LRDG Ford F30 CMP
Conversion from Tamiya’s Quad Gun Tractor
The History
Throughout the time the LRDG was a active unit, they had several different vehicles they used as Patrol Cars (Chevrolet WB’s and 1533×2′s, 15cwt Ford V8′s, Jeeps). The Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) Ford F30 was one of the more short lived vehicles. This was largly due to its weight (they were a very heavy vehicle), and their lack of reliability.
These vehicles were originally No. 12 Cab Ford F30′s. They then had most of the cab removed for cooling, the roof of the cab removed, the diffs replaced with Chevrolet/GM diffs, and the 20″ wheels replaced with 16″ wheels and sand tyres. Then on the deck, they added several machine gun mounting points along the sides, a more centralised machine gun mount in the centre of the deck. Some vehicles were altered to take radio equipment, and others altered to take the 37mm Bofors AT gun on the back.
The Model
As a startiong point, I’m using Tamiya’s 35045 British Quad Gun Tractor, which is a good representation of a No. 12 Cab Ford/Field Artilery Tractor (Ford or Field has been used, depending on whether you were a Ford rep or a Battery Commander). I can not speak too much at length about the kit as there is a great deal of conversion done, so leaving very little of the original kit left. I’ve also used casts of the Italeri Chevrolet 15cwt’s diffs, casts of the Tamiya LRDG Chevrolet 15cwt’s wheels and either Resicast’s (from their Bren Carrier update set) or Accurate Armour’s (from their Loyd Carriers’) Ford V8.
As you can imagine, there is a lot of heavy conversion and scratch building done to this model. I have really only used half the deck and front guards, the seats, steering wheel and chassis from the Tamiya kit. The chassis has to be lengthened considerably to make it prototypical, a deck has to be scratch built (instructions to come) etc. The builder will also need to aquire (cast/buy) some prototypical wheels (8 stud 16″ combat rims with sand tyres) similar to those issued with Tamiya’s LRDG Chevrolet, and they will also need to aquire (casting is almost the only option here IF you can get your hands on them) diffs from the Italeri 15cwt Chevrolet. When you have decided what your vehicle is (radio truck, gs truck/patrol car, engineers truck, or Scorpion 37mm Bofors AT gun), you will need to add appropriate items (Scorpion will require the Mirage 37mm Bofors, radio truck the No. 11 set from some aftermarket providers or from the Tamiya LRDG Chev kit, the engineers truck will need aditional springs attached to the front bumper and engineering paraphernalia in the back). Also note that the sides of the decks on these vehicles were hinged, so you can set them up as having the sides down (if you want to access the radio in the radio vehicle, this is a must).