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The littlest biggest Pierce

Written by webmin

Gene Herman, inspired by the recent post about Herb Miska’s great scratchbuilt models, recently sent us this story on another amazing scratchbuilder who chose to replicate a Pierce-Arrow dump truck. Gene writes:

I feel very lucky to count amongst my friends a GENIUS scratchbuilder named Charlie Rowley. The quality of his work is good as you will find anywhere, IMHO. While he has worked primarily in resin and plastic over the years, this model represents his most extensive use of brass ever.

It’s a 1928 Pierce Arrow 7 ton dump truck, replicating perfectly one that was in the Golden Age of Trucking Museum in Middlebury, Connecticut until its recent unfortunate closing. The truck spent many years in the New York City Streets and Highways Department.

Charlie finished the build last year and was kind enough to send me “in progress” photos as the project went along. Charlie’s building philosophy is simple: just do one sub-assembly at a time and the project doesn’t become overwhelming. It also helps to have superb skills developed over many years!

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The finished engine on 5.22.09, ready to install.
Here's how it looked at a model show in the Spring of '09. Cab & chassis mostly done and the engine is finished, but still unpainted.
He fabricated a working steering box only to discover that it turned the wheels in the opposite direction from the steering wheel. No problem. A little redesign, some left hand threaded miniature hardware and it worked just fine!
Charlie made the sign, too!
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Check out all the rods, cables and linkages for the brakes and dump system and the driveshaft mounted emergency brake drum.
Tin tray under the truck duplicates the 1:1 exhibit, right down to the oil drip! Hood side panels open the same way on the 1:1.
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Finally, here's a pic of the 1:1 at the museum. Looks like Charlie got it pretty close, hey?
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Posted in Blog  
Tagged automobilia, Charlie Rowley, Golden Age of Trucking Museum, museums and collections, Pierce-Arrow, Pierce-Arrow dump truck, scratchbuilding, service and fleet vehicles, trucks and Jeeps  
 
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