Kitbashing a Mack truck with a Universal®
formed the International Crane Com- pany to build cranes for truck-mounted applications. In 1920 International evolved into the Universal Crane Com- pany of Elyria, Ohio.
Thoughts of modeling a truck-mount- ed crane occurred while brainstorming plans for Cohen & Son, a small local scrap yard that is modeled on my 1962- era layout. In real life, lots of Mack AC’s lived second and third lives. For exam- ple, after twenty-five years in a local fire department, the 1925 AC tractor of a ladder truck spent another twenty- five laboring about a local junk yard. A Jordan Mack AC kit was already on my shelf and an on-line search for a small crane led me to Rio Grande Models and their Universal Truck Crane kit No. 3064. Their web site even showed the crane mounted on a Jordan AC. Merging the two kits was a no-brainer, and with a little kitbashing I made it “mine.” George Barrett at Sheepscot Mod- els supplied the pneumatic tire wheel castings to replace the 1923-era truck kit’s hard rubber tires. I sliced off the cab roof to improve the boom swing within the tight confines of the scrap yard. When a friend asked where the outrig- gers were I fashioned some using two sizes of Evergreen Scale Models I-beams. The beams would appear to slide out to rest on wooden cribbing for stability. We can’t have our crane tipping over while lifting some old iron. Up front I added a rusty and dented I-beam for a bumper,
and the same was done on the rear. Building the crane kit went well with just a little interpreting of the in- structions and improvising along the way. Fortunately, the crane platform is a perfect fit for the AC chassis. After trimming flash from some of the metal castings, I bathed the parts in soapy water to assure good assembly using cyanoacrylate cement. I elected to glue the boom in its upright position. The rigging is elastic thread that I discov- ered at a fabric store so it should al- ways appear taught. While the crane comes with a nicely detailed grappling hook, a call to the owner of Cohen & Son revealed that in 1962 their yard crane was equipped with a magnet. A Kadee wheel and some bits of plastic gave me an electro-magnet that resem- bles some in old photos I found on line. I’m forever finding uses for those tiny Scale Structures detail parts that my wife and I seek out at train shows. Wrenches, oil cans and chains lay about the cab and chassis. Minute bits of pa- per towels wadded up in white glue, then painted orange represent shop rags. A twist or two with a No. 11 blade created tears in the seat cushions, simu- lating years of wear and abuse. To complete the crane, the cab interi-
or was painted Roof Brown with dry- brushed highlights of silver and aged concrete. Dark chalks were brushed on to make the entire rig look old and tired. Additional aging in the form of
crane
I-beams were added to the chassis to rep- resent outriggers (above). The crane looks right at home in the scrap yard (below).
rust is represented by dabs of raw um- ber and raw sienna paint. Rubbing cer- tain parts with a pencil created a nice metallic effect. Finally, years after I saw that New
York harbor photo, I have my own ver- sion of that special little crane on my layout, and I can’t tell you how much it makes me smile.
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AUGUST 2012
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