IMC Tanker Trailer

[Old Albion]

Having completed my Pete 351 I was after a suitable period trailer "1960s". I had seen this on E-bay some months ago and snapped it up. I had never heard of IMC??? but the kit looked interesting and looked very 1960s. It reminded me of the trailer from the Pete in Duel.

My first intentions for the Pete was to build the Great Dane extendable flat bed trailer. But when I opened the box I found that the black components (frame) were missing. Hmmm!!! I had missed that when I bought the kit. Never mind. My attentions were drawn to the IMC tanker. I opened the box started messing about with the parts, before I realised it I had begun construction. So the IMC trailer it is. This is a great little kit, very basic and simple and was from the right time zone as the Pete. The trailer will be in a similar paint scheme and will be a Milk Tanker. Not many photo's yet but I will soon rectify that once the tank is out of the paint shop.

Thanks for looking

[mackinac359]

I have this very kit on my workbench right now..

The fit of the tank body can be tricky. Careful planning and gluing is needed here. Also, the lower sections don't align just perfectly, so careful attention and some sanding of the bottom might be needed.

There are lots of possibilities with this kit! Build it stock, shorten it for a tank body for a C-600 Ford or an LN8000, or.. rework the sides for an even older style tank. (Think Duel)

Tim

[mackinac359]

Oh.. IMC was Industo-Motive Company. Testors bought these toolings and they were issued a couple of times in the 70s. Then a company called THC contracted Testors to a production run. Now the toolings are owned by Hawk Model Company.

Tim

[steven]

Hi my name is steven Im new here. If your into 1960 semis IMC also produced a dodge l 700 they also produced a flatbed trailer and a box trailer All of these kits are great kits they are very easy to modify the flatbed for example can be built as a 20 footer or a 40 footer. the same goes for the box trailer.

[Old Albion]

Tim, Steven,

Yes the tank halves were a bit tricky. Got there in the end though. This kit seems extremely versatile. I have the THC version in my collection and wondered about the history. I will keep my eyes open for the flat bed trailer and van trailer. Did IMC make any other trucks and trailers?

Thanks for the comments.

[SpreadAxle]

I think the Dodge L700 was all for tractors. As for the van and flatbed, they build fairly easily. The flatbed requires that you add to the frame rail. Some Plastruct I beam should work to make it more accurate as all flatbeds have a full length frame. the flatbed and van also appear to be 35/36 scale feet rather than 40, which is good for '50s/'60s trailers. You can also build truck body versions of each. THC released the flat and tanker in the mid 90's, inculding a tanker with a plated chrome finish. Also, there were kits released by them that just had enough for a truck body. Cool choice for this truck as a trailer. I know of a guy on a german website that built the duel tanker. That is a 1948 trailmoblie. according to the guy with the convoy website. he bought one of the 8 or so trucks used in the film duel. those truck are 1959/1960 petes.

Here are the parts he made. and here it is mocked up

and a competed photo:

here's a rear shot

I hope these help. Good trailer choice for the pete though.

[SpreadAxle]

here's an idea for your Great dane that is missing the frame. I got this idea looking at the length of the 2 deck sections in the kit. They are cut to lengths that make me think you should be able to convert it into a drop deck trailer. If you look at the page I linked in my latest post, there is an article on making the Fruehauf kit into a dropdeck. Some modified Plastruct I beams for the frame rails, and a parts box suspension unless you have the kit suspension, and you should be able to do this. It's a simple conversion. You just need to find smaller tires/wheels. I think 1/32 truck tires are the right size for the smaller tires for a dropdeck. Modern day dropdecks now use 22.5 inch wheels with very low profile tries, but older ones use the small wheels. 15' I believe.

[steven]

On tims webpage in January it menthioned hawk model company was going to reissue the dodge L 700 and one of the trailers. maybe tim can tell us when its due out ?

[mackinac359]

I'm not sure of the release date for the Hawk Dodge L700.

Hawk is planning on the trailers too, again I'm not sure of the date of release.

('someone' needs to finish a boxart model..)

Tim

[SpreadAxle]

Tim, would "someone" be you? LOL. I think it's an honor that your models would be on the box cover. Congrats.

[Old Albion]

Thanks for all the comments and ideas, most appreciated. That Duel Truck and Trailer look great. The weathering is just about right. I have the Duel DVD, there is an interview with Steven Spielberg. He says the truck had to go into make up at the start of every day to achieve the right kind of look. In some of the close ups you can see the fumes coming of the hot oil and grease that was applied. Phew!! wouldn't liked to have been down wind of it. But what I'd give to have a go of such a truck.

Thanks again for the comments.

[SpreadAxle]

That would be fun to drive it just once.

[Old Albion]

Well I've been making steady progress these last few days. You will see that the tank trailer is nearing completion. But still alot of work to do. I selected colours that will match the Pete 351 that I built. The maroon is finished. I painted that on Sunday morning. I'm leaving painting the top for as long as sensibly possible since I don't want the masking tape to damage the maroon paint. Painting is not a speciality of mine. I'm getting better but still along way off. The top half of the tank will be gloss grey. The joint between the top and bottom of the tank is the line of demarcation between the colours. The joint line will be painted orange. I have been looking for suitable decals for the tank and was looking through the Microscale decals for Railways. I came across these Milk tank decals. http://www.microscale.com/catalog_results.mv They look great, I have ordered sets in 2 different scales, not sure how they will turn out but I thought they would make the truck trailer combination look more interesting. They also have that classic period look about them. We'll see, nothing ventured nothing gained!

http://public.fotki.com/oldalbion/imc-tanker-trailer-125/

Thanks for looking

[SpreadAxle]

looking good

[Jim B]

If you check out Model Round-Up at http://www.modelroundup.com/comingsoon.html they have the 1969 Dodge L-700 listed as comming soon from Lindbergh with a price of $19.90. They say they are taking pre-orders, but I don't think I'd give them any money based on a rumor. They also say that Lindbergh will issue the L-700 with a flatbed trailer. We'll see!

[Twist67]

Hi there,

Ray I was the one who built the Duel Trailer......Nice to see that someone has it in his mind.....I´m planning to build a second trailer later this year....

I used this method because I don´t get any of those IMC trailers......

Nice progress on the IMC trailer...It´s a cool combo with the old pete in front of it.

Keep up the good work.

[Old Albion]

Chris,

The Duel truck and trailer looked great. Liked the weathering and dirt on it. When Ray posted the photo's, I was surprised to see how many modifications were required, to achieve an authentic looking trailer (I haven't watched the Duel DVD for some time). Probably another week or so should see it complete.

[SpreadAxle]

How did you ever find all of the dimensions, etc for the trailer? I would love to build one for a 50's/60's truck. You did a very good job.