Aaronw Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 (edited) I have several resin cabs for trucks from the 40s and 50s, they were mostly planned for use on antique fire apparatus but I've suddenly gotten the urge to make at least one as a commercial truck. I guess that is always the problem with research, you get details for one build and come up with 5 more build ideas. Anyway I was wondering which trailer kits out there would be appropriate for a semi-truck from the 50's. I kind of had my eye on the 27 foot doubles kit that was recently released, or maybe the Lindberg milk tanker due to be re-issued. I also have a couple of the van bodies from the Ford Louisville, would that be right for a smaller delivery truck or is it too new? Thanks Edited September 9, 2008 by Aaronw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackinac359 Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 I think your best bet will be to get one of the Lindberg/Hawk/IMC/Testors trailers and use it as a starting point, then scratchbuild the trailer body. The 40's and 50's trailers were narrower, shorter in length and height. A well rounded nose was very common. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted September 9, 2008 Author Share Posted September 9, 2008 I think your best bet will be to get one of the Lindberg/Hawk/IMC/Testors trailers and use it as a starting point, then scratchbuild the trailer body. The 40's and 50's trailers were narrower, shorter in length and height. A well rounded nose was very common. Tim Are you talking about the flatbed that comes with the Dodge L-700? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackinac359 Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Yes, the flatbed kit. The landing gear has an old look to it, as does the suspension. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted September 10, 2008 Author Share Posted September 10, 2008 Yes, the flatbed kit. The landing gear has an old look to it, as does the suspension. Tim Thanks, I guess I be spending some time at Hanks trucks looking for inspiration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted September 28, 2008 Author Share Posted September 28, 2008 Any suggestions for plastic sheet to replicate the corrigated or grooved metal siding used on van style trailers? I'm sure that Plastruct or Evergreen has something that will work, but I have to do most of my shopping online where I don't get to take a good up close look at the design. Kind of hoping someone has built a trailer and has already found something that works. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarheadndn Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 i actually just built a trailer for Lindberg/Hawk, that was a 36 foot dry box. and it goes with their old dodge truck kit. it will soon be hitting shelves. the pics aint real good as i didnt have a camera before i sent it back in, but here it is: http://s95.photobucket.com/albums/l159/jar...20ft%20trailer/ was a real nice kit to work with also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpreadAxle Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 (edited) As far as box trailers go, the Lindberg/Hawk/IMC/Testors trailers are a great starting point, but cut the length by about 4 scale feet or so. There were some van trailers that were built in such a way that they resembled this kit very closely. Trailers were pretty simple looking back then. Also, height should be 11-12'(roughly), maybe 12'6" at the most. I don't think the 13'6" vans appeared 'til the 1960's. As far as round noses, I'm toying with the idea of taking one of the sides from an incomplete AMT Fruehauf van I won on ebay and bending it to the round shape. I have to figure the best way to do it so it holds shape afterwards. It will be a challenge, but I think if have the floor and roof ready and build braces inside that might help. One more idea I saw was on AITM's website. Click on Dave's Trucks. Look for the Roadway truck, which is an H model Mack, he made the trailer himself, but it appears to be constructed from 2 of the van bodies from the AMT Ford Louisville Short Hauler. Another thing to try is Evergreen has sheets that are supposed to represent the sides of the old railroad passenger car bodies(no windows cut in or anything, just that type of horizontally ribbed metal). It might be worth looking into. Same with the flatbeds by Lindberg/Hawk/IMC/Testors . Even some flatbeds back then, Fruehauf for sure, had the round nose. Fruehauf made a round nose, 32' tandem axle flat with a round trailer mounted header board(headache rack). Probably one of the best picture colections on Hank's Truck pix to look at for ideas is the Fred Gruin, Jr Collection. Plenty of pix from the mid 50's showing good views at different angles of trucks and trailers back then. I hope I was at least some help to you, and good luck. Edited October 27, 2008 by FlatbedKW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 I expect to be working on this later this year when the weather shuts me down for most painting so I've still got some time. I've been looking at Hanks trucks for ideas but those only help for pics, I have had no luck finding common lengths, height etc so that information will be particularly helpful. I'm not too woried about being completely accurate to a specific brand of trailer, I just want to make sure I'm in the general area for size and appearance. I did find a sheet from Evergreen that looks promising, but they shop only had one sheet so I'll have to order online to get enough for a trailer. I'll have a look at the Lindberg trailer too, if it comes out before I build one. I'll send Dave an email too, I've been eyeing some of his resin again, so that will provide a good excuse. I did pick up three books that have been helpful, Big Rigs of the 50's, 60's and 70's. There is also one on the development of the big trucking companies I'm looking at. Thanks for the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornpatch Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Aaron If you can get ahold of the book "Building Model Trucks" by Phil Jensen there is a step by step directions on building an old time round nose trailer. Also the directions for scratch building the 50's tractor to go with the trailer. These book are from the 70's and pretty hard to come by sometimes. They are a little outdated by todays standards, but not for the building the older AMT trucks. They are a great scratch building source for big rig builders. At the present time there is one up for sale on the Evil Bay. I am not selling this book as I wouldnt part with mine, but throught you might be interested. