1/32 scale M559 conversion

[Muleskinner]

I'm not one to build in scale smaller than 1/25th but I couldn't resist converting a model which was just re released by Revell. The model is the old Renwall M-559 military wrecker from the late fifties and early sixties. For those of you not familiar with the Name Renwall, they were the innovators of the model industry back in the Prehistoric days of our hobby. Their subject matters were vast and varied from Anatomy of humans and animals, to the nuclear Subs of the time with complete interiors, to some of the best Military models of the time!!

They were molded in heavy plastic and pretty damn well detailed for a model in 1/32nd scale. Although they weren't in any given scale back then, the size of each varied from model to model. The Blue Printer line was one of the best in the world and as a kid back then I saved my allowance and what ever other money I could get by doing odd jobs and collecting coke bottles to get one of these models. I eventually had the complete collection of Military models which they released. The Atomic Cannon was one of my favorites, which had the two Kenworth Transports, to transport it around. But that's a different story for now.

The subject of my model is the Renwall Blue print model of the M559 Military Wrecker. This rig is loaded with detail to include working rear suspension, opening doors, full engine under the hood, steerable front wheels, and a very highly detailed wrecking crane on the back of it. Being a Vietnam Veteran, there were plenty of these 5 ton wreckers around the Maintenance units and I did have the pleasure of driving one with a multi-fuel L-16 model engine in it. These engines would burn either Mogas, Diesel, or av-gas if they had to and were quite powerful when need be in a situation. In my unit in Vietnam, we fueled them with diesel and then added a cup of Av-gas to the tank for an extra boost to the engine. When you are under fire, That extra boost came in handy when getting out of a hot spot quick.

I always wanted to see what one would do in the logging industry and so when Revell released the Renwall version, I ordered three of them from Tower Hobbies out of Reno, Nevada.



I nearly jumped with joy when I received them as It has been many years since I'd seen them last. I started building on them and leaving of the wrecker units, I built them into a bare bones M52 model 5 Ton truck. Then began adding civilian parts to them as if a gypo unit was building them to work in the woods. The first one represents a logging rig in the making (Minus the bunks and Trailer) which will eventually be a log logger. I will be using the AMT Peerless road runner trailer as its reach scale out close to 1/32 scale and the rest of the trailer will be chopped and rebuilt into 1/32nd scale to fit the rig. Below are the results of the build with out trailer.







The second unit will be built into a water truck for use in the woods and is right now needing a set of resin wheels and tires of the 1/32nd scale Twice and A Half type like I used on the above model. I will be ordering these from Ap40 as he did a great job on the set I used on the other rig. Every thing is correct on the resins and really the only complaint I had with the model kit was the enclosed plastic wheels and tires as they were of the wrong type for these rigs. Below is the results of this conversion.









I am trying to get these together as I will be attending the model show up in Reedsport and want to add them to my display.
Enjoy!

[aitm]

I just bought one at a show and you can have some fun with this kit.My brother had the Renwall rocket launcher(same truck) when we were kids and that was such a great model with all the working parts.I still have some parts of the model in a box.A company near me has one pulling a tree grinder(off road)Cool project.

[ap40rocktruck]

I too had one as a kid, built it played the heck out of it. don't know what ever happened to that one, although i suspect it fell victim to house cleaning when i went off to college. The kit was re-issued in the late 1980's in the Revell "History Makers", as are so many of the other Renwall kits that have been reissued. Others include the huge 1/32 scale Atomic canon & the same scale FWD Terra-cruzer w/ mace missals. I now have several of each of these re-issues, all with the idea of scaling one up to 1/24, but that is another adventure.

Fantastic builds so far William, Glad you like the wheels & tires. If anyone else is interested in these, PM me.

Ap40

[78kw]

I like what you've done here.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using proboards

[Muleskinner]

The mystery of the Reach which is in the AMT trailer is solved. While working with this trailer I began to scale everything down to 1/32nd scale and the measurements were all coming out to the exact without any cutting. So heres the scoop believe it or not. If you remove the wheels and bunks from this trailer, you have an exact scale 1/32 chassis. The reach measures an exact if not close to 11" x 9" of a 1:1 reach. cut off 5.5 scale feet and it measures out to the exact 25 feet of the 1:1 trailer which Peerless built.

Another peculiar item is the mudflaps for the truck itself. When attached to the 1/25th scale truck, they are inset with the outer edge of the tires showing outside the flap. But when you attach them to a 1/32 scale rig such as I am working on, they line up perfect as they should be on a 1:1 rig.

My findings are as follows. Back before we had the 1/25th scale AMT rigs we have now, the company released an early run of 1/32 scale snappers and glue units. I have come to the decision, that this trailer was designed and was still on the drawing board for release along with the 1/32 line But was never put into production. It is a known fact that when the 1/25th scale rigs were released that it was hard for hobby shops to keep them in stock due to the popularity of them. So because the 1/25th scale units were selling so well, it was decided to release the Peerless log trailer to go with them. From what I have found and figured out, it was easier to use the basic trailer they had designed and add larger bunks and larger wheels and pull of the biggest deception in model history!!

