frontier resin 644 federal truck cab

[blazefox]

Just got this from ebay and i was interested to see if some one built this before and what would be best doner kit

[Aaronw]

There isn't much out there that will be a great donor. The Federal is a heavy truck from the 1940-50s, and pretty much everything we have as a kit is 1970s and later.

The Diamond Reo is probably as good as anything being one of the older trucks available, and readily available on the shelves right now since it was recently reissued. It also has a Cummins diesel. While not the right type for a truck as old as the Federal, the Cummins 855 has been around a long time so you could probably back date the kit engine into something appropriate, or just call it a later re-power.

Edited April 12, 2014 by Aaronw

[blazefox]

Would an l700 dosge be close

[blazefox]

Ive seen it used on period corect trucks beforr

[Aaronw]

You could probably make the Dodge work if you are just looking for a frame and some misc parts, but it was a much lighter weight truck than a 60 series Federal.

The wheels are probably undersized, it does not have air brakes and has a Dodge V-8 which is nothing like an engine you would have found in a Federal. There really isn't a proper engine available for the Federal, but most used a large inline 6 cylinder engine from Hercules, Continental or Waukesha.

[blazefox]

I know rep and min of Maryland has a staight 8

[Chuck Most]

That's an overhead valve Buick- not really close to anything a Federal used.

I've only ever seen one Federal in person, and it was on a later chassis from another manufacturer and was missing the engine- PHOTOS

[lapazleo]

The 250 Cummins from the AMT freightliner is close in appearance to Cummins engines that would have been available in that model of Federal.

[Superpeterbilt]

I have one of these cabs as well. Im planing on building a truck from a photo that I have that is a single axle. Im going to use an Opel Blitz fire truck kit as the donor bc it seems very similar to trucks from that time.

[blazefox]

Thanks i was thinking of going the crazy route and use my only period corret engine allison v12

[blazefox]

Oh orrrr i can use the bussing or krupp titan kits from revel ??? Thoughts

[Aaronw]

I'm not very familiar with the Bussing or Krupp kits. I would think they are the right time period and weight class, the wheels look the part and both have an inline 6 cylinder, so I would guess they would be worth considering. Of course much more expensive kits than any of the reissued AMT kits currently available.

The Opel Blitz is a nice donor for 1930s to 50s medium duty trucks, but a bit light for a heavy truck. The Federal 60 series was a 6-8 ton truck, the Opel Blitz a 3 ton truck. Like the Dodge it all depends on just how much of the donor you intend to use.

[blazefox]

I like blown deisel in the krupp so I think im gonna go that route

Edited April 16, 2014 by blazefox