Airfix Conversion

2003-11-26

References Used
· 'Historic Military Vehicles Directory' by Bart Vandrveen, page 174
· 'Military Transport of WW2' by C.Ellis & D. Bishop, plate 105
I think the plans came from an old Bellona book, I had them in a file of old plans etc.


Before starting the conversion I measured the Airfix chassis against the plan. This showed that the chassis was too long at the front end and it was cut immediately in front of the spring hangers. The rear was shortened by 3mm and the taper on the underside reinstated.

The chassis and cab are now assembled as per the instructions. Interior colour is Khaki Drab, with pale green or leather for the seats. If you wish to add glazing to the cab windows then it should be done before assembling the cab.



The only addition to the cab/chassis unit is a frame that held weights used to counterbalance the truck when lifting or towing heavy loads. The supports for this are made from two triangles of plastic card (see sketches). These are glued in place against the sides of the radiator cowling after first removing the kit headlights. A piece of plastic strip is glued across these, reaching about ½ the width of each mudguard. Two more strips are cut to fit between the ends of the cross piece and mudguard - these should be horizontal. More strips complete a rectangular frame on each side. A typical weight would be a concrete block or a large cast-iron block. If these are added then they were secured with a strap across the top and two long studs and wing-nuts. The kit head lamps are relocated to the bumper top just under the outer edges of the frame. There is also a small support from the end of the cross piece to the base of the support.




Before starting work on the new rear body the chassis was painted Khaki Drab along with the cab rear as these parts will be hard to reach later. The wheels are also painted and glued in place at this stage so that we can ensure that the body has the correct clearance when added later.

As the body of the K6 is of the 'well' type it has a lowered portion in the centre of the floor. The floor starts off as a flat plate 54mm long and 26mm wide. This is then cut into 3 pieces, the centre part 12mm wide and two 7mm outer parts. These are scribed to represent planks. Two 4mm high strips are needed 54mm long to make the sides for the well section, and the cab-end as per sketch. This is a T-shaped piece, scribed with planks inside and out. To close the tail end of the well a piece of card 12mm wide and 5mm high is cut. These pieces will form the base of the body conversion.

The 12mm wide floor of the well is glued to the cab end making sure that it's flat and square to the end. The 4mm risers are then glued vertically to the outer edge of the floor and tail piece used to close the rear. The two outer floor sections are next glued in place at each side to finish the floor. A further piece 10mm by 4mm is next cut and glued into the well 15mm from the front end and a planked floor piece made to cover the enclosed section. This is made from thin card and on the real vehicle covered a 5-ton winch that was fitted between the floor and chassis. This should slightly overlap the floor on each side.

Note that if you've followed my method then the cab-end overlaps the width of the floor by about 1/2mm each side. This is because the sides will butt against the rear of this piece, but fit outside the sides of the floor.

The sides are made from 20thou card (0.5mm) 54mm x 8mm, scribed with planks inside and out. These are glued in place to the outside edge of the floor and against the rear of the cab-end section.




To make the tailgate end a strip of card 0.01 x 0.06" (0.25mm x 1.5mm) is cut to 25mm long and glued across the bottom of the well section with the 1.5mm side vertical. Two more pieces run from the top of the sides to the outer end of this cross-piece. We now have the rear frame of the body. The lower strip is a bar that prevents the tailgate from damaging lights etc. when lowered. The tailgate itself is a rectangle of 20thou card scribed with plank detail on both sides. This is glued to the rear opening with the top edge level with the upper edge of the body sides.

The strengthening strips on the body sides, ends and tailgate are made from 40thou and 60thou strip and glued in place ( see pattern on sketches ). All the joints between the strengthening strips are covered with triangles from thin card.

Before starting on the upper part of the body there are some more parts to be added underneath. Four struts are made from thin card strips and glued to stretch from the bottom of the well section to the outer edge of the floor sides, at each end of the body.

Mudguards are made from 20thou card, 5mm wide by 10mm high. Two supports are needed for each and these are made from microstrip. To ensure that the mudguards are in the correct places, dry-fit the body to the chassis and mark a point 1/8" (3mm) in front and behind the wheels. The mudguards are glued in place at these points.


Stowage boxes are needed on each side under the front of the body. These can be made from card covered balsa or like mine, sourced from the spares box.

To commence the top part of the body conversion, we start with the gantry supports. These are made from 0.01 x 0.06" strip stock, and the gantry itself from I-section girder beam. ( see sketches ). The end frames are made from H-section girder and the tilt bars from fuse-wire.


Two more tool boxes are glued inside the body front either side of the gantry supports. Again I found these in my spares box.

A chain hoist was used on the gantry, but was not always rigged when not in use. This was made from thin card and slivers of round-section sprue ( see sketch ) . Paint the underside of the body and the cab-end. The body can then be glued to the chassis starting 3mm from the rear of the cab.

It would be a shame to cover this work with a tilt cover, so I used a 1/35 scale tarpaulin to represent a folded tilt and glued this into the body. If you wish to make a fitted tilt then it can be made from PVA soaked tissue.



NB: Click on the small thumbs for an enlarged view of each image.

To view Dave's plans, please click here.