Three Transport Trucks of 1914-1918
- Vulcan, Leyland and Berna

By Gerald Scarborough
(From Airfix Magazine June, 1971)

The 1914-18 conflict was the first war in which the internal combustion engine was to prove a major factor, and in which trucks and cars were to play such a vital part. At the moment there appears to be only limited military interest in the World War 1 period on the part of the kit manufacturers (apart from the Airfix Mk I tank and 1914-18 soldier sets) and I hope this article will in part remedy that. I have been slowly collecting military vehicle information together and was finally spurred to action when I came across Military Transport of World War 1 by Chris Ellis, published by Blandford in their `Mechanised War­fare in Colour' series. At £1.25 it's worth saving your pocket money or fiddling the housekeeping allowance as the artwork by Dennis Bishop captures the styles of these vehicles admirably and Chris Ellis writes the interesting background to the types described.

To provide wargamers and military vehicle modellers with some suitable motor transport, I have produced ideas for scratch-building a couple of types of truck. I trust that readers will appreciate that detailed dimensions of vehicles of this period are extremely difficult to obtain and the actual vehicle types are in many cases still not in existence for direct measurement. The drawings given here, therefore, are based on the basic dimensions that were available and every care has been taken to endeavour to get the proportions correct. However, in this small 1 :76 scale any errors will, I hope, be very minute, and a satisfactory replica will result.  

Vulcan Truck

The Vulcan Motor and Engineering Co (1806) Ltd, of Southport was taken over by Tilling-Stevens Ltd in 1939 and the whole lot have since been absorbed by the Routes Group of Companies. The Vulcan factory had a reputation for durability, and there was a restored example of the type drawn still running in 1457 and probably still in existence today. The engine was a four cylinder unit of 22.4 HP (RAC) and drove through a four speed and reverse gearbox to a worm final drive. Wheels were solid - rubber tyred, twin at the rear and the body was boarded over and covered with roof cloth.

The model is representative of the types that were "called up" for active service for use as general transport and ambu­lances, etc. A few kit parts can be incorporated in the construction though the majority is of necessity scratch built. The wheels are perhaps the trickiest parts and for the front I used a pair of Airfix T-34 roadwheels left over from previous conversions. All that is required is to mark out and drill a circle of eight holes using a 1/32 inch drill and eight larger holes, say 3/64 inches, outside these. Cut away any plastic remaining between to leave the “spokes” as shown on the draw­ing. The rear wheels have a very compli­cated “cast” spoke and I didn't really consider cutting these out as feasible in this scale. However, if you take a pair of Centurion road wheels (T-34s would do), it is possible to add these spokes from stretched sprue carefully cut to length and bent to shape. There were twin wheels at the rear but of course it is only necessary to "spoke" the outers. The construction of the chassis should be clear from the sketch; build it upside down and make sure it sets square: then add the Microstrip springs on stretched sprue hangers. The body is made up with a bottom of 20 thou Plastikard, sides and end from 15 thou. The sides should be about 2 mm higher than shown on the plan with an overlay of 10 thou to the correct size. This will allow an overlap for fixing the tilt which is cut out and moulded round a dowel of 7/8 inch diameter, or as near as you can get to that, using the usual boiling water treatment. The driver's seat (from an Austin truck) and the front hood can be added. The inside is painted at this stage and the five body bearers added underneath.

The cab/bonnet section construction is also shown in the sketch but note the cab only has one side, the near side being left open. Include the gear and brake levers and the pedals if possible with a steering wheel from a Bren Gun Carrier or similar. The bonnet top is cut from an Austin Ambulance with sides of 20 thou Plastikard, the radiator a Microstrip frame with vertical "tubes" cut from plastic rod.

After assembling the body and bonnet/cab units to the chassis, add the mudguards from 10 thou Plastikard, moulded round dowel and with stays from Micro­strip. The curved portions of the front mudguards I moulded round the handle of a hot poker. The front axle is bent from plastic rod and the rear was from two Sherman tank guns, cut, stuck and filed to shape, or alternatively plastic rod could be used. Finally, add the smaller bits of detail like the lights, step, exhaust, starting handle, etc. There was a range of plastic Veteran Car kits being distributed recently by Jet Petrol stations and similar kits are marketed by Harbutts. These kits, although to odd scales, are extremely useful for lamps, steering wheels, starting handles, etc, so are well worth acquiring.

