Tony Bryan

WOW great work

Been awhile but changed a couple of things to etch, looks much better than a printed badge I think

Alain, that is coming along very well, love your work

Done a little more to the CAT,all badge work is finished and the front bar is also finished All that is left to do is the 1/4 guards and share tanks, my add an ice pack also

Finally got around to having the brackets cast in white metal, while I was at it I made some new plastic style guards

Great bit of work, love those mirrors

Dash and firewall converted to RHD, this was done by a good friend of mine, I just cast it for him

Jarda Great work and the detail is amazing as usual , shame about the "logging" accident

As you can see Aaron it is very prostar, but the subtle differences are no side skirt, square tanks, no international badging, different front bar, etc, The US version is ugly, but easy to build if someone wanted to have a go, mod the prostar cab and scratch the hood

They are fitted with a C15, I'll chop the max force and scratch the head of a C15 to make it look close In Australia we don't lounge around, the sleeper is just that a sleeper, it has a bunk in it

In Australia, we have the Prostar, but under the name or Banner if you like of the Cat Group, so I decided to have a go at building an Aussie version, here is the grill, badge and front bar so far, on the Aussie version they have a square tank and no side flaring,also have to scratch the hood 1/4 guards

Have a read here, read all the 153 pages of this tutorial, by one of the best brass builders http://www.scalemotorcars.com/forum/large-scale-cars/2592-article-1-8th-scale-model-t-racer-build-journal.html And another exceptional brass build http://www.scalemotorcars.com/forum/large-scale-cars/24503-article-scratch-built-stock-ford-model-t-1-8-th-scale.html And this will show how brass is best worked with and it capabilities read all 68 pages by a hobbyist and see the results he gets http://www.scalemotorcars.com/forum/large-scale-cars/36929-continental-mark-ii.html and another one just to get the picture http://www.scalemotorcars.com/forum/large-scale-cars/54925-another-super-7-a.html

"Any feedback on the project is always welcome, even suggestions on it are also. I hope you enjoyed this update. " Ok, you asked for some feed back, well I think this is just terrible, the frame is a mess, from someone wanting to make a accurate model, using a shelf bracket is far from that, and steel at that, cutting it with a dremel and marking with a marker pen is not an accurate way to build a frame, nor is it reliable for consistency, Suggestion, I suggest that you throw the steel frame away, and start again with sheet brass, brass when treated with the respect it deserves can be built far nicer than any other material, it has the strength and lightness to out do plastic, as well as steel, and it will give you a better finish and far easier than trying to weld a rusty shelf bracket, but the key is, it can produce a far more accurate frame than a steel shelf bracket, for the amount of time and effort that you have put into this you could have had someone fabricate the 2 C channel sections for you

That is so cool, and beautifully built to Did you scratch the engine on the rear?

Nice so far, heres a little trick that you could use for the tanker, the plastic really doesn't need to be heated, if you are using something like PVC pipe, (we call it storm water pipe) try this experiment, cut say 4 inches of pipe, then cut your self a bit timber, or acrylic of say, 1/2 in thick and as wide as the tank you are making, apply pressure to the top to squash it, and slide the timber or acrylic into the centre and let go, watch what it does, the timber will be self centring, and will hold the shape real nice, obviously experiment with what you need to get the correct shape,but it won't alter over time or move when fixed, but you can infill if you want to, or fill with expander foam to hold shape Heating PVC pipe with a flame releases very dangerous chemicals, including arsenic be careful with that stuff

That is some real nice hinge work, what are you doing for the latches?

There is some very nice detail happening here, fantastic work so far

Now that has come up great Hessel, looks even better behind your SAR

That is some fantastic work your are doing here, and a great achievement to get the landing legs to function 10/10 for giving it a go

I'll give you a hint, made by Kenworth, and very Australian, but not one, two different trucks, one starts with a T and the other a K

Thanks Dave, I have just brought another original cat kit, this one will be super detailed, as a demo machine, with opening panels, I am going to make all the panels in fibreglass so the doors are thin and light, and add all the hydraulic and engine detail, can feel a 3 year project coming on and yes I would like to see what you come up with for the Michigan, Warren Kostick has converted 2 now, log loader, and a rubbish compactor, both into Cats

Poor old girl has taken a beating, but great build, ya gotta love the transtars

Dave that colour combo looks great, really suits the stock trailer

Anthony, keep watching this space, there is something brewing...........

I guess with that sort of business attitude, I'm surprised that any company has the insight to produce anything new, but one company did, they listened to what a small minority group want and produced a brand new truck kit, the same company invested the so called $100,000 to tool up and produce these kits, but had enough insight to get value for money, by having the plans for a second kit, and wait for it, a trailer, not many second type kits from that The same said company also marketed the kit in such a way that it generated enough "excitement" in such a 'so called" small market place that people pledged buying 2 or 5 or 10 kits at a time before it hit the selves, they kept the "limited" market place informed on how they where going, they also gave the test builds the a select few that where active members on other forums, so they could post and review the "NEW' kit, so people where waiting for it to be released, that is good marketing, and many other well respected companies do the same, get the public excited about it before hand so people are ready and have it on there must have list The Lonestar kit retails anywhere from $60 up, here in Australia they are $125, yeah I have 2, to use as a donor kit, and to think that you can get a re issue 1/16th kit for the same money Meng Models do the same, they are also a relatively new model company that is investing in some excellent kits, very well detailed, with a philosophy producing the best they can, why would they invest in so much tooling if there was no return There are many people that only build one or two subjects, and when you are building $10 or $20 kits, investing $2-300 in a kit is pointless to you