1/72 GMC CCKW-353 Gasoline Tank Truck

[georgeusa]

Rather nice work. Looks like you had some fun in London. Went for a tour on a DUKW, but for the life of me can't remember where. At the time I thought it was a rather odd place to have a tour. I am always amazed at your soldering skills.

[louiex2]

The wonderful Nigelfication of a sows ear kit into a silk purse of a model contiues. If you can't find the proper bits for the pump controls in your spares box, steam 00 locomotives have levers and handles that should work. Not sure about your side of the pond but there are several companies in the US that would have what you need. Keep up the great work.

[perdu]

I love the cupboards Nigel, do you design for Ikea?

Oh yes

posted dude

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Smashing work as always Nige.

Have you considered the 'pump problem' at all? I reckon the French Army tanker with the onboard pump would be a good place to start.....You don't have to copy it of course, but it does give a good idea of how such a modification might be made.

[Kallisti]

Interesting build, but much too small scale for my taste

Will be watching with interest...

[Nigel Heath]

I love the cupboards Nigel, do you design for Ikea?

Yes, they are the start of my new Øløfstrøm collection. (aimed at small people)

Have you considered the 'pump problem' at all? I reckon the French Army tanker with the onboard pump would be a good place to start.....You don't have to copy it of course, but it does give a good idea of how such a modification might be made.

I have been giving it a lot of thought, I agree that the French tanker is a good starting point. I need more reference material and to look if such a thing exists as an after market item.

Good to have you on board Kallisti.

This is as far as I have got with the door and levers:

I think I can stick it on now.

[Nigel Heath]

I added this 0.5mm square strip to give the door something to mount to:

It should look something like this:

There will also be a stay to add but that and the door will have to stay off until after paint.

Glued on this is how it looks with the tank:

There was a slight gap under the tank which I filled with this 0.4mm strip:

Now to do some assembly on the chassis.

By the way, I got a reply from Airfix today asking for my pictures of the wheel defects which I duly sent. Hopefully that indicates progress is being made.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

BTW I meant the adapted 750 Gal tanker in the last image I posted, not the full blown 'Helicopter Refueller' in the post before.....I'm sure you could knock that onboard pump up in a jiffy if we can find you a decent picture of it.

[Nigel Heath]

Thanks KT, if there are some decent pictures I could have a go. In the meantime I also found this. What do you think of that?

[Sgt.Squarehead]

'Expensive' would probably be the first thing that comes to mind!

Surely you could just box in your on-board pump, maybe leaving a hatch open to reveal some suitably 'pumpy-gubbins'?

I know, I know.....It's a cop-out and not at all the 'AA Way'!

So it's back to refining my search terms I guess!

PS - Yellow trucky goodness:

Maybe you should just go for a conversion/scratch of this version.....It might not prove much more complex in the long run?

I've been trying to find better pics of the CMK set for the Academy kit and (annoyingly enough) it does appear to be this very version:

Sorry the picture is so [email protected]'s from the CMK site.

http://www.cmkkits.com/en/conversion-sets/gmc-353-airfield-fuel-tank-conversion-set-for-aca-1-72/

Henk of Holland doesn't even list this set and OTW! has no information on it, hence me not knowing about it.....If I had done so I probably wouldn't have recommended starting with the Hasegawa kit.

[Nigel Heath]

Well I have ordered it anyway along with some resin Jerry cans and other bits and bobs. The good thing about the Big H is that they are very good about returns if we don't like the look of it. I am mindful that that the truck does have a tow hook and having a separate pump does give another option to feed the wires into the base. I think this is more realistic than having a separate, completely free standing pump. All options are on the table at this point.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

A towed pump would certainly tick all the boxes.....It might also make me feel a bit less guilty about my ignorance of the CMK set, if it wasn't quite so damned expensive!

PS - Edited my previous post in an attempt to give it something approaching clarity.

[Nigel Heath]

I like the yellow trucky goodness, thanks KT. Here is the instruction sheet for the CMK truck which is a bit more useful than the tiny picture:

I am of course fairly well committed to the Airfix / Hasegawa combo. (Its all your fault KT!)

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I could probably find you an Academy kit if you do want to take that route.....I do feel a bit guilty!

[Nigel Heath]

Don't feel bad, I'm sure we can make this approach work, its fun trying anyway.

Getting back to the chassis, I have partially cleaned up the rear springs and filled the sink and ejector marks (on one, the other is to be done):

Here they are cleaned up and glued on:

The wire from perdu arrived this morning and looks spot on:

Thanks Bill!!

