle, you might want to clamp the split section to hold the glue in place. Edited July 19, 2021 by ROY FERGUSON Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted July 19, 2021 Author Share Posted July 19, 2021 Roy, thanks for the info, but not sure what stem you are referring to. Could you send a pic or sketch? Removing the wheels and tires would make painting and weathering a lot easier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROY FERGUSON Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 On the rear of the rim is a short plastic stem that the axle fits into. Make a cut length wise, maybe one on 2 sides then gently spread the plastic and remove wheel from axle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted July 19, 2021 Author Share Posted July 19, 2021 Roy, I will take a look and see what I can do. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROY FERGUSON Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 This shows the stem and shows the way to make the cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROY FERGUSON Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 IS the Power Wagon a First Gear, Ertl or large Matchbox model ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted July 20, 2021 Author Share Posted July 20, 2021 Roy, mine is an Ertl Collectibles 1/25th scale model. The wheels look completely different from your picture. Behind the brake plate you can just see a disc which I suspect is part of the securing mechanism. Very difficult to get at without gouging the brake plate or breaking the axle. Possibly I could get a thin blade between them and cut the axle, then glue them back together (not a fan of rolling wheels). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjsipes Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 Looks promising. I will be following your build. I love these trucks. Wish somebody would bring a kit out of the Power Wagon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted July 23, 2021 Share Posted July 23, 2021 The axle on the Ertl P/W extends into the brake plate and it (the end of the axle) Is split with a round nub on it. When pushed into the brake plate it snaps in place and cannot be dislodged without cutting. I tried squeezing the ends together with needle nose pliers to see if I could pull the axle free after I removed the tire but it would not budge. You have to pry the tire off the rim. After doing that the outside portion of the wheel will separate from the brake plate to expose the nub on the end of the axle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROY FERGUSON Posted July 23, 2021 Share Posted July 23, 2021 Take some photos when you get it apart, good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted August 21, 2021 Author Share Posted August 21, 2021 Finally got all the metal parts stripped in acetone- must have also removed some filler because the hood pieces had some ugly short shots on a couple edges- have them puttied in, then sand and primer. Bed, grille/radiator, and chassis/fenders are in red oxide primer which will also be the start of the weathering. The blue will be the final color- in patches- but will be sanded and blended with the rusty places. Went back to my original hinge design- rough cut the last 3 brass channel pieces which will be attached to the cab- the problem with the first hinges was that the ends of the wire coils were too short to secure properly to the inside of the door skins. Cut the hinge slots in the passenger door as well. Got some slate blue craft paint for the seat and driver side arm rest- the arm rest was a weird magenta color- need a second coat to match the seat. I used some heat on the back and under side of the seat to add some denting. Discovered the wheels and brake back plates had enough room to get a razor saw between them so sawed them off- will make weathering the wheels, tires, and power train easier but I don't think the tires can be removed from the wheels without damage to both. Once done, the wheels and tires will be superglued to the axle ends, probably with alignment pins. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 Those tires and wheels are the exact ones I used on the WC-52. I did modify them a bit for the locking rings that go on the outside. Lots of goodies on the Ertl piece! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted September 14, 2021 Author Share Posted September 14, 2021 Earlier in this post I showed a method to create door hinges. The first experiment failed because the wire tails and brass tongues on the channel were too short. However, the method was still promising and I built new hinges with longer tails and tongues. They worked! Here are some pix of the results. I will post additional pix when I shoot a coat of primer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted September 14, 2021 Author Share Posted September 14, 2021 Now a little bit of primer- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 (edited) Nice job on the hinges Paul. It looks like they work pretty good!👍 Edited September 15, 2021 by NOBLNG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 They do work pretty good for a first try. I think the basic design is pretty sound but needs refining. Better bending and smaller stock will be next as well as buying stock in some superglue companies (not on this project), and I still want to look into eyeglass hinges (absolutely no pun intended there- yeah, right!) The idea is that paint will do a lot of covering up of the coiled wire. It will help that this will be a weathered model and the hinges will be a bit rusty. Next will be attaching the exhaust headers to the hemi and figuring out how to snake the exhaust pipes around the main and auxiliary drive trains- there will be vertical stacks through the running boards behind the cab. After that is worked out I will start on painting and weathering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 14 hours ago, Paul Payne said: ….and I still want to look into eyeglass hinges (absolutely no pun intended there- yeah, right!) I can see where that might have possibilities! 😎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 Greg, I would also like to try making hinges for 32 Fords, maybe Model A's, the 37 Ford pickup, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted April 19, 2022 Author Share Posted April 19, 2022 Although I am still finishing up another project, I decided to start weathering the Power Wagon. Initially I had decided on a lighter blue, but started to really like the darker blue of Testors gunmetal- this is a deep slatey blue somewhat like gun bluing. I had started by priming with red oxide primer (good old hot rod red), then masked off some areas with the torn edges of the masking tape defining the rust and paint line. Then I brushed on the blue and peeled off the tape. Eventually I just began to freehand the blue, with about the same result. I tried some sanding as well as leaving the blue alone. Then I started rubbing on some pastels right from the stick (an old set Betsy gave me). My skin oil helped the pastel to sink in, as well as the porosity of the paint. The bed was molded in black plastic with decent wood grain, so I painted it flat grey. I used some pastel and dry brushed steel and some wash from Testors rust and rubber mixed together. Lots more to do, but getting the feel of different things- tried brushing some powdered pastel with a brush on the engine but nothing much stuck. I will try a Q-tip rubbed on my nose for a little oil, then pick up the pastel powder and try it again. Please feel free to comment and make suggestions- this one is wide open as a grungy muscular old workhorse can be! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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