I know this is a bit of a complex post, being as it is documenting my HQ build and detailing the construction of each model in this unit, but I wanted to keep everything together. Today I am starting my cheap and cheerful V3000 truck build.
To recap, the idea here is to produce a cheap(ish) German Ford 3 ton truck suitable for wargaming. But wanting something that would match the rest of my plastic kits I have chosen to chop up a resin V3000 and stick the cab onto the chassis of a Pegasus truck model.
First off (in case you decide to try this yourself) please ensure you work in a well ventilated area and wear a dust mask. I am not sure about the chemical make up of resin, but cutting and sanding it produced a very fine dust which can't be healthy!
I used my trusty Dremmel and it's cutting wheel to, first of all, chop the resin cab off the rest of the truck model and then to sand down the remaining base and wheels.
In the above picture you can see my chopped down resin cab and placed it next to the two likely chassis donors On the left is the Pegasus 'US Army Truck' and on the right is their 'German Army Truck', although I had planned to mate the cab to the Opel Blitz look-alike I now think the US truck is a better size and shape. Remember, I am using the cab roof of the plastic kit and mating it to the resin lower cab - the German cab is a bit too large and square-shaped.
The real challenge is where to cut the resin cab roof off. Obviously if I can find a convenient natural join - like the door seam - that would hide my hack'n'slash surgery.
Again, I think the Pegasus US Army Truck has the most compatible cab and I think I see where I shall make my cut - down the door seam and up through the roof supports.
The down side of using the US Army Truck kit is that it is a 6x2 (3 axle) chassis and the flat bed is the wrong shape, so a little bit of scratch building will be needed at the back. But as I wanted a specific shape of flat bed anyway - what's called a 'stake bed' - I knew I would be getting the plastic card out eventually anyway.
Sorry if this is a lot of post for not much action, but the cutting and sanding of the resin cab was enough for today (and it took me ages to dust down the kitchen)!
NEXT: I WILL CUT THE RESIN CAB TO SHAPE AND MATE THE PLASTIC CAB ROOF TO IT...
Great stuff. This should prove useful since I've been on the lookout for a cheap 1/72 Opel Blitz.
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The Pegasus 'German Army Truck' looks good. Technically it's not exactly an Opel Blitz (I am told), it's a generic German truck but it certainly is chap enough. For £9.95 you get two of these trucks in the box.
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