Scratchbuilt Foden DG6/12 - 10 ton GS Truck

Hi Folks,

I have always wanted to do one of the Foden heavies having had the Dinky version in my youth. The inspiration came from Les Freathy's excellent book "British Military Trucks of World War Two" and Mike's (Bugchaser) excellent ERF 6 Ton GS build on the Conversion threads of the Airfix Tribute Forum. Dave Rhodes also had a good amount of information he was willing to share.
Cabs were available for the DG series from both Langley and RTI so I had ordered both. Shown in the photos is the Langley one which seemed pretty good and was the one I used for this model. Both versions required new mudguards as they came with the DG 6/10 type. The DG6/12 had the more austere sheet metal ones with a larger radius to accommodate the larger 13.50 x 20 tyres used on this model.
The frame was scratchbuilt using diagrams kindly provided by Dave Rhodes which included detailed diagrams of the rear suspension. I used AEC Refueller springs, axles and drive train to build these up. The wheels for the rear are the venerable Scammell trailer ones which were "retreaded" with the Dunlop Trak pattern. The fronts came from Les Freathy some time ago and are perfect for this application.
Two days ago, I got the transfers in the mail thanks to Peter Marshall (Aleran) and with great input from Chris Groves and Mike Starmer, it is finally complete and marked up as a General Transport Company vehicle of the 226th Coy RASC which served with 1st Army in Tunisia in 1943. Figures are from AB with the berets filed into Field Service caps.
Hope you like it!

Cheers,

Neil

 

Hi Owen,

Thanks for the nice comments and I'm glad you like it....it was a fun build.

Cheers,

Neil

 

Very nice work.

Do you have any tech specs on the real ones?

Doesn't seem to be a lot of info on them on the net

 

Well done that is excellent.

 

Thanks gents for the great comments and Dave, according to Les Freathy's excellent book, "British Military Trucks of World War Two", the Foden DG6/10 had the following:

Engine: Gardner 6LW 6-cylinder diesel (Same as Scammell Pioneers)
Gearbox: 4 forward, 1 Reverse
Suspension: Front - semi-elliptic Rear - semi-elliptic but with free ends
Brakes: foot, hydraulic on all wheels. Handbrake, mechanical on rear wheels only
Tyres: 36x8 and 13.50x20 on DG6/12
Fuel Cap: 50 Gal (400 Miles)
Demensions: L 26ft 7in W 7ft 6in H 10ft 2in
Weight: Unladen 7 ton 4 cwt

The DG6/12 was basically the same except for more austere larger radius mudguards and wheel arches on the body to accommodate the larger wheels.
Hope this is what you wanted.

Cheers,

Neil

 

Well done Neil
excellent work

thank you for posting

regards
Clive

 

Another excellent model.

Regards
Tom

 

Thank you gentlemen for your kind words. They are really appreciated.

Cheers,

Neil

 

very nice model and very well painted too.
The ropes/leashes must have been a tricky job..

Was that fatigue style (black clouds/circles running along the top) common , or where did you see that camouflage pattern ? In the same book ?

 

Thanks gents and yes, Owen is correct. I was a bit surprised when Mike Starmer confirmed that M/M camo was used in North Africa but apparently it was. The tilt tie-down ropes are individual bits of thread impregnated with CA and attached one at a time.....one under the tilt and one on top joining at the clip. Tedious, but effective......glad you enjoyed the model.

Cheers,

Neil