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Decided to build some trucks for my Swedish WW2 army.


Orso

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b11atlas_05.JPGIt all started with me buying a Volvo B11 fire truck from Editions Atlas. It is from a 1/72 fire truck collection they had. It has a die cast cab while the rest is plastic.

 

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I had an idea that I could convert it in to a LV94 truck so I let the saw loose. First the cab was shortened. I had problems getting the new rear wall of plastic car to sticking to the metal.

 

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Next was to cut the chassis and add some plastic to get it longer. It doesn't look pretty.

 

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A cargo bed had to be scratch built.

 

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A wooden gasifier from an ACE model Renault was donated by a fellow modeller.

 

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It will be a civilian truck that was pressed in to military service so it will be more colourful than the usual military vehicles. I had to move the steering wheel to the left in the cab.

 

 

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While planning for this build I noticed the First To Fight had a Fiat 621 truck and I was curious if they were present in Sweden. While looking into that I just got a feeling that I was looking at an old Scania Vabis. Comparing data of the Fiat and Scania showed them to be very close in size so I thought that I should try to convert it. But when I got the kits and started to look into the Scania I became confused.

 

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The nose looked shorter on most of the pictures but reading more I found that there were a four and six cylinder truck so that was why some pictures were off.
So I started on the six cylinder Scania Vabis 324 as the nose in the kit  looked as it had the right length.

I found a picture of a truck with a slightly larger cab so I moved the rear wall back further. The door will be smaller so the rear line was filled. I looked at some of the surviving trucks and most of them had a 3700 or 3800 mm wheel base and I opted on the longer one for this build, the front axle had to be moved so I rebuilt the front of the chassis.

This will not be an exact model, more of a "look a like"

 

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I find the FTF plastic to be very soft and since there is no top of the window frame one door had been bent.

The other kit will be a Scania Vabis 325. It was the four cylinder truck so I had to shorten the nose.

 

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I choose a different way to alter the chassis in the front. The front axle had to be moved on this one as well.
I will keep the cab without any big changes. As I will build this with the shorter chassis I can use the cargo bed as well.¨

 

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When I looked closer to the trucks I realized that the front fenders needed to be converted.

 

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I got the basic shape on the front fenders done. I thought that it would be a minor job turning a Fiat in to a Scania Vabis but it was more work than expected.

 

 

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I needed to see if any more putty was needed so some painting was done, as expected more putty are needed. Some wood gasifier parts has been scratch built.

 

 

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While in a truck spree I decided to to do another one. I wanted an Opel Blitz with a wood gasifier so I opted for a kit from MAC.

 

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It will also be a civilian truck pressed in to military service, so I needed another cab for it. An old Esci wreck will be stripped of paint ad adapted to this kit.

 

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This one will be green. Some debris got stuck in the paint so I need to repaint the cab. I think I will paint the wheels black instead.

Edited by Orso
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vabis324_07.JPGI was looking at the Scania Vabis 324 and thought that the cargo bed looked wrong split just in two so I decided to change it in to three instead. 

 

lv94_09.JPGThe Volvo got the cab in place. 

 

blitz_03.JPGSo has the Opel so they are starting to look as trucks. I am happy with the colours that I decided on for them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

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I'm finishing the cabs by adding louvers to the hood. The H0 (1/87) sheet didn't work as I had hoped so I went for O-scale (1/43) instead. It has louvers in the heights of 4, 5, 6, 7 an 8 mm.

 

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I think that 4,5 mm would have been better.  They are a little wide so I had to opt for 12 louvres instead of 13 but I think that I can live with that. The trucks are just "look a likes" anyway.

I think that I need to get me a third Fiat truck, I noticed that there was a Scania Fire truck that was almost identical to the Volvo that I cut down. I can see another conversion coming.

Edited by Orso
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vabis325_04.JPGI wasn't happy with the front being so low, the truck had an Hot Rod look.

 

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Some work on the springs for the front axle fixed this.

 

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The same work was done to the 324 but I need to move the front axle forward.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Orso changed the title to Decided to build some trucks for my Swedish WW2 army.
  • 1 year later...

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