The Creative Explorer Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 A secret project, march 16th 2018 is when my father is going to retire. He has worked his whole life for only one company; a huge global dairy company. It is now known as FrieslandCampina. Even though my father has nothing with trucks, never driven them nor is a petrolhead, it was for me obvious to give a Daf truck with 3-axled trailer as a gift for his retirement. Why? Well, when we (my 2 brothers and I) were little kids, my father gave us a little truck-trailer from his company to us as a gift, something I always kept as a memorandum and was special to me. And since I am a modelbuilder, with interest in motorized vehicles, it was a no-brainer for me. So I started hunting down a Daf truck, 3-axled trailer and find a extra Friesche Vlag truck, but that was quite hard. I don't think they were available in retail. But I did find a decent one later one. I got the Dutchman Daf as a starterspoint, but I have to shorten it and remove one axle. Work started with opening the grill. I used the bottom of the trailer to align the frame for the trailer And used thoothpicks to clamp the frame The frame was measured and marked for cutting It took me a few attempts, but finally got the frame nicely aligned. The cabin was glued together, for better handling when painting Some reinforcements for the chassis, it was quite weak after the cutting I found the clothespin ideal for resting the chassis on, it is also a good way to see wether the chassis is still aligned. A dry-fit for the mock-up. on top is the truck and trailer that is my example. A big error in the Italeri manual, the wheels are done completely wrong For the fun, I dryfitted it the way it shouldn't Back to seriousness again: pre-paint detailling The Dutchman had the weird, funky roof, so I cast a flat roof for the cabin. The trailer had a bit too modern look to it, due to the chamfered edges, so they had to go. And in the meantime, I added some plumbing to the chassis. Because the trailer is too new for the truck and I've been correcting it, I also made a new lightboard on the rearside, more bulky than the newer style. Because I had some days off between Christmas and new-years eve, I was able to make some big steps on the paint process. First I spotpainted the repaired/modified parts black. Than put it in a white primer And added a medium blue base-caot I added the ommissed windowposts with 4 strips of styrene and opened up the lower grille The sanding on the trailer is never ending, seriously.. But the front end looks better now. I also got the smaller parts into the paintbooth today After all the prep-work, the cabin went into it's black base-coat ( to keep the hue in the end the same) We are getting somewhere, now it's needs it final blue coat. It took me 2 spray sessions of an hour to get all the parts in the blue coat. Finally done And then it was time for some clearcoat. First the chassis and the smaller parts. A dryfit for the wheels The engine in the right-ish color The wheels are dryfitted And the cabin went on for an overall look, I had some damage to the roof and wasn't happy with the way I prepped it, so I need to repair the roof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hct728(Bob) Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Wow, you've been busy! Very neat bodywork and paint! Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Creative Explorer Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 Thank you Bob, I've started this project a couple of months back and was basically in the prepping stage until the weekend before Christmas. Only until then I was able to make some steps on the paint work. And allowes me now to work on assembly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatorincebu Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Erik, Very impressive work here. I must confess. I was aghast when you cut one of the drive axles off . As I am a big fan of dual drive. But I do understand that dual drive was not correct for this project . Be Well Gator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PierreR89 Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Looks good, but i dont understand what the manual has done wrong with the tires for the trailer? I dont know how many of their trailers i have built and i have never had any problem. There are 2 things that i dont really like. (Probably because i used to work on these types of trailers when i worked as mechanic) Airlines connected to the underside of the airbags, if they were that way in real they would have been ripped off within minutes from leaving the factory or after road debries hit them. The air hoses for the airbags is on the top of almost every trailer with air suspension. Airlines to the brake should go to the brakecylinder (round part of the brake assembly) that sits on the caliper, the way you have it is so it goes to the calipermount. a modern trailer like this have 2 hoses for each brake cylinder, one line is for the service brake and one is for releasing the parkingbrake. Other then that it looks good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skid896 Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 Very nice build, I remember seeing these on the roads, awesome trucks and an awesome build. You have a lot of patience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cien1986 Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 You did a great job on this kit... really.