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim B Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 (edited) There is? The trailer step-by-step that is in my copy is for a tank trailer. Along with the step-by-steps for the Chevy Titan/90 daycab & the semi-scratch built Diamond-Reo C-10142. There is a picture in the front of the book of a round nose trailer & Diamond Reo that he built when he was in a hotel room on a business trip. Edited October 27, 2008 by Jim B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpreadAxle Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 I'm glad I could help. Generally speaking, remember also, that depending on where the truck operated, trailers were longer, or shorter. As a rule, from Iowa(especially Iowa from what the old-timers have said) on east, states were VERY fussy about trailer, and overall length. The western states allowed longer trailers. The Lindberg trailer is 36'. Trailers in the 1950's as far as tandem axles go ranged from 27/28 to 35', from what I've seen and read. 32' was a very common length at the time. Having gone to antique truck shows, the heights I recall seening on old van trailers were as short as 11'. I remember an 11'1" trailer at one show. What I'm not sure about is width. I know that the old AMT trailers represent 96" widths, but I don't know what the widths were in the '50s. Some trailers had 2 kingpins, one in front of the other. This was so that the tractor could hook up to the rear kingpin, which would shorten the length of the entire unit. I hope this helps. And remember, there's a good excuse to visit Dave's site. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpreadAxle Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 I would like to find a small Briggs and Stratton motor in 1/25 scale. The old reefers had these on the nose of the trailer near the roof, and they spun a big fan inside the trailer, that circulated the cold air from bloacks of ice placed in the trailer to "refrigerate" the load. That might be an idea for you, too. All depends on what you're looking to model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billd64 Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 ive seen several of these offered by evergreen, and y a company called plastistruct years ago. there has been other companies that offer scale plastic for engineers to use for build-ups.... the alwo was a race car, i forget which one years ago that had a wheel horse tractor in the kit with it, i forget if that was a briggs or tecumseh motor bill d I would like to find a small Briggs and Stratton motor in 1/25 scale. The old reefers had these on the nose of the trailer near the roof, and they spun a big fan inside the trailer, that circulated the cold air from bloacks of ice placed in the trailer to "refrigerate" the load. That might be an idea for you, too. All depends on what you're looking to model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpreadAxle Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Thanks, I'll take a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted November 4, 2008 Author Share Posted November 4, 2008 Aaron If you can get ahold of the book "Building Model Trucks" by Phil Jensen there is a step by step directions on building an old time round nose trailer. Also the directions for scratch building the 50's tractor to go with the trailer. These book are from the 70's and pretty hard to come by sometimes. They are a little outdated by todays standards, but not for the building the older AMT trucks. They are a great scratch building source for big rig builders. At the present time there is one up for sale on the Evil Bay. I am not selling this book as I wouldnt part with mine, but throught you might be interested. Jeff Thanks for the tip on the book, that one went a bit rich for my blood ($115) but I'll keep my eyes open, looks like a good book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southgate Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 (edited) Aaron (and others) I just received my December Walthers flyer, in it's books pages is listed a new publication; "Semi Trucks Of the 1950's" Here's what the catalog (flyer) sez regarding it: "MBI Iconografix Publication. Ron Adams portrays the booming era of highway construction and expansion with over 300 superb photos of trucks hauling cement, fuel and a variety of goods to enthusiastic Americans" It didn't say how many pages. The walthers catalog numbers are 503-145349 Semi Trucks of the 1950s Reg price $29.95 Sale price $25.98 That would be plus shipping, of course. walthers.com or 1-800-487-2467 Edited November 5, 2008 by Southgate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southgate Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Shoot. I looked it up, it sez it's in back order. http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?quick=...cksrch_butt.y=2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 I am assuming you would use a trailer that would be pulled behind a semi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greentracker98 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Hi, I just read down through this forum topic, and seen American Industrial Truck Models mentioned. Are they are good company? Do they make a good product? I'm interested in building their Diamond T 1000 C Thanks for all your thoughts and ideas. I love reading through these forums. I'm reletively new. I got back into modeling aftger a 300 some odd year hiatus. Thanks Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott H. Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 I would like to find a small Briggs and Stratton motor in 1/25 scale. The old reefers had these on the nose of the trailer near the roof, and they spun a big fan inside the trailer, that circulated the cold air from bloacks of ice placed in the trailer to "refrigerate" the load. That might be an idea for you, too. All depends on what you're looking to model. You might want to do a search for a resin version of it in the model section of eBay. I've seen a couple of them on there lately. Hope this helps, -Scott H. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerry78 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 I would like to find a small Briggs and Stratton motor in 1/25 scale. The old reefers had these on the nose of the trailer near the roof, and they spun a big fan inside the trailer, that circulated the cold air from bloacks of ice placed in the trailer to "refrigerate" the load. That might be an idea for you, too. All depends on what you're looking to model. there is a small push tractor in mpc's indy car kit that has a small gas engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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