Keeping any piece of equipment running requires some form of routine preventive  maintenance, and, unfortunately, likely requires some unscheduled repairs as well. Most of the preventive maintenance can be scheduled to occur when a tractor is in the shop, but frequently repairs must be done in the field.  When performing these types of repairs, a well equipped service truck can be a life saver.  For this reason, you might want to add a service truck to your collection or display.

The most common type of 1/64 service truck is Ertl's Ford Super-duty.  Ertl has produced these for around 10 years now, so there are plenty of them around in wide variety of colors.  So far, John Deere is the only major manufacturer to license one of these with their company markings, so if your preference is for a non-green brand, you will have to find a custom one or make your own.  Fortunately, this isn't hard to do.

 While the number of service trucks licensed by equipment manufacturers is very limited, the number of pickups that have been licensed is not.  You can find pickups already branded with your favorite make of tractor for almost every manufacturer from the late 80's through present day.  Making a dealer service truck for your brand is often as easy as lifting the decals off of one of the branded pickups, and applying them to a service truck.  In most cases, the decals can be removed from the truck by sliding a modelers knife under the decal and gently peeling it back.  Sometimes they can then simply be reapplied to your service truck, although most of the time you must add some glue to them to help get them to stick adequately.

Another option is removing the cab from one of the branded pickups, and exchanging it for the one on one of the service trucks.  This is easy to do on the Ertl Fords F-350's since the cab and bed are seperate units.  By drilling out the rivets on the underside of the truck, you can remove either portion.  Once that is done,  it's just a matter of getting the colors of the cab and bed to match.  This can be more difficult than it seems, and even if both the cab and the bed are white, they may not match.  In this case you must settle for them being different, paint one to match the other, or better yet, repaint both to ensure that they match.

Although it is not as easy to do as the Ford trucks, service trucks can be made from Dodge's and GMC/Chevy pickups as well.  The challenge with these is that Ertl made them with the cab and bed as one piece, so they must be cut apart.  Cut them at the front of the bed, leaving the front wall of the bed to use as the back of the cab.  Grind or sand any burrs or rough spots as necessary to give the back of the cab a smooth finish.  The Dodge, since it is a regular cab like the Ford, will fit on the Ford chassis with only slight modifications.  Since the GM trucks are extended cabs, you will want to reuse their chassis and just add a service bed to them.

If your display or collection demands a more substantial service truck than a pickup based one can provide, you can also make one from a medium or heavy duty truck.  One common way to do this is to use one of Ertl's Ford F-650 trucks with a service bed from the lighter-duty Fords.  Like the pickups, Ertl has offered the F-650 equipment delivery trucks for most brands, so they can easily be convered to a dealer service truck. This conversion requires shortening the rear frame to fit the bed, and modifying the bed to fit larger tires.  You will also likely have to relocate the rear axle by attaching a piece of brass tubing to the frame for the axle to run through.



If you go through the trouble to custom build a service truck, you are probably going to want to add some details to it as well.  One of the most prominent features I like to add is a service hoist.  You can make a simple, working hoist relatively easy out of brass stock.  I have included a list of components and rough dimensions for the hoists I typically build.
On the pieces that require drilled holes, it is a good idea to drill the holes before you cut them to length, because many are so small they are nearly impossible to hold while you are drilling after they are cut out. Once your pieces are all made, begin assembly by inserting the outer boom and cylinder into the mast.  Pin these in place with a section of small nail or paper-clip bent into a "U" shape to fit into both holes.  Use a small amount of glue to secure this in place.  Once the glue has dried, move the boom and cylinder to make sure the glue did not freeze them as well.  Bend another section of paper-clip into a U shape that will fit over the boom.  Put this piece through the eye on your cylinder rod and insert the cyclinder rod into the cylinder body.  Place this U-shaped piece over the boom in a location that allows the cylinder rod to move in and out of the body as the boom raises and lowers.  Once you have the location chosen, glue it in place.  Place your pivot pin in the lower part of the mast, and crimp the mast over the pin.  Add some glue to keep it in place.  Paint the hoist assembly.  They are typically white, but can be painted to match the service truck.  take care not to get paint on the cylinder rod, since they are typically chrome and not painted.  Since the fit of the inner boom into the outer boom is too tight for paint, I usually just go over the inner boom with a black magic marker to give it a little color. 

Next you will need to mount the hoist to your truck.  Hoists typically mount to one of the back corners of the bed, usually on the passenger side. I like to add some body filler in the area where I mount my hoists on the underside of the bed.  After you drill the hole for your hoist pivot, this additional material helps make the hole deeper and will help keep your hoist pivot from becoming loose.

In addition to the hoist, you will probably want to add other details as well.  You can add painted on details like clearance lights, headlight and grill features. Since many service trucks are base models without alot of chrome, you can also paint the grill and wheels if you like.  You also may want to add other truck accessories like mirrors, mudflaps or antennas, or other service truck equipment like work lights, a headache rack, an on-truck welder or any other tools you think you might need.