griggs

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Dinky Studebaker Tanker Truck by Randy Griggs

I recently learned about the very near S-Gauge DINKY Studebaker tanker truck on eBay where someone mentioned that the "length" was a little over 4 3/8". Several folks mentioned the DINKY Studebaker tankers were 1/43 scale - TOO BIG FOR US! So, I pretty much ruled it out as a potential "S" model. I found on eBay where someone had photographed the bottom of the Studebaker tanker. I printed the photo to "scale" and measured the "width". It turned out to be about 1.41" wide, which to ME equals about 7.5' in1/64 scale! Good enough for this vintage & type of truck!

I finally was successful in bidding on an eBay offering - THAT NEEDED TO BE RESTORED! When I received the little gem, I saw that it had been subjected to pretty rough use, and had apparently been used for BB gun
practice as it had a bunch of little round BB "dents" in several places.

After taking it apart, doing some body work & dent "filling", repainting, decaling, and installing scale "S" wheels & tires it turned out GREAT. I had to modify the sheet metal "chassis" and the rear wheel axle support on the body of the model for the new, scale wheels & tires. I drilled out the rivet supports, tapped them for a small brass screw so I can now reassemble the model with 2 small screws. (This turned out much better than I thought it would!) I also recontoured the front wheel well openings as the DINKY model was a little off with respect to the REAL Studebaker trucks of the early 50's which this represented. The original DINKY had sort of a 3-sided front wheel opening whereas the REAL trucks had rounded ones. I plan on adding a rear view mirror on the driver's side as well as some proper ICC clearance lights on the top of the cab, but that can wait until I get a "round 'tuit"!

I also purchased a second Stude tanker off eBay which I photographed next to the previously restored one. I think you would agree the "restored" is suitable for just about any "S" layout - ESPECIALLY IF YOU JUST HAVE TO HAVE A STUDEBAKER!

This past Christmas holiday I spent a LOT of time restoring the little DINKY Studebaker tanker truck as well as an ERTL MACK semi tractor I had bought years ago which had a broken chassis. I decided the MACK
would look nice (after I removed its "sleeper" and shortened the chassis about 2 scale feet) in UP armour yellow paint with a UP emblem on each door. I figured I had to use SOMETHING to load/unload all those "S" TOFCs with! :-)

The tanker is shown with two SHROCK BROS. diecast model Studebakers that are also VERY CLOSE to 1/64. One's a little '49 or '50 pickup, the other is about a '62 Stude CHAMP pickup. Both of these little gems are the same color as the ones my Dad & Mom used to own. (They still own the REAL light blue CHAMP pickup!) What I'd REALLY like to see someone like ERTL or Racing Champions make is a 1/60-1/64 scale Studebaker AVANTI! WHY NOT? Our "S" layouts should ALL have several Studebakers! ;-)

Randy Griggs (Always looking for "S" Studebakers!) rlgriggsXXX@megsinet.net

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