1/43 BR Dodge Crew Van

[37114]

Having followed the good work @ChrisS has put in to build an SBT Developments Leyland Road Runner crew van I decided to purchase the Dodge Commando variant at the recent MIOG show at Crewe. I chose the Dodge version  as the SBT cab is a good likeness and is the right era for my layout. The chassis and body are sold separately as the bodies were fitted to various different chassis. The basic chassis/cab bits are laid out below;

 

Last year I built an SBT Leyland National, which required a fair bit of work to build and get to a standard I wanted, primarily because it was the first one of the 3D printed variants. The Dodge is a bit more refined, the components except the chassis (more on that in a bit) being an ostensibly a good fit and after a bit of cleaning up the cab sits nicely on the floor. The wheels are nicely detailed, my only comment being they appear to be sized to represent a 22.5inch rim used on a 16t/17t truck rather than the smaller 19.5 inch rim used on a 7.5t chassis which is what the Crew vans were based on. 

 

The chassis has been glued together but the chassis has a slight twist to it and is not flat on top. Having scratchbuilt trailers before I am minded to make a new chassis out of suitable plastic channel, then transfer the springs to the new chassis. The chassis is slightly too long as it protrudes beyond the end of the body so I will correct this. In the photo below the chassis is not fully seated, the springs being a touch too wide between the tool boxes but was easily fixed with a file.

 

My plan is to finish the chassis first then tackle the body. The body will be interesting as the bottom corner on the drivers side is somewhat distorted;

 

Ordinarily I would be asking for a replacement but I love a challenge so the plan is to sand down the distorted rubbing strip and remake it with plastic strip. It won't be visible when completed anyway as it is the otherside that is visible on the layout 

[ChrisS]

Good to see a thread started on this one. Slightly jealous that your wheels seem to be in a better starting condition than mine!

 

The rubbing strip on my van body also needed some work but I got away with mainly filling and sanding.

 

Good luck and looking forward to see how yours turns out.

 

Chris

Edited April 9, 2023 by ChrisS
Typo

[37114]

18 minutes ago, ChrisS said:

Good to see a thread started on this one. Slightly jealous that your wheels seem to be in a better starting condition than mine!

 

The rubbing strip on my van body also needed some work but I got away with mainly filling and sanding.

 

Good luck and looking forward to see how yours turns out.

 

Chris

Thanks Chris, the wheels had been subjected to a clean up before the photo, one has a hole in the inner wheel but it is not visible.

[37114]

With the Calne show out of the way, I can focus on making progress on the Dodge. I managed to stock up on 5mm channel if various thickness to make the new chassis. I made the new chassis slightly shorter as the rear overhang is to long by a few mm for the body and also there is no rear cross member.

 

 

 

While the chassis set I also made some progress on the body, filing back some of the filler previously applied.

 

On the otherside I have started to deal with the distorted rubbing strip. I decided to file back the most distorted part so I can then rebuild it with various thickness of microstrip.

 

Next step is to transfer the bits I am keeping to the new chassis and finish the body.

[37114]

I made a start on transferring bits onto the new chassis tonight, first item being the battery box followed by the rear springs. I cut and glued them one at a time to make sure I had a reference point for their position on the new chassis. To help orientate them I put the rear axle, propshaft abd gearbox in place as well so I could position the wheels. 

 

 

The front springs proved more tricky, the chassis being hollow near the battery box so I will scratchbuild these.

[ChrisS]

The new chassis looks smart. Is the crew van floor the original kit item? 

[37114]

8 hours ago, ChrisS said:

The new chassis looks smart. Is the crew van floor the original kit item? 

Hi Chris, yes it is. I think I remember Steve saying on your thread he was going to do something different with the floor to stop it warping so guess this one is made from a different material, it is certainly flat.

Edited April 24, 2023 by 37114
Clarity

[37114]

As the weather is absolutely rubbish in Wiltshire today, the plan to work on my 12inch to 305mm scale Land Rover was replaced with work on the modelling projects. 

