Dodge L-700 Drag Car Hauler Truck

[gasser59]

Gents - the SLM group is doing a dio, in case you haven't heard, so I volunteered to build a drag car hauler. Now the premise for this dio is it takes place in early July 1967 somewhere in the midwest. Phil sent me the Dodge semi which had to be lengthened and I'm in the process of building the ramp bed which will have a few opening storage doors and some weathering.

I spent a good portion of this afternoon continuing the bed but ran out of time to take some pix so here's some earlier progress pix to give you the idea.

I'm not sure of paint colors or scheme yet as this is being built to haul another member's build so at the moment, I don't know the finish.

The vertical portion was built oversized so I could figure out just what height I wanted it when it was in the mock-up stage. I've made the adjustments as indicated in red. Updated pix to follow...

Stay tuned and any input/suggestions are welcomed as I know little of these big rigs. Thanks for following along.

Edited August 13, 2017 by gasser59

[Bowtienutz]

Check your body ramp angle. It looks a little steep car frame might hit the bed. Your coming up with something very creative.

[gasser59]

Thanks for your input Vince. Since its 1967, not many of the vehicles weren't low riding so I think we'll be OK. At least I'm hoping so.

Edited November 6, 2017 by gasser59

[martinfan5]

I guess I have been living under a big rock Brad, I had no Idea, heck dont even know what SLM group is

[gasser59]

Not to worry Jonathan. SLM is the Straight Line Modelers group.

[martinfan5]

Thanks Brad

[Bartster]

I'll be watching this with much interest. I have a similar project with more parts swapping & less scratching. Never thought of stretching the frame, I "cheated" & used a different one. Very nice work so far.

[gasser59]

Thanks for following along Bart. I appreciate your interest and input.

[Dr. Cranky]

I like it, and hope you keep making progress.

[race06]

Diddin da dog outa that truck, is dat kit still available? SWEET build guna keep track out O dis build!!

[bryan_m]

nice work on extending the frame brad, it looks great!

any new progress on this? cant wait to see.

cheers

bryan

[gtx6970]

I have one of these trucks, I bought for the sole purpose of doing something similar. so I will keep a close eye on this one.

Here isa a little bit of insperation if needed

[gasser59]

Thanks guys. I especially like the Tommy Ivo truck pic. I've seen this before but didn't realize it was the Dodge L-700 cab that was used for this. BTW - this kit is still available and I found it on Amazon. Its the truck, flat bed trailer and a '40 Ford. I didn't get the box since I got it from one of the SLM guys who kept the car but here's a pic from the web.

I've gotten a bit more done on this and I'll post some pics later this morning. Its slow going but its progressing.

Edited August 13, 2017 by gasser59

[Trucker_tim]

If I might Hijack this thread for a second, I am doing this truck right now lowering it and chopped the top a bit. I am going to be putting in the Dodge Viper engine into it. I have a thread going in the Big rigs if anybody wants to look.

[gasser59]

As promised, here's a few progress pics. As you can see, one access door on each side of the hauler will be opening up for display purposes. The right side has the non-functioning doors glued in place and am still working on the driver's side. For the hinges, I'm using printing plate rolled around 0.25" steel piano wire which will be bent and attached to the body of the hauler. The actual doors are 0.15" syrene glued to an inner portion which is 0.26" and small enough to fit inside the door opening. Hope that makes sense. More on the hinges and doors later once I actually get one mounted.

Thanks for following along and comments welcome.

Edited August 13, 2017 by gasser59

[Dr. Cranky]

Nice scratch-building . . . good progress.

[Silver Foxx]

This is coming along really great, The Dodge looks good with this build, look foward to seeing it finished.

[1930fordpickup]

Looking good so far . I like the hinge's you are doing.

[John Pol]

As promised, here's a few progress pics. As you can see, one access door on each side of the hauler will be opening up for display purposes. The right side has the non-functioning doors glued in place and am still working on the driver's side. For the hinges, I'm using printing plate rolled around 0.25" steel piano wire which will be bent and attached to the body of the hauler. The actual doors are 0.15" syrene glued to an inner portion which is 0.26" and small enough to fit inside the door opening. Hope that makes sense. More on the hinges and doors later once I actually get one mounted.

Thanks for following along and comments welcome.

Great job so far where the hell can I pickup some printer plate

John

[gasser59]

John - PM sent.

[John Teresi]

Brad.......very nice......GREAT start

[steve7119]

I have always loved these old trucks! Nice Job, Love the progress so far. I will definitely be following this build!!

Makes me want to start on one of the ones I have........

[Danno]

Brad.......very nice......GREAT start

What John said!! Looking good in the neighborhood!

[gasser59]

Thanks guys. Updates will be slow in coming this week as I'm training a new owner who's opening a store in Goodyear. Stay tuned and thanks for following along.

[gasser59]

OK guys, I know its been a bit of time in coming but I was finally able to work out the details of the functioning hinges and one of the doors is done. As mentioned above, the actual hinges are made from printing plate wrapped around piano wire. This wire was bent into an 'L' and drilled into the body. That part was easy. I didn't want much of the hinge to show when the doors were mounted up so I had to make a door liner out of two different thicknesses of sheet styrene. The inside one is from .015" and notched out for the hinge and the outside one is .025" and not notched out to cover up the hinges and notches. This also keeps the doors from falling off in the closed position when the final truck build is moved around. Not knowing just how often and where its going to end up, the SLM diorama will be moved around and shipped different places for display.

 

Showing open door and hinges.

 

Showing open door and hinges with the two door liners hiding hinge bases.

 

Door in closed position.

Next up is the other side with a horizontal door. It may get an arm/brace to help support it. I'll figure that out once the hinges are complete. Thanks for following along.

Edited August 13, 2017 by gasser59