Well inbetween other things like while waiting for glue & paint to dry or just bored with what I am doing (an armor model for a magazine) I decided to carry on with my Dodge D series 3 ton Australian Army GS model.

Now I got the measurements for this from a real truck along with a lot of Photos. I will be using a motor out of an AFV/Skybow Dodge kit but other then that it will be totally scatch built.

Comments welcomed.

First pic from the Polish Institute & Sikorsky Museum of London shows the vehicle type I am doing.



here is the grill. Took me 4 days off and on to get to this stage. Dodge name badge is from the Eduard PE set for the AFV/Skybow 6X6 Bigfoot WC62/63. By the way that is a Tamiya liquid cement bottle behind it and the bulsa wood strip is 1/2in X 1/2 inch.



I also have the base cab and chassis without spring hangers built also but no pictures at the moment. I will do some tomorrow and add them here then.

cheers
Cliff

Looking good so far Cliff.
You must have very nimble finger and the patience of a saint!
Do you use a jig - how do you manage the fiddly bits ?

very nice mate, very nice... How do you curve it? Do you have a plan or are you building straight from the picture?

There is a lot of work involved in just that little bit.

Geeeeeeez, don't you fellas know? ....our good 'Roo has a whole platoon of Keebler elves who assist him!.......geeeeez......

As usual my good Dingo friend, excellent work on the "fiddly bits". You've just got to share how you get the curves accomplished, including the 'domed' nose of the bonnet....

Tread.

BTW, once again I am forced to make the suggestions of maybe keeping a 'master' in mind.....

The fingers are only nimble some of the time so I have to pick my moments for doing this type of thing and I do have patience but wish the good Lord had given me more.

I do not use a jig although to get the angle right at the botton part I drew it out on a piece of cardboad and used this as a template.




Top part is filler with plastic strips in it denoting the curve. Then it is just a case of sanding to the right shape.

I am building straight from the pictures taken of the real thing. For the detail photos I put a 50mm square piece of plastic card next to the part I am photographing so I can scale from the photo at a later date.




Tread I don't mind doing masters but really don't want to play around with RTV and resin casting anymore and it takes too long for someone else to do the molds for me. So one off models from now on. The CMP 11 cab which is in another thread in this forum was a set of masters I did and then they sat for twelve months waiting for molds to be made. In the end it became a model.

thanks for the comments

Cheers
Cliff

Here is some more photos of this project

the grill - side on


the cab RHS. The seat was almost the same as the Tamiya GMC seat and base so I used a spare one for this.It also has a full dash including instrument panel.


Firewall. I still have to detail this.


the roof and back


The doors and windscreen frame. Door exterior on the left & interior on the right. windscreen frame is made from sheet brass and hand cut. Clear plastic sheet is then glued to the interior.


The bare chassis. Joints are butt jointed & then a hole is drilled through the frame rail and a brass rod inserted for strength. I do use a jig for keeping the frame straight and square while the glue sets.


The AFV/Skybow motor and Gearbox I will be using.


cheers
Cliff

NOW we are getting some nice in progress shots Cliff. I am enjoying this one as I always do with your builds. The cab is a resin casting? As far as the engine goes which AFV Club kit did it come from? I like the detail.

Dave the cab is not a resin casting it is the original handbuilt cab I made for this project.

The motor is out of the AFV/Skybow Dodge WC series kit. There are three of them. The Command car, The WC 51/52 weapons Carrier and the WC 62/63 Dodge 6X6. I think they call the 6X6 'Bigfoot' and the Weapons carrier 'Beep'.

cheers
Cliff

Jeez Cliff - that compound curve on the bonnet (hood to the US members!) would have me reaching for the Prozac!! LOL. :-) .

Looks good so far Cliff...
Nice to see you building again.

Guess I'l be needing to send another small package soon..... LOL

That makes even more awesome. There are a lot of pieces to this cab as I look at it again. Can't wait for more pics of your progress.

The doors and the cab are made up of layers of thin evergreen sheet from 5 thou to 20 thou at the thickest. The first layer was pieces butted togeather and the curves being done with tube stock cut in half or quarters with filler and heaps of sanding and filing to get it looking correct.

Thanks for your comments

Cheers
Cliff

Good work Cliff - again! As a fellow scratchbuilder, I appreciate your work and attention to the contours of that Bonnet. That's the essence of the truck (at least for me) and I think you're gonna knock this one out of the Park when done too!

Cheers!
Gunnie