| AIRBORNE SCOOTER |
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| Here's some pics of my WWII Cushman scooter. Most every part on this vehicle I scratcbuilt from styrene, aluminum, or brass. The exceptions are the wheels (which are a model airplane part), the seat, the drive chain, and the engine head. Also the seat, chain, and engine are recast items so that I didn't have to sacrifice those parts from other vehicles. The vehicle is made to represent a WWII Paratrooper courrier/recon vehicle. In real life, these bikes were attached to static line parachutes and dropped from C-47's during the Normandy invasion. In 1/6th scale this scooter measures 12.5" long, 3.8" wide, and 6.3" tall. |
| These are some close-ups of the engine area. In the left picture you can see the gas tank, clutch, engine head. The middle pic shows the carburetor, air filter, and starter pedal. Next on the right is the |
| drive chain, engine flywheel (I think that's the name), and of the far left the kick stand. Note the numbers of the ID markings are rub-on transfers, but the "U.S.A." and "AB" were spray painted using tiny stencils I made. (I couldn't find any transfers with letters the right size) |
| This shows what it looked like before I painted it. Most plastic pieces in the vehicle were cut and shaped from plain sheet styrene. However for the main frame components, I used one long U-shaped section and two L-shaped sections. As you can see the fork is made from brass tubing which was soldered and attached through holes drilled into two flat pieces. I used aluminum for lots of parts but most noticeable is the fender and floor sections. Most of the engine was carved out of a material called Ren-Shape, I got some extra pieces of this from my past job as a model maker. It's a hard foam material that's a lot like wood, but has no grain. Finally, the gas tank is a piece of copper heating pipe. |
| This is the scooter with a figure and diorama base that I made for the SSRG (Six Scale Reenactment Group) contest in Lyndhurst, NJ. The diorama presents a scene from the Utah beachhead area in Normandy. |
| Click on any pic for a larger view: |
| Bean Inc. Copyright 2001. |