 

First task was to make the new front springs for the Dodge. I used various length plastic strip laminated together to represent the springs, these not being really visible when the model is completed. I fixed the front axle in place then left the ensemble while I did a work phone call

 

Looks good the right way up, I need to add the diesel tank as well.

I will also make the rear lights while I am still searching for photos of the rear of the Dodge or Terrier based vans to see if they were fitted with a step or some form of under run bar. The Construction and use regulations mandated compulsory rear under run bars for any new HGV from the 1st April 1984 and hence they were present on the later Roadrunners and Dodge 100 series before later vehicles were fitted with Tail lifts

 

The body continues to get attention with the removal of the deformed rubbing strip on the offside. I also applied a thin skim of filler to some of the print lines and some obvious dents/steps. Once I have remade the rubbing strip I will give it all a blast of primer.

 

[37114]

More progress this afternoon, I smoothed down the filler from this morning, more is required. 

 

My main focus was to work out how to fix the body to the chassis. The floor for the body has a single hole which corresponds with a hole in the strengthening bar in the body itself. My plan was to glue a nut on the strengthening bar and then use a screw to hold them together 

 

The problem with this is the screw would sit under the propshaft so would be inaccessible once the floor was glued to the chassis. I don't like making vehicles like this with windows not being accessible in case the glazing yellows or gets pushed in so this wouldn't work;

 

My solution was to make the floor removable from the chassis by the same method of bolts and captive nuts through the floor. I used 2 bolts at either end of the body. When the body is finished these won't be visible so there is no issue.

[Hal Nail]

9 hours ago, 37114 said:

I also applied a thin skim of filler to some of the print lines and some obvious dents/steps. Once I have remade the rubbing strip I will give it all a blast of primer.

What are the surfaces of the cab like? I'm tempted to try the Leyland Terrier. 

 

Would be good if we could all start lobbying for an ergonomic cab tho!

[ChrisS]

Looking tidy.

 

When I sanded the sides on my crew van, I found that cushioned nail files were really helpful to save my fingers and achieve a flat surface.

 

I've hopefully done the last yellow coat of paint on mine - thank god.

 

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[37114]

6 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

What are the surfaces of the cab like? I'm tempted to try the Leyland Terrier. 

 

Would be good if we could all start lobbying for an ergonomic cab tho!

I haven't had the cab in my hands that much to be honest, they look OK, perhaps not as crisp as the Roadrunner that Chris S is making but no obvious requirement for sanding/ filling 

 

I am sure Steve could be open  to an Ergomatic if you dropped him a line, I mentioned a scammell Routeman would be good as then it enables the Blue Circle tankers to be done which is ideal to go with the Presflos. He has done a Guy Big J which I thought was his best cab yet in terms of finish/ accuracy.

[37114]

5 hours ago, ChrisS said:

Looking tidy.

 

When I sanded the sides on my crew van, I found that cushioned nail files were really helpful to save my fingers and achieve a flat surface.

 

I've hopefully done the last yellow coat of paint on mine - thank god.

 

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•  

Thanks Chris, good tip, will raid my good ladies stash.

[Hal Nail]

3 hours ago, 37114 said:

I am sure Steve could be open  to an Ergomatic if you dropped him a line

Ah yes. The ergonomatic. Thats what I meant :)

 

Good shout with the Scammell as a sensible tie in especially if he did the tank as well.

 

Whilst looking up photos occurs to me a skip back half might be an interesting little scratch build.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Hal Nail

[37114]

47 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

Ah yes. The ergonomatic. Thats what I meant :)

 

Good shout with the Scammell as a sensible tie in especially if he did the tank as well.

 

Whilst looking up photos occurs to me a skip back half might be an interesting little scratch build.

Yes good shout re the skip loader, both the Terrier and Dodge would be good for skip loaders and the chassis isn't too far off length wise (I would make my own chassis again but the propshaft etc are reusable). The skip loaders of the 1970s were pretty simple compared to today's ones with their extendable arms and the automatic sheeting systems. 

