WC-54 Ambulance

[Chariots of Fire]

With the Chevy Suburban done I wanted to get back to one more military vehicle that would have been used with the Red Ball Express during WW II.  The WC-54 Ambulance is what I have in mind.  It is not a soft top truck but is built on a 3/4 ton Dodge chassis with a metal cab that is heavily modified.  So far I have made a bunch of castings since the front of the ambulance is exactly the same as the WC -52 and WC-63 which I have already done.  So here is the collection of goods that will begin the build.

The red cab in the back is a former 1/25 Dodge pickup and the engine in front of it is the same T214 that was used in most of the WC series.  Tires are 9:00x20's.  The axles are done and the steering knuckles have been made of brass and tube stock, both square and round.  Front fenders are castings as are all of the white pieces you see in the photo.  Those were made previously from Renshape masters and then cast.

The two pieces in the the foreground are the sides to the box that is behind the cab.  The extra cutout in the one on the right is for the spare tire.  I did the same to the right side one but that was a mistake and had to fill it back in.  Oh, well.  "Misteaks" happen!  Now I need to get some material to make the frame.  Brass is an option but I need to select a good piece for the web to solder the flanges to.

[NOBLNG]

I’ll come along for the ride Charles.🙂 I really like your scratch building skills and use of brass for high stress components.👍😎

[bobss396]

20 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

I’ll come along for the ride Charles.🙂 I really like your scratch building skills and use of brass for high stress components.👍😎

Brass is good stuff to work with. I need to get into soldering sooner than later.

I did a lot of soldering at work using torches and hot plates for the most part.

[Chariots of Fire]

I have a small butane torch and an iron that has an adjustable heat control.  Both are useful and at the same time have their limitations.  It has been a lot of fun getting to know how to use them as it opened up a lot of building possibilities that I would have not seen otherwise.  Brass work can really come out nice and clean to represent certain parts of a model where that clean detail is really important.  One example is the brass steering knuckles shown on the photos.  Will visit the local hobby shop on Tuesday, however, to replenish my supply of Evergreen.  More sheet and strip stock are needed for the build.