I had a look at the winch at the other end of the chassis:

I am itching to separate the drum and clean it up properly, I hate moulded in things like this.

It also comes with the obligatory sink mark:

Well I have separated the drum, I will clean it up and punch out a new disc for the end:

I can also wrap some scale cable round it to give a better effect.

[keefr22]

Well, I never thought of looking for you in here, so I'm late on parade, apologies, Sah...!!

As usual, some great work & ingenuity going into another not exactly stellar starting point. Bet the finished model will be light years away from what either Airfix or Hasegawa intended!

Looking forward to progress!

ATB
keith

[Nigel Heath]

Great to have you on board Keith.

I have missed you.

Well done for finding me in this obscure and out of the way place.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Nigel Heath]

I had a further think on the winch and decided the best way forward was to scratch build the whole lot so I did a sketch and measured some key dimensions:

Using some 0.5mm rod as an axle I built up the central part out of plastic tube:

I punched out some 5mm diameter discs for the end stops and got it to this stage as well as starting to drill out the holes in the frame for the axle:

To be continued...

Bye for now,

Nigel

[foresterab]

Nigel,

For what it's worth looking at the pump set up in Georgeusa's post #42 the pump system is almost identical to what I see on stationary fuel bowsers at work. I think the local base uses a small Honda pump since it's been upgraded but every bowser seems to run a different pump system, size, and age. The hose reel and usually some form of litre log counter is pretty consistent.

Not sure if it was standard practice at the time but there is a second small reel inside with a grounding cable inside. I deal with civilian helicopters though so not sure what JDF standards/fueling standards at the time were.

Also sometimes see spills kits and fuel testing kits (big pickle jar to check for water content) inside the pump cupboard depending on space.

It won't be a perfect match but if desired let me know and I'll pop over the helibase and get some photos.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Discovered this place in my traveles: http://cckw.org/forum/index.php

I suspect this conversion will indeed be more interesting than building the Academy/CMK version, but my offer stands.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Not sure a bowser would have a winch Nige.

I've come to the conclusion that the truck and towed pump option is realistically your best bet (it should simplify your wiring).....Were you to go the the Academy/CMK route, you'd wind up having to hollow out resin lumps for your 'electrickery'.

What are your thoughts on figures?

[Nigel Heath]

Nigel,

For what it's worth looking at the pump set up in Georgeusa's post #42 the pump system is almost identical to what I see on stationary fuel bowsers at work. I think the local base uses a small Honda pump since it's been upgraded but every bowser seems to run a different pump system, size, and age. The hose reel and usually some form of litre log counter is pretty consistent.

Not sure if it was standard practice at the time but there is a second small reel inside with a grounding cable inside. I deal with civilian helicopters though so not sure what JDF standards/fueling standards at the time were.

Also sometimes see spills kits and fuel testing kits (big pickle jar to check for water content) inside the pump cupboard depending on space.

It won't be a perfect match but if desired let me know and I'll pop over the helibase and get some photos.

That would be great but please don't go to too much trouble.

Not sure a bowser would have a winch Nige.

Now you tell me!! Actually I did read somewhere that it probably would not have a winch but I have decided that it will look nice and be fun to build. My thinking it that this is an ex-US Army vehicle that has been repurposed so the interior of the cab and cabinets will be olive drab and they forgot to remove the winch...

As to figures there are some with each of the kits but they look pretty hopeless. TBH I don't really do figures as my painting skills are not really up to it although someone sitting in the cab could be OK I suppose.

[georgeusa]

I like the idea of the towed pump. I also like the idea of a winch on the front. It would just make the truck look more utilitarian. Now if you need anything else for this build and it is in Squadron's catalog, they are having open house this weekend (see my post in another section of the forum) and I would willingly volunteer to go peruse their shelfs for you and then post it to you. Go with the winch and towed trailer. I mean if you aren't going to go with the Godzilla theme, this would be a close second!

[Nigel Heath]

G-usa I am sorry about rejecting the Godzilla theme but there is one thing that I could do with. At the front end of the Hasegawa truck there is a moulded in chain which I would like to remodel with some properly realistic chain. I do have some chains in my modelling storage facility but they are much too big. The links in this look to be about 0.6mm in dimension:

If you can find any thing of this sort of size, I would gladly pay for the postage.

Thanks,

Nigel

[pacificmustang]

Nigel

This of any use for your chain?

https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/Artwox+1350+Chain+100cm+AW60002/16113/

they do various sizes in various scales, possibly something may suit

Bruce