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Creative Explorer Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 On 1-1-2018 at 4:51 AM, gatorincebu said: Erik, Very impressive work here. I must confess. I was aghast when you cut one of the drive axles off . As I am a big fan of dual drive. But I do understand that dual drive was not correct for this project . Be Well Gator Over here, the majority of trucks on our roads are one-axled, dual drive is a rarity for a truck and trailer combo. And sice it was some sort of replica, I had to follow the one axled concept ;-) On 2-1-2018 at 5:17 PM, PierreR89 said: Looks good, but i dont understand what the manual has done wrong with the tires for the trailer? I dont know how many of their trailers i have built and i have never had any problem. There are 2 things that i dont really like. (Probably because i used to work on these types of trailers when i worked as mechanic) Airlines connected to the underside of the airbags, if they were that way in real they would have been ripped off within minutes from leaving the factory or after road debries hit them. The air hoses for the airbags is on the top of almost every trailer with air suspension. Airlines to the brake should go to the brakecylinder (round part of the brake assembly) that sits on the caliper, the way you have it is so it goes to the calipermount. a modern trailer like this have 2 hoses for each brake cylinder, one line is for the service brake and one is for releasing the parkingbrake. Other then that it looks good Where my knowledge lies with cars and such, I must admit I have not that much experience with trucks. Where I couldn't find sufficient info about what I was working on, I used my logic from cars and later I found out, it wasn't always the right choice haha. But they are good learning moments for the next build. And with these two points the same thing; I will not be making those errors again! thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Creative Explorer Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 (edited) oops Edited February 18, 2018 by The Creative Explorer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Creative Explorer Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 (edited) Work has been really busy lately and I find little time to work on this project, let alone post something about it. But today was kind for me, I was able to mount the cabin on the chassis and clearcoated the chassis of the trailer. And I even has some time left to share some pictures with you. I had to make a longer propshaft, I used some copper tubing for that. And used the kit joints The engine was clearcoated and I started some basic detailling I made a simple belt from a sticker Small Jump, the engine went into the chassis and added the other parts, the turbo set-up from Italeri was quite a hassle, it didn't reallt fit properly I went on working on the interior, I chose some typical early eighties colors for it. The chassis is rolling! With some use of the Molotow pens, I added some clamps Becasue the size of the trailer, I am affraid my biggest airbrush (Harder & Steenbeck Colani) is not going to be sufficient, so I got myself a SATA minijet 4400 HVLP gun, if needed, it could even spray a real car. After I clearcoated the cabine, some weird orange/pink hue was in the back end of the cab in my clear paint, never seen it before, never had to deal it before and no I idea where it came from. It is definately not overspray and it is in my clear paint, weird... Since I discovered whilst masking for the windowtrim, I first airbrushed that. Edited February 18, 2018 by The Creative Explorer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Creative Explorer Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 (edited) Than it was time to deal with the back side With a fresh coat of white paint, it looks a whole lot better. The windscreen was also a bit of a hassle, since it was somewhat warped. Working on assembling the interior parts The grille didn't coorperate either Some light in the end of the tunnel! The cab got on the chassis and now I have to start working on the trailer, getting it ready for paint and putting it on the chassis, finishing this project. I only got till march 16th... Edited February 18, 2018 by The Creative Explorer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redneckrigger Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Absolutely wonderful work! NICE!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landman Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 That is a lot of very nice work Erik. opening all those holes is a chore. Reminds me when I did the Dodge. Seems like it will never end. I like all the little mods you make to get it just the way you want it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince66 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Coming along very nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatorincebu Posted February 24, 2018 Share Posted February 24, 2018 Erik , you are making good progress on this project. I am sure your father will be suitably impressed by your efforts ! be Well Gator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stenfalk Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 Many years ago when I was a child yet, I saw a DAF 3300 in my hometown. It was painted metallic brown with gold trim. It was so impressive that I could never forget this truck again. That will probably happen to me with your model too. Great painting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilrathy10 Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 This is a killer project, from what I can see.... So many pics, I'll have to go back and take my time to view them all... Excellent skills on display... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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