Boom, whats goin’ on everybody?
I am Logan, the 64th Gear Jammer Skeele, and this is Toy Talk.
Chevrolet.
They made some awesome looking cab-overs back in the day.
“And here’s another cab, but one you’ve been waiting for it. You know what? This one is a six foot steel tilt cab that tilts the right way. Watch no electric motor, no hydraulic pump. A torsion bar makes the manual tilt so simple, so easy and see the control island that doesn’t move. It stays put. So, there’s nothing to disconnect, nothing to get crimped or jam and look at the room inside, such comfort, and look at the view.”
To pay homage to the vintage trucks Neo Scale Models has created a Chevrolet version resin model of the Chevy 80 Steel Tilt Cab truck with single axle and fifth wheel hitch.
This is the Neo Scale Models Chevy Tilt Cab truck. It is a 64th scale Chevrolet truck in a single axle configuration set up with a fifth wheel. It’s in a teal with white paint scheme, which was very common in those days. They loved two tone paint schemes. It sits on white steel wheels and it has a white front bumper and white grille.
This 64th scale Chevy truck comes mounted in a display case where it has a clear plastic lid and black plastic base. It also has a hardboard sleeve, and in the back of that sleeve, you can see it has a semblance of a mirror. So, you can sort of see the back of the truck while it’s in the package.
However, if you want to take this out of the package, it just simply has two screws holding it to the base. And that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to take it out and show it all off. Sliding it out of the sleeve. You can see that nice display case. So you can set this guy on your shelf, without it ever getting any dust on it.
In 1960 Chevrolet came out with a steel tilt cab in a 60, a 70 and an 80. The difference is the weight ratings. They had the same wheelbases. The 60 had a 19,500 pound gross vehicle weight rating while the 80, which is this one came with a 25,000 pound gross weight rating.
Also, the 60 had a standard inline six cylinder engine. Whereas the 80 had the standard engine of a Workmaster V8 that put out 230 horsepower. These were gasoline engines. They ran on gasoline engines the first year later on, they added a diesel option, but when they first came out, they were gasoline. Of course, in the fifties and into the sixties gasoline was actually still pretty common in all of your heavy duty trucks.
Now to get this guy off its base plate, it just takes two Phillips head screws, and you need a small Phillips head screwdriver to do it, but make sure you put pressure between the base plate and the frame. That way you don’t break any parts off any little detail parts, because many of those parts are small. They are resin parts, and I don’t want you to break any of them.
The 1:64th scale truck cab is resin, however, that frame is die-cast and that frame is very sturdy. It won’t bend or snap, like a resin frame would making this truck a very small limited run, but a durable model at the same time that will fit right in with your diecast trucks.
It has the 80 markings right there above that mirror bracket on the door and underneath the bar between the wind wing and the regular window. And it’s also got the Chevrolet badge right behind the door handle on the panel behind the door. Those two parts are photo etched parts.
The mirrors, the air horns, and the roof clearance lights are all resin parts. The wheels on this guy are steel white painted wheels made out of plastic. As you can see five-hole on the rear and six-holes up front. It has duals on the rear axle and the truck rides on a very nice vintage tread.
Turned over. You can see that tread very well. Also, you can see the rear axle has a very nice differential detail and a drive shaft, connecting it to the transmission. It’s got spring suspension on the axles, which was standard back then. There’s a modest amount of under detail because mostly you don’t set this truck upside down. But it does have a very nice silver painted exhaust coming out on the left side of the truck.
Turning him to the back. You can see the mirrors up on top. You can see the ribs on the roof modeled very well. It’s got the nice detail just like the real one so the roof would not collapse. It’s got the roof clearance lights. It’s also got the dual air horn chime on the driver’s side.
Also, you can see it’s got a fifth wheel back there and that fifth wheel’s king pin is set up to haul vintage DCP, First Gear, or Top Shelf Replicas trailers.
It’s got a very nice design to its frame and it’s got very nice detail. It’s also got the round fuel tank. They also had a square fuel tank, but this one has the round fuel tank hanging on the passenger side only.
