IJ Cargo Custom

Spudkopf · Post by **Spudkopf** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 11:45 pm

G'day all

I put off buying a IJ cargo truck to the point where I almost getting one at all. Then I found three on clearance and snapped them all up.

Straight out of the box the Mercedes Benze LG63 looks kind of neat, but I simply could not help myself and had to launch into a custom.

Below are some initial shots of the first victim, quite some work still to do but I'd thought I'd show you my initail progress after a weekends fiddling.

Major changes are:
Overall Panzer Grey paint
New gear stick
Clutch pedal added
Wooden floor boards added to cab
Minor canges to radiator grill (deleted grill drop feature)
New thinner width guides
New cabin handles
Extra wooden framing in gargo bay
Canopy hoops
and more to come.....

As my three vehicles are hard top canopy versions I will need to eith get hold of a soft top are attempt to make one of my own.

Enjoy.....

Stug45 · Post by **Stug45** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:18 am

Great job Spudkopf, can't wait to see when its done.

flpickupman · Post by **flpickupman** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 7:23 am

Very nice. I think I'll have to grab one of my own. Bet it would look fantastic in Desert Tan.

Thanks for sharing.

Spudkopf · Post by **Spudkopf** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:07 pm

Thanks for the comments.

Apart from the addition of a canopy some of the other changes that I am considering are:

Wooden slatted bench seats for the cargo bay
Towing hitch
Mercedes-Benze Radiator and hood ornament symbols
A fire extinguisher mounted in the cabin
Exhaust pipe

For those who are interested I have found that Hasbro has made some slight spelling errors on the cabin door script (I have not yet checked to see if Lucas/Spielberg made the initial error), in that übergosse should be Übergosse and Ladungträger should be Ladungsträger, so the full text should be as follows:

Vorsicht Fußgänger
Übergosse Last
Gefahr Ladungsträger . TC

I plan to do three versions (at the moment) of the LG63, two are to be in Panzer Grey (P.G.) with one of these returned to represent the IJ flimsies version (hence the need to get the scripting correct) and one in a Panzer Yellow (P.Y.) with either Olive Green (blotches or scribble) or in a full tri-colour paint scheme.

At the moment as the IJ version is essentially a Wehrmacht or Army vehicle it can also double as a Pak40 tractor (the 2 metric tonne towing limit of the vehicle makes the 8200 kg 88mm just a tad to heavy). The other proposed P.G. version may end up in Luftwaffe markings, to sit amongst my aircraft, ideally towing a FlaK 30 or FlaK 38 or even as a filed mod and have one of these weapons mounted on the cargo bed itself! I may just have to talk to picklehaub about this idea.

Will post updates here as I go, I need to pick up some more P.G. paint tomorrow before I can progress the vehicle any further.

mediump · Post by **mediump** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:03 pm

Looks great! Can't wait to see the others as well. tri color camo should look great

Jesse James · Post by **Jesse James** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:14 pm

What'd you use for the wood on the rear? I'm curious how you got the grain so nice if you just used plastic strips. Very nice, and I've got a pile of trucks here to custom up myself. I'm hoping to do a couple decoes too, to just give my Germans some variety for the BotB, a simple grey, may N. Africa... Just good variety.

Spudkopf · Post by **Spudkopf** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:03 am

Jesse James wrote:What'd you use for the wood on the rear? I'm curious how you got the grain so nice if you just used plastic strips.

G'day JJ

I use the wooden planks that are meant for billing style scale boat builders, down here these are sold at hobby shops, the grain is very tight and well scaled, unlike balsa wood it does not fur-up when filed, cut or sanded and takes paint extremely well it can also be glued with super glue (crazy / CA glue).

Best of all it come in various wood types, teak, mahogany etc and in multiple cords and widths and because it is real wood the grains are all unique.

Just like styrene strips having constant straight lengths to work with makes using them all the more easier.

grunt1 · Post by **grunt1** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:05 am

Very nice spud, can't wait to see the rest..

Light.Inf.Scout · Post by **Light.Inf.Scout** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:33 am

Aslav · Post by **Aslav** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:48 pm

Looking good Spudkopf.
It will look great when completed, maybe with troops and towing a Pak 40.

side note:- where did you pick them up from?. Net or local?.

Spudkopf · Post by **Spudkopf** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:40 am

Aslav wrote:Looking good Spudkopf.
It will look great when completed, maybe with troops and towing a Pak 40.

side note:- where did you pick them up from?. Net or local?.

G'day Lincoln

Just got back from a couple of days down at the Prom', thanks for the comment.

Well I picked up my three from a local Toy World for $29 each (three was all they had), I have also cheked every other Toy World in the S.E. suburbs but none had any vehicles and only one had any figures but these were still at full price !?!.

You may have a bit luck up in the North. FYI some K-marts are running out the figures at $1 to $2 each, but the the picking a slim if non-existant, out of five K-marts around here I found only two had any at all and nearly all the Ravenwood figure.

Let me kow how you fair on your side of the Yarra

Spud

Aslav · Post by **Aslav** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:55 am

Hey spudkopf,
I have seen a very limited range of figures in Toys'R"Us, passed on the Afrika Korps style soldiers. Pretty dodgy and $17 Aussie a pop. No vehicles at all, I'll have a look at K-Mart.
"Won" a fabric canopy truck on evilBay this Tuesday, posted from Florida for a total $56 Aussie. Not too bad I thought.

Spudkopf · Post by **Spudkopf** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 5:07 am

I was bidding on a cloth version also, but when I picked up the 3 hard-tops locally I kind'a let it the bid slide, sad thing is my high bid was US$21.00 and it went for US$21.50, but them's the breaks I guess.

I only ever picked up one of the desert guys but if I see others now (especially the twin packs) then I may just bite, as with a little work they do have a fair amount of potential especially for actual IJ based dioramas or vignette scenes.

But my favourite figure has to be Indiana himself, I already have one ROTLA and a KOTCS Indy and just picked up an RPG Indy that I intend to turn into a shirt only original Indy with a head swap from the very lame whip cracking figure (what were they thinking), but I do need to get myself a deluxe Indy on the horse and maybe a second ROTLA Indy just for future custom ideas so if you see any on your round let me know.

I also need to get a second BMW R75 as these are a lot better than they first look also.

In tandem with the Cargo truck custom I've also been working on making the bike a little more realistic (easier than you think as most of the relevant details are there already), pictures of the initial work on the R75 to be posted shortly.

Worst thing is I passed on nearly all this stuff, especially seeing in January all the majors were almost giving them away and now they are like hens teeth to find.

I never did see a Dr. Jones Senior figure locally, but I just picked one up on eBay on Monday.