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US Navy Chevy 8400 Fuel Tanker


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Hi Folks, new here and wondered if I could draw on your big rig expertise a little if I may? 

Chevy tanker

So I really wanted one of these for my 1/48 FJ-3 Fury diorama (desperately) it’s just Sooo cool. 
I’ve taken the Atlantis re-pops of the old Revell Chevy stake truck and the Fruehauf trailer from the White fueler and smushed them together as follows… 

Bowsers

 

BowsersBowsersBowsers

Mods have included removing and remounting the front fender as a separate entity, mirrors, shortening the chassis a bit, taking the skirt off the trailer, etc.- there’s a way to go yet. 

Bowsers

The headlights are going to be nose studs from a jewellery store with the facets sanded off and polished. The mirrors are made from laminate. Atlantis’s new glazing parts are superb for the Chevy, hats off to them.

The wheels for the Stake Truck were a little agricultural for the paved airfields where this truck would have plied its trade , so I turned the White truck tyres to 9” high road tyres on the lathe then turned the 22.5” rims from Defmodel’s resin set for the Tamiya GMC army truck. I think they really beef up the tractor. Is it an ‘57 8400 do you think?

It’s lovely hard plastic- polishes up beautifully. So used to the softish modern grey stuff! 

Ah yes - expertise please, if you could? Top photograph (the only one in existence as far as I can tell) you can see immediately behind the cab there’s a tank and a load of hydraulic or air lines. Anyone seen a setup like this before? Gas for the tractor unit? Exhaust baffle system? Compressed air? Pump unit for the trailer? Any answers will be gratefully received as it’ll need scratchbuilding. Thanks for looking, I’ll keep you posted on progress :)

cheerio, Matt 

 

 

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Welcome Matt to MCM! Very interesting diorama build you have planned. Nice progress on your truck and trailer.  Do you know what the white stuff is that’s on the wheels and under side of the tank? I’m thinking that it might be a foam for fires. If that’s what it is then I think there’s some kind of spray nozzle behind the cab. 

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Thanks Gentlemen, your comments and welcome are very much appreciated. Mopar D yes I think that’s plausible, although I think the photograph is a colourised black and white pic, and the colourist has missed the wheels (they may well have been orange-yellow I think) hence the foamy appearance! 
Thanks again, I’ll keep you posted with progress ?

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Thanks. Sure thing, I agree that is what it looks like. Also on the little tractor that our sailor friend is driving, as I say it’s a colourised photo - ie the yellow, blue etc that you see are tints that have been added to a black and white pic. 
The lightness on the right side is a reflection in the glossy paint of the tanker, which would in reality have had all sorts of colour components in it, but as it’s a colourised pic and just a block colour it doesn’t show any of the subtleties of the reflection it’s just ‘lighter’. 

Ok, many thanks for your input, I don’t really want to enter into a peeing contest about this, just wondered if any of you guys had seen anything the gear behind the cab before. 
Much appreciated, gents, thank you 
 

 

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10 hours ago, Matt Simpson said:

 just wondered if any of you guys had seen anything the gear behind the cab before. 

Much appreciated, gents, thank you 
 

 

It is likely a PTO driven pump system for fueling/de-fueling the aircraft.

Not sure when the Navy went to single point pressure fueling but a pretty large pump would be needed to transfer the large volume of fuel needed for those early straight jet engines.

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Thank you Flyno that’s great, very plausible. Apologies if I came over as chippy. 
Yes, can’t see any such gear on the trailer itself so it makes sense, especially if driven by the PTO. 
 There’s a pipe leading from the top trailer to the top of the tractor tank with what might be a moisture filter to stop contamination of the JP4? 
Great, I’ll figure something out on that basis. Thanks?

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