Hood Sticks
Hood sticks (German »Spriegel«), wooden or metal hoops which support the canvas tilt or canopy of a vehicle. Individual hoops may be tubular u-shapes or vertical staves connnected by wooden bows or slats. Once the tarpaulin is removed, the hood sticks may be pulled out of their rectangular or u-shaped sockets to be stowed and tied down on the front and dropsides of the cargo bed. This ROCO Opel Blitz 3 t (A-Type) medium truck has received four scratch built hoops, made from 0.5 mm piano wire. A realistic-looking paper tarp will be draped over the new hood frame later.
The right-hand Airfix model of the Trailer Cargo 1-ton G518 »Ben Hur« has a new tilt made of tissue paper. For this conversion, the less realistic plastic tilt of the left-hand trailer was sliced into narrow hoops, four of which were glued onto the converted model and covered with moist tissue. This is a quick and easy conversion, and the trailer looks much better afterwards. On the downside, the new tilt is permanently glued in place. There may be other clever ways to scratch build realistic tilts which stay on the vehicle when they should, yet can be removed to load or unload the trailer during play.