Truck motor colors

[Aaronw]

Thought I'd bump this instead of starting a new post.

Apparently the Australian Kenworth kit says to paint the engine silver, any comment on the accuracy of this?

[Jim B]

What's the engine in the Australian Kenworth? Is it the Cat 3408?

[Aaronw]

What's the engine in the Australian Kenworth? Is it the Cat 3408?

I think so but not sure, someone over at FSM is building the kit and was asking if it shouldn't be Cat yellow. The instructions say silver which doesn't match the list here, but being an Australian truck I don't know if that makes a difference. The info posted here says factory or white depending on the year of the truck.

[Jim B]

If it were me, I'd go New Cat Yellow, but that's me. I belong to an Board that is mostly Australians & New Zelanders, and I posted some questions about the Revell of Germany T900 kit; and the list on innacuarcies was huge. Here's what the Evan, owner of Melbourne Model Truck Accessories, had to say about it:

"The Revell T-900 "Australia" truck sure is one inaccurate model overall! You're right in that it is an early to late 70's W-900 extended hood. Over here in Oz we only had a handfull of extended hoods and the bulk of those had V12 Detroits.

The right hand dash is correct, and a welcome feature.

The 60" flat roof sleeper of that era is one that we never really saw a lot of here, as back then we had much more stringent wheelbase regulations, which is how the Australian SAR came about.

The engine range for the W-model from the 70's and 80's was the Cummins NTC and KT, Detroit 6V and 8V, and the Cat 3406 A and B.

The Cat 3408 was introduced in the early 80's I think, and from memory was only available in the cabovers.

The spider rims in the Revell kit are not the kind that Kenworth used either as most used the 6 spoke Malco hubs, and the closest spiders i've seen in a kit were in the ERTL Volvo N-10.

The bullbar isn't exactly what we would use here either. Most aussie bullbars are a lot flatter in the front.

Honestly, at the end of the day, if you really want to build a highly accurate Australian 80's W-model, I'd keep the chassis and cab and piff the rest!

All the parts you'd need are available, and I personally do the Aussie length W-925 bonnet to suit this kit as well as the Detroits, the rest you can get through Auslowe I think."

[Aaronw]

If it were me, I'd go New Cat Yellow, but that's me. I belong to an Board that is mostly Australians & New Zelanders, and I posted some questions about the Revell of Germany T900 kit; and the list on innacuarcies was huge. Here's what the Evan, owner of Melbourne Model Truck Accessories, had to say about it:

"The Revell T-900 "Australia" truck sure is one inaccurate model overall! You're right in that it is an early to late 70's W-900 extended hood. Over here in Oz we only had a handfull of extended hoods and the bulk of those had V12 Detroits.

The right hand dash is correct, and a welcome feature.

The 60" flat roof sleeper of that era is one that we never really saw a lot of here, as back then we had much more stringent wheelbase regulations, which is how the Australian SAR came about.

The engine range for the W-model from the 70's and 80's was the Cummins NTC and KT, Detroit 6V and 8V, and the Cat 3406 A and B.

The Cat 3408 was introduced in the early 80's I think, and from memory was only available in the cabovers.

The spider rims in the Revell kit are not the kind that Kenworth used either as most used the 6 spoke Malco hubs, and the closest spiders i've seen in a kit were in the ERTL Volvo N-10.

The bullbar isn't exactly what we would use here either. Most aussie bullbars are a lot flatter in the front.

Honestly, at the end of the day, if you really want to build a highly accurate Australian 80's W-model, I'd keep the chassis and cab and piff the rest!

All the parts you'd need are available, and I personally do the Aussie length W-925 bonnet to suit this kit as well as the Detroits, the rest you can get through Auslowe I think."

I've never built one of the RoG trucks but have heard the named trucks (Australian, Alaskan etc) are not really accurate for the subject they claim to be.

[Madd Trucker]

For those interested this site has the engine colors for European trucks click on tips and tricks and then to engine colors

http://www.gb-scaletrucks.de/

Edited November 22, 2009 by Madd Trucker

[Old Albion]

Aaron,

Many Thanks for bumping this one back to the top. I was looking for it a while back but could not find it. Whilst building my 12V71TTA Detroit in 1/16 I was looking for the correct Alpine Green colour and where to get it from. I checked the Duplicolor web site and found a colour selection chart for engine paints that the manufacture. Thought it might be of use to others so I posted the link below. It shows Cummins colours and Detroit but no Clatterpillar ones. I wonder if this is because Cat don't want other people selling products with their name on? We went through this with the aftermarket engines.