[37114]

I had the sand paper out earlier and rubbed down the body filler, I also remade the missing rubbing strip. I am pleased how it has come out but won't be 100% sure until it has primer on it. I have also made mudguards and mud flaps for the chassis as well before I move onto the van interior

[ChrisS]

That's looking good. Looks like you have a few useful photos there too.

[37114]

10 hours ago, ChrisS said:

That's looking good. Looks like you have a few useful photos there too.

Thanks Chris,  a few from other threads but I raided Flickr as well.

[37114]

It has been 2 steps forward and 1 backwards with the crew van... I sprayed the yellow but then noticed a few bits that needed some further tweaking on the cab. I resprayed the primer then re did the yellow (Railmatch aerosol) however was gutted the next day to find some crazing where the primer had overcoated the yellow. To add to the pain the sodding nozzle blocked on yet another can of yellow...

 

I sanded down the crazed paint and have brush painted to touch up the sanded bit which has been fine so far, it needs another coat though.

 

I had a look at the window frames that the kit comes with but they look a bit chunky to me and a couple were distorted. I studied some photos and decided that a better solution is to cut out the opening window sections and paint those silver, while the rest of the opening was painted black to represent the window rubbers. I will then cut out glazing sheets for the individual windows due to the thickness of the body.

 

[Hal Nail]

Hope I'm not teaching my grandmother to suck eggs but you can sort all manner of paint finish issues using really fine grade (eg 2000) wet and dry and then polish back up (merest hint of brasso) once smooth.

[37114]

22 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

Hope I'm not teaching my grandmother to suck eggs but you can sort all manner of paint finish issues using really fine grade (eg 2000) wet and dry and then polish back up (merest hint of brasso) once smooth.

Hi, No, not at all. I did flat it back but the yellow was quite thin as I had only applied 1 coat when I spotted the issue so rapidly got back to primer and resin. All sorted now!

[ChrisS]

On 24/05/2023 at 21:33, 37114 said:

It has been 2 steps forward and 1 backwards with the crew van... I sprayed the yellow but then noticed a few bits that needed some further tweaking on the cab. I resprayed the primer then re did the yellow (Railmatch aerosol) however was gutted the next day to find some crazing where the primer had overcoated the yellow. To add to the pain the sodding nozzle blocked on yet another can of yellow...

 

 

Looking good.

 

I hate spraying yellow as I find I need many coats to get a good finish. It becomes an absolute nightmare if you have to sand back and inadvertently remove some of the white primer and expose the darker resin again!

 

I feel your pain re blocked nozzles- I went to spray some satin varnish the other night, and despite inverting, spraying and cleaning after its previous use, it was somehow blocked and not playing ball.

 

[37114]

Lovely weather in Wiltshire today so did some outside modelling this afternoon. 

 

The first job was to make some headlights; Steve includes some clear plastic domes but they don't really cut it for me so did the same trick as for my Leyland National and drilled a 3mm diameter hole in the headlight recesses. I then cut short length of 3mm rod which I sanded the front face to a rounded dome shape.

 

 

I then got the silver paint out to paint the headlights and the banding at the bottom of the body

 

Next focus will be to sort the tables for the interior and paint the last outstanding bits such as the steering wheel, wipers and mirrors.

[37114]

I feel like I am approaching the beginning of the end on this project with all the parts nearly painted and most of the assembly done. I added the tables and seats to the interior tonight, the tables being scratchbuilt from card and plastic strip. I am not sure of the exact layout as the only internal shots I have seen is those shared in Chris S' thread which is of a different body with the door at the front rather than the middle. A couple of my seats were misformed but luckily I had some spares from the SBT Leyland National I built last year. The seats are possibly a little close together but I needed to avoid the centre bar on the body.

 

A couple of shots now the masking is off, I need to remove a couple of black smudges from the body which was an accident and I also need to add the centre black band round the Dodge cab. I have since painted the inside of the body and need to do the transfers before glazing.

 

[ChrisS]

12 minutes ago, 37114 said:

I feel like I am approaching the beginning of the end on this project with all the parts nearly painted and most of the assembly done.

 

I know that feeling - it's funny how it all comes together, and the sense of satisfaction gained.

 

It's looking good. I still might be tempted by another one!