HO-scale Military Power Wagon, c. 1951

[sequoiaranger]

My brother and I had a Dodge Power Wagon, c. 1951 vintage, shown here:


We had a lot of fun with it out in the desert and on the local beaches pulling stuck cars out of the sand with either the powerful winch, or just hooking up and engaging the 4WD. It was a "communications truck" with a utility bed (lower than most).

More a "conversion" than a whif, I am taking the three 1/87 vehicles shown here...


...and mixing, cutting, matching to get a reasonable facsimile of my brother's truck. The Herpa (ex ROCO) military power wagon on the left is like a caricature of the real thing---too wide a track and too short a wheelbase. I will have to take a section out of the middle to narrow it, and graft it onto the civvie example (far right). The light green civilian power wagon is a BEAUTIFUL example of the truck, more accurate for length and width, but doesn't have the military features (like squared-off hood and cab, and the grille-protection grid in front) that I need. The Ford utility truck will provide the "bed", but some cutting and shaping will have to be done to get it right.

This is only a "heads-up", as I will be off on travels for the next week, back home for part of a week, then off again for a month. Among other pleasant tasks, I will be playing the wargame I developed that will have many of the whiffed aircraft I have created taking flight.

[sequoiaranger]

This is the preliminary look at my brother's truck--a "fitting-out" of the major parts to see if my eyeballs had done their job properly. The "bench" seat module is a little blanched out in this photo. I need running boards (the diamondplate asked for in the "Swaps" thread) and to re-do the hood. The model hood has a fixed radiator top (hence the prominent radiator cap) and the hood is hinged down the middle, opening from the sides. My brother's truck had a hinge-BACK hood which included the cover of the radiator top. So I need to PSR the gouges in the model hood, and snip off the radiator cap (among other things). I didn't realize how much filing dust had settled on the model until I took the pic of it!



But, I REALLY do need to stop work on this and pack for tomorrow's road trip. I just got excited to do some cutting and fitting (called the "Joy of Modeling") and having the result be so close to what I want!

[Cobra]

Looking Good So far :thumbsup:sing out when you have this Beauty done :cheers:Dan

[sequoiaranger]

I was excited to be wrapping up the process of making door hinges (from a doll-house) when I unfortunately discovered I had also super-glued the fold-down windshield by mistake. Using "de-bonder" didn't work, so now I have to order/buy a new ROCO minitank Dodge and use its windshield instead. GRRRR!

But you can see that the likeness to my brother's truck is coming along!

[Captain Canada]

Very cool ! What did you guys end up doing with the old truck ?

[sequoiaranger]

At Last! Just in time for his October birthday!    Here is a "real" photo, and my model interpretation:



The tailgate works on the model, but I can see the "lights" are too big.



Then here is the "matching" photo of model to real (posted previously):



Here it is with the windshield up:



And the model---note the pink paper in the corner of the windshield is a "temporary registration"



And here are the opening doors:



And....to give you a sense of scale:



>Very cool ! What did you guys end up doing with the old truck ?<

Dunno--I went away to college and when I got back, it was gone. I'll ask my bro and find out--I am curious, too!

[NARSES2]

Terrific work on such a small model 

[Glenn]

More to the point.......what happened to the 'real' Dodge?
Glenn

[sequoiaranger]

>what happened to the 'real' Dodge?<

My brother had it stored at my mom's house in a space alongside the garage. Mom wanted the space for something else. The truck was kind of a "toy" anyway (not a NEEDED vehicle), so my brother sold it to a military-truck enthusiast who appreciated the unusual configuration (lots of M37 military power wagons around, but few with the "utility" bed).

[Old Wombat]

A good home then, with someone who appreciated what they had bought.