Fig. 74.
The object is to find a rectangular can that is just about the width of the chassis so that the tops of the wheels will clear it nicely. Cut the can in two lengthwise, using the file to cut through the rounded or rolled rims, see [Fig. 74], A.
The can will probably be too long for a well proportioned body and will have to be cut down to a suitable length, about 7 inches. Truck bodies usually overhang the chassis. Study some of the big trucks seen on the streets, as some of them are remarkably easy to reproduce.
If the can has to be shortened, use a can opener or the double cutting shears and cut around the can 1 inch from either end until one end of the can is completely cut away, then cut the shorter end down to ¼ inch at the side, leaving that much of the side of the can so that it may be slipped inside the other or larger part of the can when that part of the can is cut down to a suitable length, when the shorter end is soldered in place to form the end of the body, see [Fig. 74], B.
When one end is cut off the can, cut the can in two lengthwise so that the part to be used is about 1½ inches high, and then cut off the shorter end so that it is also 1½ inches high to correspond to the other part of the body. Then fit in the end of the can and solder it in place.
Cut four strips of tin ½ inch in width, two of them as long as the two sides of the can and two as long as the ends and fold these strips over to make a protection for the top edges of the body just as you did for the lower edges of the chassis. Solder these strips in place and the body is finished and ready to be soldered to the truck, see [Fig. 74], C.
Different Types of Bodies to be Fitted to the Same Chassis.—The body described above may be soldered directly to the chassis of the truck or to a strip of tin and so arranged as to slide onto the chassis between two slides made of folded tin. These slides are soldered directly to the chassis in the rear of the seat and the different types of bodies arranged to fit between them, thus using the same chassis for as many different types of bodies as one cares to make for it.
The fixed slides should be made of two ½-inch strips of tin as long as the back or floor of the chassis, about 6 inches. These strips are folded over into a gutter shape as are the strips used to protect the bottom edge of the truck frame, but the folded strips used for the slides are left somewhat more open, about ⅛ inch between the edges, so that when soldered to the truck a strip of tin may be easily slipped between them as shown in [Fig. 75].