The Leyland 3-tonner

The Leyland 3 ton “subsidy” vehicles were used in the thousands by both the Army and the RFC/RAF, often being fitted with specialist bodywork, eg, work­shop, fuel tankers, balloon vehicles, etc. They were extremely rugged vehicles and many survived the war to be re-purchased by Leylands, reconditioned, and resold (with a two-year guarantee) to have various bodies built on them for com­mercial use. One particular example was purchased by Chivers and Sons Ltd of Cambridge in 1919, fitted with a box type body and used for delivery work in Lon­don until 1934 when it was retired for general work in their factory at Histon. It was then converted into a water carrier as part of the factory's fire brigade in the second world war, subsequently work­ing on Chivers Farms until, in 1959, it was completely restored by them and later presented to the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club.

The truck version makes a relatively simple model, utilising Airfix Panther tank road wheels, convex at the front, backed with a disc of 10 thou Plastikard and twin concave (with the boss cut off) at the rear. Mould an outer rim from a 4 rum wide strip of 10 thou card and add the individual `tyres' from Micro­strip. The body, bonnet/cab and chassis construction are all shown on the sketch (note door on left side only) and is basically similar to the Vulcan previously described. The front axle is from an Austin K6 and the rear cut from a Matador, but more or less anything similar will do. Springs are spares from Austins or built up from Microstrip, and the bench seat is from the Airfix German half-track.

The Berna C2 Truck

The Berna C2 motor lorry from Olten, near Berne, Switzerland, produced by Motorwerke Berna AG, was manu­factured until 1918, being supplied to both the Swiss and the Allied armies. Fifty chassis a month were produced, a large output for those days. An example of this vehicle, restored by the works apprentices, in the livery of the Feld­schlossen Brewery, can be seen in the Swiss Institute of Transport and Communications Museum on the shores of Lake Lucerne, to the Curator of which I am indebted for information from which the drawings were produced. This museum is well worth a visit by any modeller lucky enough to be holidaying in that area for it has a fine display of model railways, aircraft and ships, as well as the collection of full-size exhibits.

For this model I used wheels from one of the previously mentioned “free” Jet or Harbutt's kits, the 1904 Mercedes being the nearest for the front spoked wheels. The rear are scratch built with a rim moulded from 20 thou Plastikard strips, twin tyres from Microstrip, the centre from a disc of 20 thou Plastikard, a hub from an Airfix Quad and “spokes” from more Microstrip. Note that these wheels were a solid disc with strengthening spokes cast in and very deeply dished. The rear axle is cut from a K-M half­track front axle.

The body again is simple and shown in the sketch. Add the ironwork to the sides, bearers and separate chassis runners and set aside to dry. The cab section (again with a door on only the left side) is a very “rounded” shape and thick Plastikard, or suitable laminations, are needed to give enough material to allow this shape to be produced. It is easier if first the driving compartment “box” is shaped. Then add the partly shaped front bulk­head and finally the 10 thou face, giving a last sanding to shape when all is dry. The rest of the chassis and final assembly should be clear from the sketch and is essentially similar to the Leyland and Vulcan. The mudguards have a quite dis­tinctive beading and this can be added from stretched sprue after they have been moulded. If you can manage the name Berna on the radiator this can also come from stretched sprue.

For anyone interested in wargames of the 1914-18 period, these models could, of course, be further simplified for speed of building. For example, the Vulcan would not look amiss with unmodified T-34 road wheels and a lot of the fragile detail could also be left off without spoiling the effect. As for colour schemes, the Vulcan is in Humbrol Khaki, the Leyland in a mixture of British Desert Sand/Dark Green to give a lighter green similar to that in the artwork illustration in the Blandford book, and the Berna is basically in Medium Grey.