How this 1942 Chevrolet G506 army truck from WWII ended up in our grandpa’s junkyard in Argentina we’ll probably never know. One thing is for sure, it was a cool truck. It was functioning and our grandpa build a tow truck out of it for the junkyard.
As I told you before, I used to carry two cameras back then to make pictures in color and in black and white. For those of you too young to know about it, you needed different kind of negative films for color and for black & white pictures.
Building this truck as a scale model is one of my ultimate dreams. Unfortunately -as far as I know- this truck is not available in 1/24 or 1/25 scale. I just found 1/72 or 1/35 scale model kits, typical scales for World War II dioramas. For example the Airfix “GMC TRUCK” in 1/72 scale…
Or the Italeri GMC 2 1/2 ton 6×6 Truck in 1/35 scale:
In order to build the GMC truck in 1/24 scale I might use the Revell “Büssing 8000 S13” as a basis and build the cabin and other details from scratch. Other possibility would be to build almost everything from scrtach using donor parts from other truck kits such as engine, transmission, wheels and a few more things. We’ll see.
It’s gonna be a great project! But I’ll have to wait for building it as I have a lot of other great cool projects to build first. If days had only 48 hours…
Well, finally, here you have a few detail and color pictures of the real thing from grandpa’s junkyard in Argentina:
And here you have a few color pictures of this great truck!
Seb,
Use the cab and dashboard from the Revell ’41 Chevy pickup kit. The only difference on the dash is the gauges. The engine from the Chevy is close enough with a little modification. Front fenders and hood and grille could be scratch built fairly easily. Another good donor kit is the Revell Opel Blitz. It also has a nearly correct engine. Good luck with this project, my father also had one of these in his salvage yard!
Lee
Hi Lee, thank you for the info about the ’41 Chevy pickup and the Opel Blitz. I’ll buy those kits next time. It might take a while until I start this project as I’m working on other projects now, but I’ll keep your info in mind!
Seb,
Have you built a full size truck like the Bussing before? I am a builder of vintage race cars and 30’s to 60’s hot rods and new to the junkyard area of modeling. I love old trucks etc! I have a kool 1926 Mack flatbed that I want to build as a long forgotten junker. I’m looking forward to using your rust technique on it.
Any thoughts on a project like this? I plan to make a bed from scale lumber, weathered of course, and have vintage engines, tools and so forth piled on the bed to help cover that big space. A long cry from building a Fangio Alfetta!
Keep up the great work!!
Hi Joel, thanks a lot for your feedback! It’s much appreciated! You can use the same techniques on a truck as on car for weathering. For the wooden bed, of course you have to use wood weathering techniques. Take a look at this video we made about wood weathering for the Old Barn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6e0CA5VpBE
The cab MIGHT be from a Chevy G506, but it is likely a GMC G508, also known as a CCKW. The G506 was a 1-1/2 ton 4×4, while the CCKW was a 6×6 (like this truck, with tandem axles in the back). The cab would still be similar to the ’41 Chevy. If you check the frame near the front passenger side tire, you will likely find a number stamped in the frame that will tell you where and when it was built, and what kind of body it originally had. Chevy did not have these numbers stamped in the frame.
Hi Kirk, thank you for the info! It’s much appreciated as I’m not that familiar with this kind of trucks!
Hello, Kirk. I own and drive a Chevy G7106 (G506 series) US Army truck, 1941, very much identical to your Grandpa’s old tow truck before his was converted. If you want any additional photos to help build it, let me know. I’d be happy to contribute.
Hi Jim, Thanks for the offer. I’ll get back to you when I start this project.