White Road Boss Dump Truck

[Cornbinder]

This is something I've been horsing around with for a few months now. I started with an original 1974 kit, and a 108" BBC Hood from GW Trucks. I messed up on the frame, and ended up buying a fresh reissue to use for parts. For a while, I was undecided on what to do with the thing. Build it as a tractor? Or a flat bed? Or put a dump body on it. The old county road commission "theme" I had with the hood and cab even had me thinking of picking up an AMT Ford plow truck and just sticking the plow and dump body onto this. I ultimately chose to go with a dump body, and a knuckle boom crane.

I had a little fun junking out the interior in this one. Here you can see the dashboard fan (with some Macho Man Randy Savage style sunglasses draped over it), an adjustable wrench, and a pack of Marlboros. There's plenty more to see in there- a CB radio, a first aid kit, and some other little details to add interest. 

Here's where it sits as of now. After it sat around in "glider" form propped up on a stack of tires for about a month, I finally went ahead and added the rear suspension. I was torn between single or tandem, I finally just decided to stick with the kit-supplied Hendrickson tandem setup. The kit wheelbase is 194" (oddly listed for straight trucks but not for tractors), I shortened it to 182". The Effer crane is from an Italeri accessories pack, and the dump bed is made from Plastruct flat and strip stock.

The front wheels and battery boxes are from a Diamond Reo, and I used a Detroit 8v71 from a Peterbilt 352 Pacemaker. I cut down the bumper to a "lightweight" narrow type. The caution stripe pattern is a decal from the AMT Ohio George '60 Ford Ranchero. The County Road Commission decals came from the recent MPC Gravel Trailer reissue. I used only the lenses for the cab lights- White offered a "pop off" style clearance light for fleet and budget-minded buyers, so called because the lens just popped off for bulb changing. The kit lenses bear a pretty close resemblance to these units. The horn came from a Revell snapper- don't recall if it was the KW or Pete, though. The mufflers and mounts are from two Diamond Reo kits, with K&S aluminum tubing for the standpipes. 

The driver's side fuel tank is from the kit, there is no passenger's side tank. Rather, there is a tool box made from a modified White Freightliner battery box. I lowered the truck a bit- these old AMT kits tend to sit a bit high- probably okay for an unladen truck, but a bit nosebleed-inducing otherwise. 

Still plenty to do here... finish the dump body and crane, get the hydro tank for the dump cylinder dialed in, and make up a few more orange barrels (and other junk) to kick around in the back. 

Edited November 22, 2015 by Cornbinder

[Cornbinder]

Got quite a bit done last night.

The crane and the subframe for the dump body are completed (as far as construction), and installed on the truck. I added hydraulic hoses to the crane, and put an amber flasher on the top of the folded boom. The hydraulic tank for the dump body is from the MPC gravel trailer. I may add a few more oil leaks here and there.

[Cornbinder]

Thanks. I've seen those on some of the "stripped" fleet-spec models, and thought I'd give it a go on this one. Figured they'd fit better with the overall municipal theme.

[Cornbinder]

I keep looking at this on the bench, but can't bring myself to work on it!  Oh well... I guess I have all winter.

[Cornbinder]

Well...

A month or so ago, the White took a tumble and lost the appendages shown. Fortunately it was easily repairable, and the only AWOL piece is the lower driver's side mirror bracket. The mess was boxed up and forgotten about until earlier today.

A few hours of fiddling, fitting, and cursing under my breath and.... I'M RIGHT BACK AT THE POINT WHERE I LEFT OFF BACK IN JANUARY!  Well, I did make a few changes. I reinforced the mounting points of the rear axles- they were pretty weak to start with (we all know the gluing surfaces on these old AMT kits can be more "theoretical" than "certain"). Any loose parts were reglued and reinforced if needed. I also added a couple of wooden planks for the dump bed. The strips are real wood. The sausage is, of course, Jimmy Dean. I still need to reattach the driver's side mirror, not sure if I'll check around to see if I can find the missing piece or bite the bullet and rob one from another kit or make one from plastic strip. 

[Casey]

Looks like it recovered well.  Nice build.  Thanks for the update!

--Casey

 

[Cornbinder]

S'pose one more update for the evening.

 

Added a few appendages to the dump body. And filler. Quite a bit of filler! Also shown here are some other items- two shovels, a traffic cone, and a barrel, all of which may or may not end up in the bed. I also made a tarp- it is a piece of Scott blue shop towel wrapped around some 3/32" aluminum tubing and painted flat black. 

[Cornbinder]

As of now, the driver's mirror is repaired, the dump bed is painted, weathered, and permanently installed, and the tarp has been fitted. The barrels are residing in the dump body along with a couple of shovels and a road cone, I'll be adding a bit of residual gravel and rocks to the edges of the bed. 

 

Amazing how much progress you can make on a project when you actually work on it, is it not? 

 

[Cornbinder]

Not a whole lot of progress, but I got some reflectors on the sides of the dump bed. They're self-adhesive rhinestones from a craft store. I also added some mudflaps, which I pirated from a Louisville short hauler. I still need to figure out taillights and probably a hitch, and do a little more last-minute type detailing. But other than that I think this one is pretty well dialed in. 

[Cornbinder]

It's pretty much done, so here's a teaser pic until I'm out of work tomorrow and the sun is nice and bright. Provided it doesn't rain...