Art Anderson Posted September 2, 2012 Posted September 2, 2012 Seriously, Ford first offered a pickup based platform stake truck in 1937! The bed was raised up above the frame of the truck by means of heavy oak planks, which were shaped to fit the curvature of the rear of the frame, but flat on top. On this was mounted a steel framed platform bed with wood flooring. The width of the bed required Ford to notch out the insides of the tops of the pickup rear fenders, which gave a very stylish, finished look to the whole package. This project necessitated a lot of thought, and figuring, of dimensions, and just how to go about making components that were identical, as well as being straight and true all along the way, so the the removable stake fences are interchangeable side-to-side and front-to-rear. That meant jigs for assembling them. The first jig turned out to be not quite square, so a second jig had to be made for the side fences, me making darned sure it was square this time around. That jig was repeated in design to assemble the longer, 3-post end fences. The bed floor is made from 1/16" x 3" basswood, scribed on the underside to give the effect of individual boards, while on the top, scratchbuilt skid strips were made to cover where those joints would ordinarily have been seen. Skid strips were made from .100" Evergreen strip .010" thick, the raised ribs on either side are half-round stock made from .020" Evergreen rod stock, scraped down flat on one side, using a brass bar with a milled Vee groove in it, sized to fit .020" styrene rod. The individual bolt head detail was made by inserting short pieces of .020" rod into holes drilled into the flat part of the skid strips before the half-round was added, then rounded off to look like round-head bolts. When done and painted, these should be very convincing. The side and end rails have stake pockets within them, and were made with .015" flat styrene strip for the inner and outer surfaces, with blocks of .060" styrene strips making the stake pockets, spaced to fit the stake posts on the fences: Under the bed floor, you can see the heavy wood beams that support the bed on the truck frame, made from 1/8" X 1" basswood, carved and sanded to fit snugly on the model kit frame rails. More soon! Art
TooOld Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 Excellent scratchbuilding Art ! I really like your descriptions , it makes it easier to look at the photos and understand what you've done . This is the type of project I've been wanting to try so I will be watching !
Johnny K Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 Yes, looking forward to seeing this on a frame.
Shardik Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 This looks like something I'd like to try, so I'll be watching. You've done some very nice, clean work thus far. I particularly like the gluing jig you came up with for the stake sides. Do you have scaled drawings for this conversion, or are you "eyeball engineering" it?
01blueedge Posted September 5, 2012 Posted September 5, 2012 you did a great job on the bed cant wait to see the rest of it
Custom Mike Posted September 5, 2012 Posted September 5, 2012 Beautiful work Art, makes mine look cheesy in comparison! Are you going to stain the wood?
Chuck Most Posted September 5, 2012 Posted September 5, 2012 Seriously, Ford first offered a pickup based platform stake truck in 1937! And... that same basic stake body was used by Ford from 1932 or therabouts into the early 1970's, with a few modifications.
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