Adding Trailer Hitches to N Scale River Point Station Fords

[cfritschle]

I have been seeing a lot of ¾-ton and 1-ton trucks pulling trailers lately, so I decided to add trailer hitches to a few more of my River Point Station Fords.  The process I used for the two pickups was to bend a short segment of 0.015 inch music wire into a “U” or “J” shape, and then I inserted one end of the wire into a hole drilled into the bottom of the bumper.  The hole was drilled with a #79 drill bit.  The hitches made with the bent wire represent trailer hitches with the hitch receiver mounted to the frame of the pickup.  The trailer hitches are functional, but do not look very prototypical, especially when viewed from a “street level” perspective.  However, if one views them from a more typical angle for an N scale model, the trailer hitches seem to be a little less offensive, even without the trailer. 

The first set of photos show a RPS F-250 XL with and without a GHQ Bobcat and trailer.




The next set of photos show a RPS F-250 XLT with and without a trailer kitbashed from Showcase Miniatures parts and Evergreen Styrene shapes that is hauling an Artitec Fordson Dexta tractor.  I still need to add a ramp/tailgate to the trailer.




The final set of photos show a RPS F-350 with and without a Showcase Miniatures 6-ft by 10-ft utility trailer.  I damaged the etched mesh floor of this trailer during assembly, so I used some New Rail Models plywood sheets to cover the damage.




The extended rear platform on the F-350 utility truck was not conducive to a “frame mounted” receiver, so a very short piece of 0.015 inch music wire was “threaded” though a hole drilled with a #79 bit in the stepdown portion of the rear bumper/platform.  While this is a simpler process, the hitch is too high for the tandem axle trailers shown above.  Scratch building a flatbed tandem axle trailer with the trailer tongue at the appropriate height to look right with this bumper hitch is definitely on my “to do” list for this winter.

[Philip H]

you also need some tie downs or else a state trooper pulling them over as they trailer.

Looks great besides that!

[cfritschle]

you also need some tie downs or else a state trooper pulling them over as they trailer.

Looks great besides that!

Um-hum . . . after they got the skid steer and tractor loaded, they had to go look in the shop for the log chains.     https://www.showcaseminiatures.net/n_scale/n_scale_vehicle_details/540.html

[nkalanaga]

Tie-down straps will work just as well, and have been used by truckers for years, if you don't want to look for micro-chain. 

I've seen trailers with adjustable-height hitches.  They have a vertical track, and the hitch slides in that, with some type of retainer to keep it where you want it.  That should be an easy modification to the model trailer.

[Maletrain]

A couple of thoughts on the hitches.

When standing alone, the lack of a "ball" on top of the post is noticeable, at least in photos.  A tiny blob of glue on the end of the wire , painted silver (new) or rust (old) would probably "sell" it better as a prototype hitch.  But, that would also make it infeasible to hook and unhook model trailers.  However, real trailer balls don't extend through the trailer's hitch receivers, so a tiny mound of glue on the trailer tang above where the hitch fits would look right, for models that are presented as hitched, and there would be no need for the "ball" blob on the vehicle hitch because it is completely hidden by the receiver on the trailer, anyway.  So, models of trailers with attached towing vehicles could still be made detachable.  Just the vehicles with hitches that will be presented without trailers could get the "ball" blobs. 

[cfritschle]

Thank you for the suggestions. 

I had not thought about using tie-down straps since I always use chains to secure my farm equipment whenever I move it on a trailer.  However, I do remember that when I grew dry beans for seed back in the 1980s, I would deliver the beans in steel boxes on my flatbed trailers to a warehouse in Caldwell, ID.  That warehouse would reload the boxes of beans to flatbed semi-trailers for shipment to the main warehouse in Twin Falls, ID.  They always used tie-down straps on the semi-trailers to keep the bean boxes where they belonged.   

The prototype for the GHQ trailer might be one designed to adjust for differences in the height of the hitch on the towing vehicle.  The cast pewter at the end of the tongue crumbled when I tried to drill a hole in it, so I had to replace it with a very small brass strip.  There is enough "material" at the end of the tongue that the brass strip should be easy to attach at a height that will work with the bumper hitch on the utility truck.

As for creating a "ball" for the hitch, perhaps the wire could be put in a lathe, and the end shaped to look like a trailer hitch ball.  The wire is 0.015 actual inches in diameter, which means it it 2.4 scale inches in the diameter.  Since most of the trailer hitch balls used for pulling trailers this size are 2 inch balls, reducing the size might look better than adding to the size. 

I will have to experiment with making a "cap" from glue to cover the top of the hole at the end of the trailers tongue.  I think that would be very "doable."   

[rray]

Hey Carter, you could also hold brass wire pointing down, then touch it to a soldering iron tip with a lot of melted solder on it. Just use a tiny bit of flux on the tip of the wore to grab the solder.

[cfritschle]

Hey Carter, you could also hold brass wire pointing down, then touch it to a soldering iron tip with a lot of melted solder on it. Just use a tiny bit of flux on the tip of the wore to grab the solder.

Thanks Robert, I will give that a try. 

[cfritschle]

I "discovered" an easy to build trailer to pull behind one of my kitbashed River Point Station F-250 pickups.   



One of my Atlas F-100 pickups lost a mirror, so I did what many have done when a prototype pickup is no longer "driveable."   I removed the cab and bent the frame to form a tongue for a trailer.  I decided to add some round hay bales for interest.  While the F-250 pickup easily handles two bales, the trailer with its F-100 suspension is maxed out with one.