Warren D

Nice clean build!

Nice looking rig!

Sweet looking build!

Amazing level of detail, I'm in awe.

Starting my next project inspired by the attached photo. I heard this little gem coming about a half mile before I saw it, yep, had a Deeetroit. Cab and dump body by AITM, I decided to use the Freightliner COE SD/DD kit for it's short frame. Turns out that the short SD frame is too short and the DD frame is too long. Being it was easier to shorten the long frame, that's the plan. I was thinking it would be an easy build but it's already proven to be challenging. This one will have a 6-71N from Gary Wallace under the hood, and I have wheels and tires coming from AITM that should come close to the ones in the photo.

Looks great!

Looks great! Welcome!

Thanks everyone. Don't know what happened with the mirrors, followed the instructions and pic on the box but....don't want to try to pull them off and risk pulling the paint. I have a couple of ideas to get them straighter.....

Calling it done:

Calling this one done. I saw many of these growing up, all the contractors had at least one, didn't matter how big the company was. This is a Revell 1/24 GMC pickup with plow. The rear of the chassis was scratch built for the dump body. Dump body is from Scenes Unlimited, great casting but...I should have removed a little off the back of the body as the tailgate with paint wouldn't shut. Fit is just a little too tight. Wheels and tires also from S.U. , 19.5" dually kit. Hitch is likewise from S.U., tanks are from the lindberg Dodge, gas on the left and hydraulic on the right. Trailer and Bobcat are diecast. I finally found the red I want, Testor's Aztek Acrylic. Pics are a tad orange on the laptop, my calibrated monitor is red.

Not sure why the paint looks like BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, too much noise in the pics.....

Paint is on, will have to try a different camera/lighting, can't get the reds right. Chassis is almost complete, used the fuel tank from the Lindberg Dodge, cut the other one down for a hydro tank on the right side. Need mudflaps and some bits. Grille is almost done, then on the cab and cab to chassis. Mirrors and the plow and I think it's done. Tires and wheels from Scenes Unlimited.

I should note that the pickup is a Revell 1/24 scale while the dump body is 1/25 scale. I often encounter difficulties when mixing scaless, such as the Mack B815 logger build where the trruck was 1/25 and the KFS front drive axle was 1/24 and had to be narrowed quite a bit to get it to fit. In this case, if the dump body is a little small that's ok as the look is what I am after.

AITM Makes the mixer body but it isn't cheap: https://aitruckmodels.com/product/rex-770-mixer-kit/

Mods pleas move this to WIP, OOps!

I'll put this here as it really isn't a big rig. This build is a GMC Mason Dump, typical of the small dump trucks used by masons (duh!), landscapers and contractors. I chose an older GMC, a Revell short bed pickup truck kit with a plow. I'll use the plow on this build. The dump body is from Scenes Unlimited, as are the wheels and tires. The resin cast dump body is one of the best castings I've seen, almost no flash and parts fit together like a glove. No tweaking needed. Wheels and tires are larger than the stock pickup kit and the back features duallies. The pick up chassis needed to get longer so everything back of the cab was removed and a straight c channel frame built from scratch. Rear axle from the kit needed to be narrowed to accomodate the dualies. Exhaust pipes dump in front of the rears as most of them do. I still need to figure out a fuel tank, the molded on saddle tanks were the first to go.

For the rubber flaps, what about a heavy weight plastic garbage bag?

Amazing detail.......I'm in awe.

Looks good! I find weathering is tough and very subjective.....what looks great to one person is over or under done to someone else.

Thanks for the kind words, I was wonder how long it would take for someone to get the Bunyan reference. Had to put something on the front guard and it seemed to fit.

Nice build, I like the color!

Calling this one done. Thanks to all for the kind words of encouragement during the build!

Calling this one done. Cab and chassis from AITM, trailer from AMT. Crane from Italeri, front drive axle from KFS, logs from the back yard. Lots of extra parts. KFS front drive axle had to be narrowed (1/24 scale). Grapple on crane from scratch. Weathering is a variety of acrylic washes, chalks and airbrush. Rust is the salt method, tried the baking soda method for the mud but didn't like it so I created my own mix using acrylic craft paint ($0.99 per bottle!), water, acrylic gloss and fine sawdust. Probably the most involved build to date, first one with weathering. Overall, I like the result.....

A few more pics of the grapple now mounted to the crane. It pivots, rotates, jaws work and moves like the real one.

Final update. The grapple is almost done, need to attach it to the crane, add a little weathering and mount the crane and it's done. Not sure how some of you scratch build these small devices, it was very frustrating.