Van trailers from "leftovers"

[rnagle]

With one project completed and another well underway it seemed like an appropriate time to start a couple more, especially since they are trailers that will complete the rigs.

First up is Kingsway 56406, a pup to go with the single drive Louisville. A good selection of 1:1 photos found on Hank's Truck Forum:


The "leftovers" part refers to a number of trailer kits I have raided for parts. The distinctively Canadian 72" tandem axle spacing seen on many trailers of that era (70's/80's) is fairly easy to model using parts supplied in AMT's van kits but requires 2 kits to make 1 tandem as extra suspension brackets are needed. So 40' beaded side van body parts were starting to multiply after I built a Labatt's beer trailer a while ago. I have also "stolen" 5 hole disk wheels from AMT's "doubles" trailer kit.

Combining sides/ends from beaded side van with floor/roof/door from "doubles" pup seemed like a fairly easy way to build #56406 in miniature:

[rnagle]

Of course, it is never quite that simple....... :-\ Corrugations run full height on ends, having 2 end sections on hand meant cutting them to join in the "valley" of one of the corrugations and cementing together. Excess cut off as required to match height of sides. And then the corners had to be smoothed off as corrugations do not wrap around on 1:1.



Width of ends compared to floor/roof is also different, doubles pup has narrower floor. Likely due to outside post design of that van body, in the end it worked out better anyway as bottom of #56406 sides have visible braces. Bottom of side cut off even with lowest corrugation, .020 stryene strip cemented along lapped on inside keeping overall height the same as stock kit sides. Area along edge of floor where molded in crossmembers stop short of edge filled in with styrene strip, then sides/nose attached to floor. .060 x .060 styyrene strip used for braces along bottom of sides:

[rnagle]

Of course, if there are 2 beaded side end sections there must be 2 sets of sides.......just the ticket for replicating this Carling O'Keefe van! Was able to photograph a real one in Coboconk, Ontario, long parked for storage behind the Foodland/Beer Store in town. I took these pictures back in 2011 (!), was through town a few months back and it is still there. That 72" tandem spacing shows up well in side view:


And the ends are not corrugated, in fact they sure look a lot like the "doubles" kit end! Except.......they are too narrow to fit beaded side van floor! Smooth face is easy to split down the centre and add a styrene strip though. Roof section has another layer of .060 styrene added. This will get wrapped with a narrow styrene strip to clean up laminated edge and then a .020 sheet will be fitted to top of roof to replicate fairly wide recessed area around roof edge where round marker lights are fitted on 1:1 trailer:

[rnagle]

One thing I have done differently from AMT's instructions is adding extra braces to the van body. As I will be building it with the doors "permanently closed" the bracing won't be visible and goes a long way toward keeping trailer sturdy. The locating pegs along sides don't fit all that well anyway....... Sides also trimmed in height to replicate the 12' high beer trailers from back in the day.

Braces are .060 styrene sheet, by making them as a pair of triangles they are easy to prefabricate and do not have to be the exact width of van body. All that is critical is the 90 degree square corner, I lay out and score with a try square for accuracy. After the sheet is snapped into a bunch of square pieces I score a line from corner to corner, ending up with 45 degree triangles. One side is installed and braced, then other side. Braces are cemented to sides and floor and also to each other where they overlap providing a good strong basic box:

[gatorincebu]

Well talk about being thrifty! I would have thought to make drom boxes out of those trailer parts.
But you don't need a drom box do you? lol Cool projects.


Be Well
Gator

[rnagle]

Kingsway pup is on it's "feet" now, kit suspension used with change to 5 spoke wheels with oil hub (resin parts by Plaskit) Roll up door fitted, edges of door opening trimmed with .010 x .250 styrene strip.

[rnagle]

"Feet" at the other end of Kingsway pup, here scratchbuilding was a better approach. 3/16" square tube legs with 1/8" square strip inside. Braces are 1/16" styrene rod with ends flattened, crank handle is 3/64" brass rod.

[rnagle]

Back to work on Kingsway pup after focusing on the General for past few weeks, spare tire carrier formed from Evergreen channel:



Rear step area built up using styrene strip & shapes. Mudflaps are a set from parts box, overscale thickness was corrected by wet sanding with 120 then 220 grit paper on a flat surface. Sounds like a lot of work but actually went fairly quickly. Flaps mounted to piece of Evergreen .100 styrene angle, nut/bolt/washer castings drilled & cemented in place.

[rnagle]

A few items added, brass strip worked best for the step and handles. Barely visible is .010 brass wire used for the two cables on roll up door.



Evergreen .040 quarter round and .010 x .040 strip used to form contour along bottom edge of beaded side. Fastener detail added using Micro-Mark rivet decals for O scale (1/48) which are a good match for kit rivets. Brass shim used for patch plate on corner of trailer nose.

[rnagle]

Tamiya "Gloss aluminum" used overall, decals from Modeltruckin.com. Film trimmed as close as possible to minimize headaches applying lettering over corrugations. Up front nose was easier as 1:1 Kingsway photos showed sheet metal plate screwed to trailer nose.




.020 x .080 styrene strip used to replicate white plastic base for marker lights. Kit lenses cemented to strip, trimmed off as required.


Kit tail light boxes just need a bit of work, dechromed and kit lenses installed. Reflector is disk punched from polished .016 sheet aluminum, Tamiya clear red added after gluing disk in place. .010 black styrene rings added to tail light lenses.

[jimb]

Very nice!

[rnagle]

One project completed as of tthis afternoon! Plaskit glad hands & electrical plug used with styrene strip, brass wire for trailer connections:


Nose prop made using brass tube, chemical blackener:


Spare tire secured with 40 links/chain (made by A-line, from the model railroad section of hobby shop). Tire rim itself made from 2 AMT trailer kit outer wheel rings.


Ready for work making deliveries in the city.

[jimb]

Beautiful job. Looks like it's ready to work.

[gatorincebu]

Great job of slicing and mending! As usual your attention to detail is great.


Be Well
Gator

[modelsbyroni]

great looking trailer. lots of detail.