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/colors/highheat.html

Here is the Krylon chart:

http://www.kpg-industrial.com/products/eng...t_with_ceramic/

Hope this helps

Best Wishes

Dave

[Jim B]

Aaron,

I posted you question over on the Aussie truck board, and they said that the 3408 would eitherr be Caterpiller Yellow or white, depending on the year.

Dave,

Actually Rust-O-Lium (or one of their lines) offers New Caterpiller Yellow. And what actually is the difference between Old Caterpiller Yellow & New Caterpiller Yellow? When did they switch?

[rssschris]

So the Cummins NTC 350 in AMT`s Diamond Reo should be Biege , not red like the box shows ? What year is AMT`s Diamond Reo ?

[Aaronw]

Glad to see this generated some interest in the original post. It took a little while to find it, but foolishly I had not saved this info elsewhere so really wanted to get it.

Aaron,

I posted you question over on the Aussie truck board, and they said that the 3408 would eitherr be Caterpiller Yellow or white, depending on the year.

Dave,

Actually Rust-O-Lium (or one of their lines) offers New Caterpiller Yellow. And what actually is the difference between Old Caterpiller Yellow & New Caterpiller Yellow? When did they switch?

I know you could get old and new Cat yellow, I thought from Krylon but it could be Rustolium. I have noticed that some are now calling Cat yellow Equipment yellow, maybe to avoid trademark issues?

As far as old vs new, old has more of a brownish tint, still yellow but more like fancy mustard yellow brown, new has more of a yellow tint but not orangish like "school bus yellow". As far as when they changed the best I could find was sometime after WW2 probably in the 1950s.

Yep, Krylon still has old and new Cat yellow but it's not in the engine enamel series.

http://www.kpg-industrial.com/products/tou...acrylic_enamel/

Just a warning if you use the duplicolor engine enamel, it is much thicker than regular paint. It works well though as long as you are careful not to get it on too thick. DD Alpine green is also a nice match for the pre 1970s US Forest Service green.

Edited November 22, 2009 by Aaronw

[Jim B]

For the Cummins in the Diamond-Reo I'd go beige. The kit is a 1970-71 C-11664DFL.

Edited November 23, 2009 by Jim B

[7000in5th]

I used to work for an International Dealership in Cincinnati Ohio and the current IH color is blue, reman/Ford IH engines are black. I haven’t seen any IHC diesels red in our trucks. The only red engines I’ve seen in IHC trucks are the older gasoline engines.

Thanks, Jason

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I remember back in 1978 My Dad and I went to our International dealer with the instruction sheet from the Ertl Paystar 5000 mixer kit.

The chaps at International said the V8 engine should be red and not blue as the instructions said.

I thought back then Ertl were on the ball with information so I was a little surprised to be told the instructions on the engine colour were wrong.

Cheers

John Wilson

As a further comment to both posts above, International paid Cummins, Detroit and Cat about $25 per engine to have them all painted IH 2150 Red for many years. The practice ended in the '70's, as I remember, and we (International, my employer) pocketed the 25 bucks. Concerning the blue International V-800 in the Paystar, marketing decided that International's new big bore engines should be blue to distinguish them from the competition.

International V-800 transplant into a 4200 with the hood extended to make a 4300 (before the 4300 was released).

Ertl Paystar Dump kit box art

Regards,

[Jim B]

Ok, so just he V800 should be blue, and the rest should be red (even the V903?). What "shade" of blue would be most correct? Is it a dark blue like Ford, or is that metalic blue on your 4300 pretty close?

[7000in5th]

Ok, so just he V800 should be blue, and the rest should be red (even the V903?). What "shade" of blue would be most correct? Is it a dark blue like Ford, or is that metalic blue on your 4300 pretty close?

Hi Jim,

Sorry I didn't subscribe and I missed your questions.

Yes, up through the '70's, in IH trucks, the big diesels were red except the International V-800. I matched the blue on the model above as closely as possible (I had a lot of them to look at). The V-903 might have been an exception, if so, I seem to remember that they might have been black (!?). If anyone still has an old original 4200 kit, it should list the correct color for the V-903.