To the untrained eye the trailer would seem 1/25th scale and even to some of us older modelers the difference would be indiscernible except for the too small of the reach and trailer chassis chassis tube which the reach runs thru. Now after all these years of building this trailer and converting the tube and reach after using a 1/32nd scale rule the truth comes out. I would sure like to talk to any of the founders of AMT and congratulate them on a fine job of deception as far as this trailer goes, because even myself who has spent years around these trailers in 1:1 didn't notice the multi-scale done to them for release. WOW!!!!!!!!


This photo shows the exact line up with the tires of the rig with the mud flaps in the kit. They cover the tires with out having the outer duel sticking out beyond the outer edge of the flap.

This shot shows the trailer minus the 1/25th scale bunks, tires and wheels behind the 1/32 scale rig. Notice the size of the reach compared to the 1/32nd scale truck. A near if not perfect match. Another thing I found is the tail light box which is attached to the trailer and holds the mud flaps has been extended so the flaps will fit the 1/25th scale wheels and tires when applied. This item needs to be shortened at the trailer mount to fit the 1/32nd scale rig.


This shot shows the trailer mounted in the carry position and shows the contrast between the reach and the rig. Notice also the overhang of the trailer mud flaps outside the rigs, due to the lengthened tail light box of the trailer. This also shows the shortened reach brought down to 1/32nd scale length.


This shot shows the extended tail light box and the over hang difference between trailer and truck as far as the mud flaps go. The boxes needs to be shortened approximately 1/4 inch to bring the flaps into perfect alignment.

[ap40rocktruck]

Freaking amazing! sure makes sense once you see it live & in person.

Ap40

[Muleskinner]

I have a little more information on the AMT Trailer, which I thought might be helpful in this discussion.

During the early 70's when This trailer was released, there were four major model makers putting out the 1/25th scale trucks. They were AMT, ERTL, IMC, and MPC. By far AMT was the largest of the model producers but a firm out of Iowa which was at the time producing plastic kit models of Farming equipment was gearing up to start producing their own line of 1/25th scale trucks. This was ERTL and the quality of their models were by far passing that of AMT. ERTL released the International line of trucks in 1/25th which were plying the nations highways at the time and the quality of the moldings in the kit were A-1 as compared to the Giant of the model industry AMT. You also must take into account that, the comparison between AMT models and what they represented.

(1) The AMT line consisted of the biggest truck marketing industries at the time.
(A) Mack trucks, one of the most trusted names in big rigs for generations.

(B) White, to include Freightliner, Autocar, Western Star.

(C) Kenworth and Peterbuilt both which are PACCAR builds.

(D) General motors corporation, for the GMC and Chevy

AMT already had the market on the model car industry utilizing all the permission grants from every major Auto Marketing industry in the USA, and had to compete with a fairly new comer to the market out of Southern California named Revell which was fast rising in the model car industry with a full line of super detailed models which were of far better quality like that of ERTL than their rival AMT. Then came MPC which was equal if not better than Revell with the product's they were producing for marketing.

This brings us back to the 1/25th scale production of what we now call big rigs. ERTL first released the Tran star line of International and with them came the International logging truck which in the opinion of most models I have talked to was the best rep of a logging truck that was ever produced and the logging trailer which just happened to be a Peerless also, was to exact 1/25th scale. The logging equipment from this kit would match up to any of the 1/25th scale rigs which were being produced at the time and was a big time seller. The rig it was sold with the 5000 international also came equipped with a fifth wheel in the early model so you could modify it to haul the haul the highway trailers which were now on the market.. Now with the competition closing the Gap on AMT and if they were in the process of releasing their Peerless Logging trailer in 1/32 for the Snapper and glue kits they were now producing in 1/32 and could see the noose tightening around them, something had to be done. They had the dollar so to say on the west coast trucking industry models at the time and now here was another company ERTL sliding into their territory with another peerless logging trailer. The remedy. Rework the 1/32 scale trailer as is by adding larger wheels, Extending the tail light boxes, adding larger bunks and re leasing it as 1/25th scale.

The tactic worked as the west Coast loggers at the time were using the 1:1 The road Runner model of the peerless trailer and the model kit became a hot seller when it came out on the market, here on the west coast. I know this for a fact for when they were released I had seven of them within the first month of their release. But there was always that question of the reach and tunnel tube being to small. I made a couple of inquiries with AMT about it but never received any replies in return. I was living in Eugene, Oregon at the time and had a lot of other trucker friends who also questioned the reach size of the kits.

More on this later.

[plastictrucker]

Thank you william

[Robert Myers]

Good looking build! I enjoyed the history of the AMT trailer. Now that you have explained it, it is easy to see, but I would have never guessed!

[gatorincebu]

That is one helluva a interesting story!
I never had any of the Renwal kits. but I did build AMT, Revell, and MPC. And of course ERTL when they came out.
Like so many trusting souls. I just figured that the model companies were making correct models of the real things!!
So much for being young and nieve!


Be Well
Gator