RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

I did some good progress on the Churchill and on the DUKW so it's time to think about another project and I knew it would be a truck... and especially a CCKW 353 because the DUKW shares a lot with it. And I always loved the CCKW 353, I built the Heller kit as a kid and have great memories about the kit (and the boxart !).

I've started the CAD work, it's only the early stages, I want it as close as possible so the chassis will be a challenge, I probably going to make it from brass.
Gonna make custom axles like for the DUKW. Of course I gonna reuse the banjo type of axle I made for the DUKW (it's easier for maintenance than the split ones anyway at that scale).
I'm far from starting building something as it's too cold here to print anything (my resin printer is outside in my garden shed, but it's an open one).

Very promising start! (as always I'd say).

Good Morning, M. Tox,
Always amazing to see what can be accomplished with 3D. A Deuce and a Half is a Welcome addition! I always thought that I could scratch one up out of one of the JJR\C 3 axle trucks like the International Harvester Lend Lease one. I see now that with the state of the Hobby, getting with a 3D Designer\Printer will be the way to go.
regards and following along,
Painless

There are so many bodies that can be put on the back frame of a CCKW, especially the 353. In fact, there is even an U.S. Army dentist's body. Imagine that complete with torture chair, etc. I don't remember if that one was put on a CCKW with a winch, but in that case, I can imagine a use for the winch.

Thank you guys!

PainlessWolf wrote: ↑Mon Nov 24, 2025 12:38 pm Good Morning, M. Tox,
Always amazing to see what can be accomplished with 3D. A Deuce and a Half is a Welcome addition! I always thought that I could scratch one up out of one of the JJR\C 3 axle trucks like the International Harvester Lend Lease one. I see now that with the state of the Hobby, getting with a 3D Designer\Printer will be the way to go.
regards and following along,
Painless

Good morning Painless Wolf,

Yes you could use JJRC or Wpl axles to scratchbuilt one if you're not too concerned about the width of them, mainly the front one and the size and shape of the steering wheel joints.
That's why I won't do a 6x6, the front axle won't be geared, it'll be a fake transmission axle because if I want it to scale, there's no way I can fit the small 6x3mm bearings in them. The front axle is very visible so I want it as accurate as possible (that was the same axle in the DUKW but it's hidden under the hull so I did not bothered that much but now I have designed a more accurate one, I may replace the DUKW front axle as well).

I'm trying to replicate the leaf springs, suspensions brackets etc as close as possible too because all that is quite visible on the CCKW.

I may print leaf springs in PETG to see if that works, I have the feeling it would work just fine

Herr Dr. Professor wrote: ↑Mon Nov 24, 2025 4:04 pm There as so many bodies that can be put on the back frame of a CCKW, especially the 353. In fact, there is even an U.S. Army dentist's body. Imagine that complete with torture chair, etc. I don't remember if that one was put on a CCKW with a winch, but in that case, I can imagine a use for the winch.

Yes so many possibilities, there's also the shorter 352, shouldn't be hard to shorten the chassis once I got the 353 done!
Wooden and metal cargo bay, fuel tanks etc, I'll give them a try!
Chassis with winch, with no winch, lots of option!

I may also try the full cab but it proves to be a real challenge with all those curves haha.

I did not know about the dentist version, I can't even imagine using the winch to extract a tooth, that would be scaring we never know, a mad dentist may have existed.

MonsieurTox wrote: ↑Sun Nov 30, 2025 10:44 am I may also try the full cab but it proves to be a real challenge with all those curves haha.

Good luck with that, I was never happy with my attempt at one. The lack of the ability to generate 3D splines in Fusion makes it very hard to get the shape right of any hard top cab.

I did not know about the dentist version, I can't even imagine using the winch to extract a tooth, that would be scaring we never know, a mad dentist may have existed.

CCKW variants start from here:
https://archive.org/details/TM9-2800/page/n229/mode/2up
Sugical truck is shown on p 270.

The 1947 edition of 9-2800 shows a dental truck on p 281, which looks to be the same apart from the extra window in the van body:
https://radionerds.com/images/6/6d/TM_9-2800_1947.pdf
(surgical truck is listed seperately on p 292)

Thank you for the great links, Tiger6!

There is so much to do!

Tiger6 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 30, 2025 12:17 pm

MonsieurTox wrote: ↑Sun Nov 30, 2025 10:44 am I may also try the full cab but it proves to be a real challenge with all those curves haha.

Good luck with that, I was never happy with my attempt at one. The lack of the ability to generate 3D splines in Fusion makes it very hard to get the shape right of any hard top cab.

Yeah, I'm scared about doing it. I've had hard time modeling the CCKW engine hood and the fenders. The hood came out not too bad (I used photogrammetry of a real one as ref to get the curves right), I'm still not happy with the fenders and I'm going to remodel them for the 4th times.

I would need to find a CCKW with closed cab to get some photogrammetry done to help to understand all the curves.

While doing some research I also found the closed cab used on the CCKW was borrowed from the civilian Chevrolet AK cars/pick ups.