M-5 Bomb Trailer

[Second Air Force]

I had the airbrush out to paint the nacelle interiors on the B-17 project so I shot a coat of O.D. on the bomb trailer. I slid the tires on temporarily for the picture--they'll align corretly when we get to final assembly. I'm stalled on this until I can get to the hobby shop for Evergreen channel stock for the bed rails. No one was open this weekend because of the sloppy roads.

M-5 Bomb Trailer

[No.1]

Wonderful work mate!!!

[draken35]

I like it!!!

[Sall]

Wonderful work!

[Second Air Force]

Here is a photo of a couple of bomb rails. There are a total of thirty-one parts in each one of these. This model is a really good research project for the real trailer I'm restoring. I will have to make a set of these in 1/1 scale someday and it was nice to build small ones first!

M-5 Bomb Trailer

I also worked on the tires. A good friend mentioned that the originals looked like they came from a child's toy so I decided to put them on the lathe for some tread. First the tread face:

M-5 Bomb Trailer

Then, the sidewall:

M-5 Bomb Trailer

Next I had to narrow them down a bit on the sanding block to get the scale width. Here is a nearly-finished wheel next to an original Monogram part:

M-5 Bomb Trailer

[No.1]

For a long time I did not see that somebody use sanding/turning machine to do any part! This is great refresh for me

[Sall]

 
I don't know what to say!?
Great,great,great...Great!

[Second Air Force]

For a long time I did not see that somebody use sanding/turning machine to do any part! This is great refresh for me

I was so fortunate to get that lathe. A friend of ours, when we lived in Texas, asked me if I wanted a Unimat. An elderly neighbor of his had passed away and my friend was helping the family sell some of his tools. I paid a relatively small amount (I forget how much, $50 comes to mind) for the lathe and it came with a full set of tools and adapters. I used it to machine aluminum when we had our aftermarket model car parts business. Now it is back in "semi-retirement". It's been very handy for the B-17 nose and these tires.

[draken35]

Stunning but excellent work!

[Second Air Force]

Now that the trailer is almost finished it needs something to pull it, courtesy of an old Monogram B-24 kit:

M-5 Bomb Trailer

I thought the Cletrac was detailed somewhat better than it really is. This is going to be a pretty big project. One nice thing is that the real tug has rubber tracks and the kit parts look pretty close. The chassis and wheelsets are going to be a LOT of work.

[Second Air Force]

I neglected to put up a photo of the finished bomb trailer. It's been sitting on the shelf waiting for me to build some bombs but I need the room, so into the display case it goes...... When I finished the trailer I went ahead and built a bomb stand and hand cart. The stands were sometimes used to hold the bomb while the fins and fuses were installed, and the hand cart fits into the stand to transport the bomb to the airplane. The hand carts were also quite handy for other uses, including changing radiators on P-51s.

M-5 Bomb Trailer

[No.1]

And final result is great!

[Second Air Force]

Thanks!

I'm waiting to weather the trailer depending upon whether I will display it in some type of diorama setting. I've got a couple of ideas floating around in my head that might be interesting. I've been thinking about buying a Tamiya 2 1/2 ton GMC truck and converting it to a Chevy M-6 bomb truck, the perfect companion for the trailer.

Incidentally, the bomb stands were shipped to the combat zones strapped to the trailers as a set.

[Sall]

I like this very much!

[draken35]

Splendid! I like it!!!