Edited March 10, 2010 by 7000in5th

[Old Albion]

I wonder if there is any way that Greg or Tim could see about getting this topic pinned at the top of the Topic List? This for us Truck Modellers is probably one of the most talked about aspects of trying to get some historical accuracy in our models.

Dave,

Reference the International 4300. Just looking at the length of the hood and the recess in the bulkhead. Was the truck capable of taking the 12V71 Detroit, KT450-KTA600 Cummins and the 3408 Cat? If I read your post right they would be painted red.

Best regards

Dave

[Jim B]

That's a good idea!

I was told theat Testors Model Masteres Automotove Laquer Metallic 1969 Ford Acapulco Blue was a good match for the blue that International used on the V-800.

Edited August 1, 2010 by Jim B

[7000in5th]

Dave,

Reference the International 4300. Just looking at the length of the hood and the recess in the bulkhead. Was the truck capable of taking the 12V71 Detroit, KT450-KTA600 Cummins and the 3408 Cat? If I read your post right they would be painted red.

Best regards

Dave

Hi Dave,

Our plant in Emeryville, California was willing to build almost anything as Special Equipment, if the customer was willing to pay. I seem to remember the KT450-KTA600 Cummins and the 3408 Cat being built in the 4300 some volume. Not sure about the 12V. Generally the major problem with big power was getting in enough radiator to cool it. That sometimes meant raising the cab as was done with the 12V in the CO-4090. I would say if the model engine fits, go for it; somewhere, sometime, we probably made one or more.

Just to add more confusion to the engine question, our production line used red for non-IH big diesel engines through the early '70's. The Special Equipment "one-offs" may well have gotten engines in the manufacturers "standard" color, because of the cost for a few special engines.

[highway]

I noticed there was a question mark on the Detroit Series 60, these motors are also DD Alpine Green, at least all the ones I sat behind were! The Kenworth Aussie is not the only kit Revell AG did not do their homework on either! The "Can Do" wrecker is grossly inaccurate. The kit has a Cummins, the real truck has a Cat 3406, I think. The rest of the truck is based on their Pete 359, and there is many differences between that and the 379! I think I've also seen one engine in resin everyone's forgot, the M11 Cummins (even though why would you want one) and these were painted black. The IH/Ford engine one of you mentioned, were you talking about the larger engines or the pickup engine? The 7.3 Liter in the Ford F350 at least in 1990 (like my 1:1 dually) is gray.

I promise, there is gray somewhere under all the grease and grime, the motor is 20 years old!

[highway]

By the way, here's what that greasy beast lives in:

[Blake Rogers]

7000in5th pictures shows my truck with a blue engine now his box art has a blue engine mine has a red engine that has 903 on the valve cover?? oh man this is confusing to say the least but judging buy the color 7000in5th used for his engine it looks like a match to the blue i have witch is tamiya metallic blue..

here are pics of the real engine

pics of mine with the blue i am going to use and my box art

Edited March 15, 2010 by moparfan426

[mackinac359]

The 903 is a Cummins and red would be correct in an International.

Tim

7000in5th pictures shows my truck with a blue engine now his box art has a blue engine mine has a red engine that has 903 on the valve cover?? oh man this is confusing to say the least but judging buy the color 7000in5th used for his engine it looks like a m

[Blake Rogers]

The 903 is a Cummings and red would be correct in an International.

Tim

7000in5th said.....Yes, up through the '70's, in IH trucks, the big diesels were red except the International V-800. I matched the blue on the model above as closely as possible (I had a lot of them to look at). The V-903 might have been an exception, if so, I seem to remember that they might have been black (!?). If anyone still has an old original 4200 kit, it should list the correct color for the V-903.

Now i have the newer 4300 kit and the motor doesn't not look like a Cummings.

Edited March 15, 2010 by moparfan426

[Jim B]

I believe the engine in the repop International 4300 is an International V800. I think the Cummins V903 was in the International 4200 kit.

[Blake Rogers]

ok well lol i ain't painting it till i know for sure lol

[SpreadAxle]

ok well lol i ain't painting it till i know for sure lol

The way Jim described it is accurate. The 4270 kit has the V-903 Cummins engine. The 4300 kit has the V-800 engine. The only V903 I ever saw in person was black(or it might have been the very dark gray mentioned earlier. I would say black for the one I saw). It was sitting on a stand in school.