Alloy Forms Vehicles

[TMo]

Great idea, Glen. Never would have thought about casting the parts! As usual, excellent work!

[cnrglen]

Thank you. While I was at it I also made a mold for car wheels as well:
   

I tend to find older ho vehicles at swap meets that are missing wheels and this is an easy way to replace them. I used the cast metal wheels from a couple alloy forms vehicles as the masters and made the molds the same as the truck wheels.

[cnrglen]

I continued to work on the chassis.

   

I glued the chassis and the wheels to the cab temporairily with some white glue. (I'll have to take it apart later for painting) When I glued the chassis and cab together I felt the styrene chassis was a bit too  bendy so I glued some brass rod to the chassis. I probably didn't have to do that considering what I'll have to build on top of the chassis.


   

I glued two 'c' channel pieces to the tops of the frame to bring it level with the tops of the tires. I also used some styrene rod to make a rudimentary rear axle and driveshaft.

   

This is what I'm going for for the wrecker body. I pass this truck in a storage yard almost every weekend on my cycling route. It's an early fifties ford but the rear wrecker platform would be universal. it shouldn't be that diffifult to replicate

[cnrglen]

I built the rear deck of the tow truck:

   

I started by adding a flat deck onto the raised frame.

   

Then I measured out and cut a pair of side fenders out of some thinner styrene. I added a rear valence and some fillers between the front of the fenders and the cab. 
Next the boom assembly

[cnrglen]

I built the boom and winch assembly. Starting with a die-cast tow truck (1/64 scale) 

   
   
I used the boom in the diecast as a guide to scratch build the 1/87 scale version.


   

It took a couple attempts but I think I got the basic design figured out.


   

While I was at it I added some storage box doors to the sides of the rear fenders. 
Next I can start painting

[cnrglen]

I painted the parts over the past couple days

   

I used all Tamiya paints for a change, usually I'm airbrushing with Vallejo but I recently inherited a large collection of Tamiya paints and thinners. I painted everything in Flat white, then I masked off the lower 1/2 of the cab and painted the top in a darker blue. I masked off the sides of the wrecker body and painted the deck and boom assembly in flat black. The boom assembly was build to be installed after painting was finished
I also hand painted the wheels in the same blue as the cab.

[bdw9535]

Very nice modeling and the scratch built boom and body look great,

Bruce

[cnrglen]

Thanks, this has been a fun and challenging project.

I started reassembly of the painted parts.
   

I glued the cab and wrecker body to the chassis, then realized that I needed tailights and mudflaps. I drilled out the tailights in the rear valence and then used some 1X6 styrene strip for both the light backing and the mudflaps.

[cnrglen]

Then I glued the boom assembly onto the back of the wrecker as well as the wheels

   

I also threaded the boom and winch with some cotton thread.

   

I used microscale's micro crystal clear to make the windows. 
The truck is almost finished, just some details and weathering and it's ready for the road.

[LiveSteamer]

Great work Glen. It is coming along very nicely.

[cnrglen]

Thanks Matt.
I finished the tow truck this week:
   

I added the red toolbox on the side. It's just a plastic crate that I sanded the sides to fit. and I used some styrene 'c' channel to make the reinforced front bumper.

   

on the other side I glued some wood blocking. I added the two beacon lights using some orange glass beads and painting them in a clear orange.

   

The hook came from the scrapbox. I weathered the truck with some vallejo 'dirt' out of the airbrush.

   

When you have a wrecker, you need a wrecked car. out of the same Junk Autos pack came this 55 cadilac shell.  The t-boned dent was already there in the casting. O painted the shell and added the window glass.

   

I made a new chassis out of styrene and cast four wheels for it.  The hole drilled in the front is for the wrecker hook.

   

And the completed combo.

I'm continuing to work on both Alloy forms vehicles and other manufacturers' offerings. I'll post as I compete them.

[tompm]

Sweet! Great project.

[TMo]

Man! Remember when tow trucks could hook a bumper? Impossible these days, but that's by design with crush and crumple zones. I also miss the bumper jack... Great addition to the vehicle fleet, Glen! love the orange bead usage!

[cnrglen]

Thanks Guys.
I've built a few more vehicles

   

1955 Chev bel air coupe. I two-toned it white and red. Masking something so small is fun.

   

1950 chev fleetline in light green

   

This as an sedan made by Athearn. You used to be able to buy these in kit form at a dollar each. Theyt're pretty crude unless you want to put some extra work into them. They look similar to a late 50's buick

   
   

I got this resin cast car in a collection. I believe it's a late 50's jaguar?

[hillyard999]

Hi CNRGlen

To me, it looks "amercan-ish".

I think the jaguars had a more pronounced grill but could be wrong.

stand out features to me:
shape of the hood - especially the lower "shoulders" below the main triangular shape
horizontal grill a bit too small for most makes - example compared to Buick.
lack of a shoulder shape on the back wheelwell.  This feature to me seems most likely to fit in a Jaguar interpretation.

But I really don't know.  But I do think it is a good representation of an American car 1948- 1954.  Pre-tails styling obviously.

My 2 cents.

nice modeling overall.