Grumman LLV Mail Truck Kit from Showcase Miniatures

[cfritschle]

For those that are not on Showcase Miniatures' email list, this morning's email included an announcement for a Grumman LLV mail truck kit.  The announcement also included another kit to go with the truck, mailboxes!   

I have posted the information on the N Scale Vehicle Association's Group.io.  I don't think you need to join the group to see the message.   https://groups.io/g/NScaleVehicleAssociation/message/19

[tehachapifan]

Well, that's a must-have! I mean, these things are absolutely everywhere and have been forever.

[peteski]

Those mail trucks look really good. Well, the rivets seem a bit heavy-handed, but that can be fixed easily.



Some years back NZT products also made these in N scale. They were well done, but solid resin castings.  I bought few and was planning on hollowing out the cabin and producing home-made photoetched windshield frame and side doors.  Well, looks like I had that project on hold long enough - Showcase did all the work for me.  I'll be buying few of these and making my own USPS decals.

[OldEastRR]

What was the era for these things?

[C855B]

What was the era for these things?

Wikipedia is your friend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_LLV

[peteski]

One of these LLVs just delivered my mail today.  So the era is whatever to today. 

[Chris333]

Wonder how long till Amazon delivers our mail?

[learmoia]

Built until 1994 with a 30 year lifespan.. so that pulls the last ones OOS in 2024..

540 million annually to repair 100,000 vehicles??...  so each vehicle averages $5400 annually to repair and maintain..   (which is relatively reasonable for a 25 year old driving high mileage annually)..

Replacement contract is 5 billion for 180,000 vehicles.. so $27,800/vehicle..

[eposte101]

hello all im a lead tech for the usps vehicle fleet years made are from 1987 to 1994 but all are still in active use today and probably for at least the next 10 years in 2000we had a small amount of ford come into service

[eposte101]

and yes the rivets in picture of model are 3 times the size of the real ones

[peteski]

Yes, N scale rivets are oversize on most models - these just popped out at me when I saw the model's photo.

Going off on a tangent, I always thought that this type of vehicle would be perfect candidate for electric propulsion.
They usually travel quite slow, lots stop-and-go driving.  Could use regenerative braking.
Not much range is needed, and they return to home base daily (perfect for overnight recharge).
Electric drive train would also like be less maintenance than the dinosaur-fuel version.

[nkalanaga]

Peteski:  I agree, and have suggested that to the local postmaster.  Of course, he has no say in the matter, but if enough people suggest it, to enough postmasters, the big bosses might listen.

Basically, given their use and street conditions, they're an oversized golf cart, so shouldn't be hard at all to electrify.

[cfritschle]

Just in case you missed Petski posting in the Asland Design Grumman mail truck topic (which appears to be a Ford FFV thanks to Ike's posting) the Showcase Miniatures mail trucks kits are now available!  https://www.showcaseminiatures.net/n_scale/n_scale_vehicles/138.html

 

[wbvrail]

Hi Guys....

We really appreciate the comments and support we get on Railwire... thanks!

I did want to address something about the appearance of the rivets. 

The rivets, as designed and printed on the model, are .005" in diameter which works out to .8" in N Scale - .0023" (that's a little over two thousandths of an inch) larger than the actual 7/16" prototype. What may have exaggerated their appearance may be the fact that they ARE a bit too tall (offset from the body) so that they would print and not be lost on the surface.  Painting these fine details will nearly always cause a build up of paint around them - even with a fine spray like Tamiya primer - and this may make them appear larger than prototype. 

Just FYI... We would love to see your photos of the finished truck.

Walter
Showcase Miniatures

[peteski]

Hi Guys....

We really appreciate the comments and support we get on Railwire... thanks!

I did want to address something about the appearance of the rivets. 

The rivets, as designed and printed on the model, are .005" in diameter which works out to .8" in N Scale - .0023" (that's a little over two thousandths of an inch) larger than the actual 7/16" prototype. What may have exaggerated their appearance may be the fact that they ARE a bit too tall (offset from the body) so that they would print and not be lost on the surface.  Painting these fine details will nearly always cause a build up of paint around them - even with a fine spray like Tamiya primer - and this may make them appear larger than prototype. 

Hi Walter,
I understand your reasoning for the slightly oversize rivets, but to me they still detract from the otherwise realistic look of the model.  Sometimes to make a model look realistic, some details have to be exaggerated, but others need to be de-emphasized.

When I first saw that photo of your fine model, the rivets really "popped out", and not in a good way. It might be just me, but those rivets made the model look less realistic (even if the real truck has them and they are rather sizable). 

Anyway, when I get my kit, I'll sand them off and redo them as just small dimples. It might work, or might not. We'll see.