Easy 'N' Inexpensive
Ways To Extend The Wheelbase of
The Woodland Scenics Stake Bed Truck
Steps for extending the wheelbase of WS stake bed
Woodland Scenics’ AutoScenes series includes a Cameo pickup, a wrecker and a stake bed all with the same chassis and 114 scale inch wheelbase as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 chassis before cutting (not to scale)
The114 inch wheelbase is correct for the pickup, but it is too short for the 1-ton trucks. The wheel wells on the wrecker body make extending the wheelbase on that model a challenge. The stake bed truck on the other hand does not have any obstacles to prevent extending the wheelbase to 135 scale inches, a length that is appropriate for a mid-1950s General Motors 1-ton truck.
To fix the short wheelbase dilemma, all one has to do is to carefully remove the stake bed. An X-Acto No. 17 chisel blade inserted between the bottom of the stake bed and the chassis can be used to gently work the stake bed loose.
Once you have the stake bed separated from the cab and chassis, cut the chassis approximately 0.15 inches ahead of the rear axle (along the dotted line) slicing through the back end of the molded on muffler as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 cut chassis along dotted line (not to scale)
Once the cut is made as shown in Figure 3, rotate the rear section of the chassis 180° and attach the back section of the chassis to the front section of the chassis as shown in Figure 4 below.
Figure 3 chassis sections after cutting (not to scale)
Figure 4 rear portion of chassis rotated and splice to create 135 inch wheelbase (not to scale)
Woodland Scenics stake bed Henry’s Haulin’ as delivered with 114 inch wheelbase
Woodland Scenics stake bed Henry’s Haulin’ as modified with 135 inch wheelbase
Challenges
Making sure everything lines up correctly when splicing the cab section to the rear section of the chassis.
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