To the back, you can see the license plate, brake lights, and it’s got the two airlines and the electrical line to hook up to the truck. It’s also got a single small back windshield.
Also on the backside of the truck behind the cab, you can see the latch mechanism that holds the cab down. You can see a modest amount of engine detail, not a lot, but just enough to give you the idea that there’s an engine under the cab.
Turning it to the passenger side. It’s got basically the same details as on the driver’s side. It’s got that photoetched 80 badge on the door. And that says Chevrolet behind the door handle. It’s got door handles, mirrors, and it’s got the turn indicators there and they painted those turn indicators, amber or more accurate they are painted orange to simulate amber.
Turning it to the front, you’ll see it has that beautiful stamped steel grill replicated very accurately with the word Chevrolet tampoed on it. It’s got a white bumper with a license plate on it, and it’s got the photoetched Chevrolet Bowtie and two individual photoetched windshield wipers. And those windshield wipers are pretty fragile and easy to pop off the cab.
This model has vacuformed windows, which are super clear and gives you a much clearer view of the inside detail then the hard plastic windows we get on our die-cast models. The headlights are the dual headlight design. Later. This truck was offered with single round headlights, but this one has the dual headlights and it has individual jewel headlights in the bezel.
All in all, Neo did a great job with this truck. Inside the cab, I know it’s very hard to see, but it has a white steering wheel, a driver’s seat, a passenger seat, and a dashboard with a decent amount of detail on it. It’s also got the gear shift and the handbrake lever on the control island between the seats. Right behind the two seats, it’s got the little bench that was standard on these trucks, which kind of gave a little extra room back there for some storage as well as covering up the back of the engine.
Being a resin cab on diecast metal chassis design, the cab doesn’t tilt on this guy, but that’s okay because we got a few other vehicles that have tilting cabs. That way we can show off an engine being worked on. And let’s face it guys, most of us never opened the hoods anyway. We put these trucks out on our shelves and just look at them or you could just leave this guy in his display case. That way it never gets dusty.
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Now to show you what it looks like with a trailer hooked up. I’ve got one of the Top Shelf Replica’s livestock trailers here. This trailer is a little bit later than the 1960 Chevy truck, because they made a 70s model trailer. However, it’s not a problem with this cab because Chevrolet offered this model cab well into the 1970s.
Doesn’t that look nice.
Neo Scale Models, Chevrolet 80 Steel Tilt Cab, single-axle road tractor in 1:64th Scale. With that Top Shelf Replica’s 40 foot vintage livestock trailer also in 1:64th Scale. The trailer DOES NOT come with the truck, but it does look nice hitched up to it.
Do you remember when cab-overs ruled the roads? State and Federal length laws made it necessary to shorten the cab as much as possible, so the cab-over became the highway standard until the 90s when changes came, and long hoods took over completely. However, our big long hoods are pretty much only standard in North America and Australia. The rest of the world still survives with Cab-Over-Engine trucks carrying the goods to industry and shops.
Guys, I can’t really say enough good things about these models that Neo is putting out. I know it has a resin cab and thanks to another manufacturer making junk resin trucks you are against resin, but I wish you would reconsider. Neo has solved all the problems the other maker saddled us with and is making quality durable replicas that will hold up better than your all diecast replicas will.
So go on and give this model a shot! Its a tooling that won’t be run to death like the all diecast toolings have to be.
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Thanks for reading
I’m Logan “the 64th Gear Jammer” Skeele
P.S. If you would like to see the full product review video on the 1960 Chevrolet Steel Tilt Cab Semi Truck by Neo Scale Models, please go to my YouTube channel and see it there.
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Neo Scale Models makes limited production runs to add collectiblity to their models. This collectability makes them fairly rare and only the most discerning of collectors will put them in their collection. These are the collectors that want only value in their collection and if you’re one of them, go on and grab my FREE report on VALUING YOUR COLLECTION down at the link the below.
