Monday, March 4, 2013

N Scale Trucks (a major gap in N scale)

I did not intend to go dark for this long before posting something new and exciting, however, time has certainly slipped away from me already in 2013.  In anticipation of my new layout design moving into construction soon, I have been fully aware of the need for all kinds of trucks to service the industries that I have chosen to model as part of the Council Bluffs Sub.  Some if not all are not available in N scale, or available, but not from the modern era, or needing some alterations.  At the train show earlier this year, I stumbled upon a couple Chevy truck kits that were being sold by one of the vendors.  The model is a late 70's early 80's Chevy C60/C65 truck, and they come in various configurations.  I wasn't sure if the company was still around, but I did some research, and sure enough, C in C Precision in Miniatures does still exist, and has a website.

Anyway, the multitude of trucks that I am needing for my industrial layout includes flatbeds for lumber, grain boxes, grain trailers, cement trucks, rock/sand trucks, etc., etc., etc.  Although the C60/65 chevy is a couple decades old, I figured it would make a good grain truck, as this was a common model for that use.  While most grain is hauled via tractor trailer today, there are still a lot of straight trucks used for field to local storage trips, and short hauls.  Our family farm actually has two, an International cabover, and an R model Mack.

My plan is to stretch the frame on a couple of these trucks, add a tandem axle and drop a grain box on it.  Where is the grain box coming from?  Well that is what is consuming much of my modeling time lately.  I am moving into the world of 3D printing, and I am finding a lot of potential for me personally, and N scale in general.  More to come on that in the future.

Here is an example of the C in C packaging, and the  C65 single axle tractor which I have cleaned up and is ready for paint and assembly.  This one I'll keep as a tractor, as I have specific plans for it.  The grain elevator will be a prominent structure on my new layout, so grain trucks are high on my list.





4 comments:

  1. I'm not sure if this will work for both your region or era, but might give you some options to kit-bash or modify on.
    Tomix makes some modern vehicles that are not too badly priced and have some remarkable detail for the cost:
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Truck-Collection-2-Truck-Tomytec-1-150-N-scale-/200901358925?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item2ec6a7754d

    But there are some older versions as well:
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Truck-Collection-Series-No-8-Total-12-Trucks-Tomytec-1-150-N-scale-/200895094953?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item2ec647e0a9

    There may be other options (although more expensive) from some of the European brands. I don't know if any of these work for you, but some ideas perhaps?
    http://www.nscaleintermodalstore.net/category.sc?categoryId=47

    Good luck! Keep up the progress!

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    Replies
    1. thanks for the references Jerry. There does seem to be a lot of offerings out there, but just not quite right for American style machines. Maybe I am being too picky, but like I said in my post, there are some good base models to choose from, but not many that are ready to run. I guess that is part of the fun/frustration with this hobby right? Trying to find and create models that don't exist.

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  2. If you want to know about it than click to read here. This is one of the best website. I am really thankful for you this website because it provide us such a informative post. Nice!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Try shapeways.com. The website has grain trucks for sale.

    ReplyDelete