153 replies to this topic

[ewaskew]

Looking good man

[Jim B]

Great looking interior. I like the black & orange.

[chuckyr]

Canadian National

[Danno]

Yep.

[Mr. Can Am Garage]

A few more pieces and this will be done.

[Art Anderson]

A few more pieces and this will be done.

This project gets better with each passing day!

[gwaltz1]

I was very, VERY lucky in that I was granted permission to bring home the Moebius International LoneStar kit that was on display at NNL East.













Over the next week or so, I'll show you what's in the box.









John

[QCDOC]

Delivered On:
Monday, 05/09/2011 at 1:25 P.M

[Mr. Can Am Garage]

Mechanically, it's finished.



I decided to go above and beyond and added a drop of black to the center of all the dots on the steps and deck plate. 500+ and I dang near went blind.

For what it's worth, my shipment of LoneStars has arrived.

[mackinac359]

Mark, I agree! Why the kit manifacturers insist on putting the fuel tank part seams in visible locations is beyond me.

The Revell of Germany Pete tanks are the worst for the seam location.


Tim

I'm not a regular truck builder, but I must say 2 things. First, this looks like an amazing kit.

Second, why don't the manufacturers mold the fuel tank ends separately? There's always a huge seam where 2 chrome parts come together, and it's a royal pain to fix without stripping and re-chroming the whole assembly, or using Alclad, BMF, etc.

There...my rant is done. I don't build trucks that often, but I feel for the guys that do because they spend a ton of time dealing with those needless seams, or settle for fuel tanks that have a big line through the ends.

[Danno]

Mark, I agree! Why the kit manifacturers insist on putting the fuel tank part seams in visible locations is beyond me.

The Revell of Germany Pete tanks are the worst for the seam location.


Tim

I totally agree. It is very unseemly!


Seriously, I do agree. I don't know why they cannot go to the slight effort to give us tanks with unmarred chrome. Might as well not chrome them if they're gonna run a glue seam down the middle of them.

[Harry P.]

I guess what bothers me most is the solution is so simple. They could still mold the tank in halves (just be careful where the break is so it's less noticable from the side), and mold 2 Moon hubcap-like parts seperately to put on each end. It's not like they'd have to re-invent the molding process, and it would make a huge difference to the finished look of the kit when built as-molded.

You and your stupid logic...

[highway]

I guess what bothers me most is the solution is so simple. They could still mold the tank in halves (just be careful where the break is so it's less noticable from the side), and mold 2 Moon hubcap-like parts seperately to put on each end. It's not like they'd have to re-invent the molding process, and it would make a huge difference to the finished look of the kit when built as-molded.

You and your stupid logic...

Harry, for Mark not being a truck builder, his logic is NOT stupid at all!

Actually Mark, I forget which kits they are from AMT (come on Tim, help me out here! ), but there are at least a couple of the old AMT truck kits where they used the idea you mentioned. The tanks were done in four pieces, two halves and two end caps, somewhat similar to the real 1:1 units. There have been a couple of TV shows showing trucks being built, and they showed the 1:1 tanks being made from a rolled sheet of aluminum and then welded together, then the ends welded in place. If you can ever get a chance to see a tank on a 1:1 up close, you can see the weld seems on each end of them, they are rarely ever cleaned up.

[Justin]

Highway, the White Freightliner uses those fuel tanks. I don't know about any others.

[Ben]

The AMT Kenworth W925 kits, Alaskan hauler and K123 cabover kits all have four piece chrome fuel tanks.

I use really nice, one piece, highly polished machined aluminum fuel tanks on my builds. Jamie Rahmoeller makes them. He's making two sets to my specs right now. One set for a Revell Kenworth cabover and one set for a IH Transtar.

I wish I could get him to make them more often! They are gorgeous!!!!

[highway]

Highway, the White Freightliner uses those fuel tanks. I don't know about any others.

The AMT Kenworth W925 kits, Alaskan hauler and K123 cabover kits all have four piece chrome fuel tanks.

Ok, so you guys aren't Tim, but I knew they were in some of my collection! Thanks guys!

Also, that kinda got my memory fired up (that takes a while sometimes! ), and I think that the Peterbilt 352 cabover, Mack R (the one with square tanks on the box art but round tanks inside), and GMC General also have the four piece tanks. I'd look to make sure, but I'm just too lazy!

[highway]

OK, now I just feel worse...knowing that they have made them better, then apparently forgot how.

Yeah, pretty bad early 1970s technology is better than it is in 2011!

[Dave Metzner]

I am well aware of the four piece fuel tanks in earlier truck kits however at some point choices get made to make some things in fewer parts.. Since there is really almost no way to see the seams in the tanks on the finished model without turning it upside down (Something that I don't do very often with a model as big as this one) we went with two piece tanks..
On the first test shots the air cleaners were only two parts with a seam right thru their tops - after a suggestion that those would be better with separate tops we did change them.... On the two first test shots that I built & painted I simply hit the tops of the air cleaners with a file and chrome foiled them - doing the same with the tanks would be pretty easy...
If we do something with exposed fuel tanks in the future we may do something different on the part layout..

Dave

Edited by Dave Metzner, 10 May 2011 - 07:20 PM.

[Danno]

I am well aware of the four piece fuel tanks in earlier truck kits however at some point choices get made to make some things in fewer parts.. Since there is really almost no way to see the seams in the tanks on the finished model without turning it upside down (Something that I don't do very often with a model as big as this one) we went with two piece tanks..
On the first test shots the air cleaners were only two parts with a seam right thru their tops - after a suggestion that those would be better with separate tops we did change them.... On the two first test shots that I built & painted I simply hit the tops of the air cleaners with a file and chrome foiled them - doing the same with the tanks would be pretty easy...
If we do something with exposed fuel tanks in the future we may do something different on the part layout..

Dave

Well, now, Dave, you make a very good point there!

In looking at the assembled chassis, I see you are right ~ the tank seams are not very noticeable if at all. You guys did a very good job of hiding the seams and making the best of the situation. And most models aren't going to be picked up that much, they're going to be viewed on a shelf.

And, I appreciate that you'll look at a different treatment for any future products with more exposed tanks.

I guess we sometimes get carried away with the "small picture" critiquing when we shouldn't lose sight of the "big picture." The seams may seem to be a big deal when the tanks are seen by themselves ... but when we look at the finished assembly ~ not such a big deal.

Having said that, let me say once more - what a remarkable kit you've produced here! WOW! Just incredible. Thank you all so much for all the effort to bring such a spectacular kit to market! Hope it sells beyond your wildest dreams.

[Harry P.]

OK, now I just feel worse...knowing that they have made them better, then apparently forgot how.

When you're tooling up a brand new model from the ground up, little details like that are what the manufacturers need to pay more attention to. Either they dropped the ball on that, or it was a matter of saving a few tooling bucks by simplifying the tanks into two pieces instead of four. I can't imagine the $$$ difference between two-part and four-part tanks would have been that great.

Same deal with the molded-in lights along the cab bottom. Separate pieces would have been better than the builder trying to foil or paint each one without messing up the cab color, but doing them as part of the cab vs. separate pieces on the chrome tree probably saved them a few bucks. Good for them, bad for the customer.