WILLIAM GILL
Adding trucks to the layout T
Giving Classic Metal Works models a customized look/Bill Gill
he HO scale New England Berk- shire & Western R.R. of the Rens- selaer Model Railroad Society and the Connecticut & Vermont RR of my basement share no geographical in- terchange, yet both lines benefit from regular idea exchanges. The tiny C&V usually focuses on tiny details. The huge NEB&W offers great scope for ex- perimenting. Projects started for one layout often develop further on the oth- er. The latest exchange began when the club wanted a Woody station wagon stuffed with camping gear similar to the one on the C&V (Detailing a classic, RMC Nov. 2011). Shortly afterward a handful of Classic Metal Works (CMW) 1941-46 Chevy trucks arrived with an invitation to “do whatever you want.” Online research made this project in- teresting, although crosschecking in- formation was important. Every fact came in several versions. Adopting a close enough approach helped to keep things going. The search began by hap- hazardly touring 1941-46 Chevy truck photos online. Scrolling passed the cus- tom restored ones found others that had been worked hard for a long time. Coincidently the red pickup arrived with its front bumper already crunched, like maybe it had dropped onto a rock while rounding up a pasture full of recal-
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citrant cows. That possibility bounced the truck into the dairy business. Apples fit well into the NEB&W’s early fall set- ting. An apple orchard on the layout in- spired the load for the green pickup. A yellow pickup became a weathering ex- periment. An orange pickup was des- tined for damage beyond rust and dirt. The flatbed truck got details from sever-
al photos and a load of hay (New York was the lead producer of Timothy hay). The telephone truck looked like the easi- est project. Searching did not turn up a prototype exactly like it. With nothing specific to copy, making better brackets for its ladder and pole tools and adding a layer of weathering would take care of it –or so I thought.
A dairy farmer unloads the milk cans from his pickup truck at the Chester, Vermont, milk stand (top). Here (below) are a pair of Classic Metal Works pickups fresh out of their pack- aging. The bent bumper on the red truck inspired some heavy weathering and it became the dairy farmer’s truck. The green truck went to work in the apple orchards. The trucks can be disassembled with a screw driver (right). Two common size apple crates were modeled for the back of the green pickup (far right). Online searches provided inspiration for modeling the driver’s plaid shirt, the crate sizes and their construction and coloring.
PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR UNLESS NOTED
NOVEMBER 2013
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