HO Scale - What's On Your Workbench?

Thanks, Tom. Thanks for all of your ideas for the truck.

Maybe drill a hole and shape it with an exacto to look like a dent? Then, if you don't like it, use a little HO scale bondo...

 

Looking great there Paul

 

Good looking truck! It really turned out nice.

 

Thanks, Mike. The basic idea of the MOW truck came from Tom Holley, a member of this forum. Tom and I communicated numerous times during the process any time I had questions.

The company that manufactured the basic truck (1948-1953 Chevrolet long frame COE) is Sylvan. Sylvan is a Canadian company. The owner is Clare Gilbert. Clare is a very accomplished modeler and seems like a pretty good guy. There's a whole pile of Sylvan trucks on my work bench that I'm working on. Nearly all of them were bought for a particular purpose on the layout. Attached is a photo of the Sylvan projects in process or in the queue.

 

Nice pile!

They seem to have a lot of stuff for transition-era road vehicles like yours and more... I'll look into them.

Thanks for the tip.

 

Numerous models for the steam / diesel transition era. They're not terribly difficult to build once you get the hang of working with resin castings. They're easily modified, like the MOW truck I just finished.

 

Since this is what's on your workbench...

We've got 50 pecan trees on the property we live on. My wife is really into the pecan thing, so I added the idea of a pecan orchard in the background of one section of the layout. It's just a semblance but gives the idea. Out of the photos is an area that wall flats will be placed for the farm house and barn.

Since we need trucks for the orchard business, two REO (yes, they are Speed Wagons) trucks are now in process on the workbench.

 

WOW... That REO truck is beautiful!

A long way from the little REO truck my Mom's uncle had way back when. From her description, it must have been a short stake-bed version. When wood needed sawing, her uncle jacked it up, took off a drive wheel and put a bare rim in its place, and ran a strap to a sawing machine.

My Mom called it "uncle's weird car" when she was little.

I wish I had a photo of that, but I only have memories of my Mom's memories.

 

Like Mike says the REO was never big trucks around here. Just Pick Ups.

 

I like what you post.

 

Well, the two REO trucks are being a pain, as was the MOW truck. It may just be a function of dealing with a resin kit. They're not as accurate as a styrene kit and require lots of little "adjustments". The wheels and tires are the biggest issue. the outer lip on the wheel rims are too thick. I milled them down using my dremel tool but the tires still don't fit well. The pickup REO sits up too high on the chassis and I haven't figured out how to remedy that. The problem is probably just that I'm still on the steep part of the learning curve in regards to working with cast resin kits.

They have a good overall farm truck look as they sit. Lots of restored trucks have black fenders, but I'm not convinced that a farmer or pecan grower would want to pay the extra expense of a two tone truck. Simple and functional is what a farmer usually wants, so these will probably stay all red.

They need windshields and a few little details, but are close to being done. I've still got to figure out how to make the tires and wheels look better. In the future I may drill out the front of the headlight a little, paint the recess silver and add a drop of crystal clear over it to look more like a real headlight. I went the easy route on these trucks and it could be better.

 

The owner of Sylvan told me how to fix the tire / wheel interface and they didn't turn out too bad. If any of you are in the market for 1940's / 1950's / 1960's trucks Sylvan is a really good company. It is a Canadian company, so this isn't more chinese stuff. The owner is a great modeler, he's extremely helpful and stands behind his products. The two trucks are done except for signs on the stakeside truck and figuring out how to make burlap bags full of pecans in the back of the pickup.

 

I saw this on Ebay and was intrigued as to what it really was. I could tell the chassis was a Bowser 4-6-6-4 but the boiler was showing traces of brass underneath. I picked it up for $75 and started the restoration process. The front wheels were free wheeling and not connected to the rear for power. Luckily Bowser still has some parts in stock, so I picked up the drive shaft and worm. Using NWSL universals, I was able to get all wheels moving nicely. Upon stripping the body, it became clear this was a heavily modified brass (actually i guess it's bronze) Bowser. Unfortunately, most of the details fell off or were damaged since, I wasn't cautious enough to realize there were details that couldn't handle the stripper I used. So anyway, I've been working to get her to a presentable state and this is where she stands today. For the rivet counters, i realize she's not 100% accurate. I just wanted to do the original builder justice!

 

I have a few Sylvan cars, trucks and structures in my stock of unassembled kits and have for some time had my eye on their great lakes lumber hooker, but it's just a bit too long for my harbor area.
As far as REO trucks go, a friend's grandfather had one like that when I was very young. It was one of the old one size fits all farm trucks equipped with drop sides since he grew a lot of sugar beets. Definitely a cool old truck with a good ending to the story. My friend's uncle restored it. It eventually wound up being sold for a good price as part of his estate, so I'm assuming it's still alive and well. As I recall. it was a '51.

 

I just remembered I photographed a 1923 REO back when I still used a film camera (pre-2007):


That's the kind of vehicle my Mom's uncle had. I showed this photo to my Dad at the time, and he said that was the one.