Looking for a metal fabricator to hire

[leftywoody]

I am restoring old Structo toy trucks and am looking to hire a metal fabricator that can weld me up a tanker trailer from new steel to be finished and painted by me . The standard trailers are 1/32 thick steel . 16" long 5" wide and 5" tall in a box shape . Pics tell it all as to what tanker style I want to end up with and what type of cab I will be using . I would think that an exhaust pipe with the factory weld seam at the bottom and the ends capped off with a similar thickness of steel ,welded in a seam around the edge and ground reasonably smooth would be close to what I need . I have the dual wheels and axles and can attach them to a plate to be attached on the bottom, after I get it back . I can provide a blueprint of the tanker trailer and am even willing to let you incorparate your own ideas . Anyone interested

 

[capriottikidd]

hey man, i can weld for you... send me some more detailed pictures and blueprints and ill get back to you right away.

 

[leftywoody]

Thanks for the reply , I am looking for welds that can be smoothed up and dressed to paint . I can do the bodywork and painting . The tube section of the tanker can be made from sheet metal rolled into a 5" diameter if need be. But an exhaust pipe section from a truck might be the way to go . It may be thicker than the specs but as long as it is under 1/8 "thick I think I can get by . The end caps are the tricky part . They can be recessed in a little to allow you a little lip to tack them in place . The hole thing can be tack welded instead of seam welded if warpage is an issue , just as long as it looks professional and not like a bunch of bubblegum stuck to it . I don't know if you are a pro at welding or not but I do thank you for responding and let me know what you think about this project . I am open to your suggestions .If an exhaust pipe comes only in 4 1/2" or 4 3/4" that is also acceptable . thanks john

 

[2door]

Lefty,
I've been looking at this and if it were me I'd look at using copper or brass instead of steel then soft soldering the seams as opposed to welding. Sheet copper and brass can be purchased at Ace Hardware. It's not cheap, but what is today? If I had the time I'd like to try this project for you. How soon do you need the tank and how close to exact scale are your trucks? I used to build scale R/C planes with complete cockpits, rivet and panel patterns and little details like hydraulic brake lines etc. What is your schedule like?
Tom

 

[leftywoody]

Tom , the original box ,shaped trailers for this truck measure 5inches wide 5inches tall and 16inches long . The scale is at a guess of 1/25th . The detail even on the cab and box trailers are very basic as the pic shows in the earlyier posts .I am in no hurry at all and really have no deadline, for these are for my personal collection and I may or may not ever part with them . I have restored 2 cabs and they have no trailers to go with them . So with some junk, box trailers I have, I thought I would make use of their axles and wheels and fabricate 2 tanker trailers . The copper or brass is an option if I could get the paint to stick good . There was an option of doing a different design then the one in the diagrahm I sent to the other member. It would look like the picture below with a flat top and the tube kind of out of round . If the seams were stitch welded a few inches apart it may cut down on warpage . It doesn't have to be water tight and possibly the top platform on the tanker just screwed fast to the tank part . If you are interested in trying that I can send you exact measurements .If you search structo trucks on ebay you will see many examples of the same cab I am using .I just strip and paint and add decals to my liking , such as the John

Deere decals and paint scheme . The picture shows tubing, ladder, lights, mudflaps, all not nessasary for this project . Thanks for your interest John

 

[leftywoody]

Tom , I did find that black stove pipe comes in 5" diameter sections and an acceptable thickness 24 guage , and through a little research It can be soldered or braized . It was critical to get the metal perfectly clean and the correct solder and flux used was impairative . Capping the ends of the tube could be tricky . John