MACK DM600 Builders kit

[Rigzndiesel]

Hello,

I am new to the forum. My name is Jeff. I have been watching for a while and decided to build a truck again after a few years absence. I picked a kit that has parts scattered about and off their sprues, a "builders kit". It is the inaccurate ERTL RUBBER DUCK kit. Since it will never be the RS700L, I decided to build it as a plain U600 bobtail or maybe a lowboy puller. Here's a few pics of where I'm at with this build. I got the frame/engine built and painted then dullcote. The cab is primered in flat white, sometimes I use flat black as a primer. I have a few parts de-chromed waiting to be painted . I think I will paint the cab green. well, that's it for now...

J

Edited December 31, 2013 by Rigzndiesel

[slusher]

Very cool kit and nice start...

[truckabilly]

Welcome to the forum. It´s a wise decision, I think, to make the kit what it is instead of heavy modification to represent the "movie star". It wouldn´t be bad either, if you felt up to. Anyway, good luck with your restart in model building.

[Chris guthro]

I agree a lowboy puller would be sweet!! Big steer tires! Great start!

[Rigzndiesel]

I built this kit as a kid 30 years ago and remembered how cool the movable steering and suspension worked. At 16 it was the neatest truck model on my shelf. I had never seen the movie Convoy, so I really didn't know the kit didn't replicate the movie truck. I built the model right out of the box with no paint. This time around I'll paint it British Green with a gold top.

I got a little modeling/painting in today as my kids are all grown up and the holidays are pretty quiet these days.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Rigzndiesel

[Force]

It was a wise decision to build something else from this kit.

I also tried to build this kit back in the late 70's (my kit has copyright year 1978), but I didn't finnish it as it was too far from what it was supposed to be and I gave up...I had seen the Convoy movie so I knew how it should to look like and it didn't by far.
I still have it but it's not complete anymore.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Force

[Jim Whalen]

Hi,

Sounds like the right decision to me - you should end up with a nice example of a 70's Mack. Hope the build goes well.

[72 Charger]

Welcome Jeffrey thats looking good . Ive just built one of those and I put a lowboy on the back to. I like what you did with the wheels

[Rigzndiesel]

Well, I messed up on the first paint scheme. I wet sanded the green took too much paint off a couple of seams. I also decided it was too dark of a color and I really just want to keep this a simple build as I am just getting back into it. No kit bashing, scratch building, or weathering on this one. I'm not set up with a modeling area other than the kitchen counter and the cold basement to paint. Not trying to set a building record on this but if it sits too long on the counter the wife will get on me and then it will join the others on the shelf that got half built.

Took advantage of the warmer temps here in Colorado and repainted the cab. Came out OK. I have to find some decals that go with gold now. Maybe some sort of fictitious excavating, farm or rental equipment company.

Thanks for comments!

[Rigzndiesel]

I like the idea of big steer tires. I'll use what I have available at home; no aftermarket stuff until the model building takes off again. I think I'll look for them out of the Pete Turnpiker or IH 5000 kits. Thanks

Jeff

[Chris guthro]

The ones from the autocar kit would be nice with maybe amt Chevy Titan spoked front wheels

[Swamp Dog]

looking good....

[olsbooks]

Looking nice. Not much fun having to do set up/tear down all the time....I can relate.

Welcome to the group. Keep us posted!

[72 Charger]

Looks better in gold. Red would go well with it

[doogie7046]

The Mack is coming along and looking great. I too had that kit back in '78, I bought it just after seeing the movie. Built it straight out of the box without painting the cab/hood and just like yours it was the best looking model on my shelf.

The gold is a nice colour and shows more details rather the darker green you first had on. Might look good pulling a set a AMT gravel trailers.

[redneckrodder]

I hear you on takin advantage of those warmer temps its supposed to snow again tomorrow they say but who knows glad to see another guy from Colorado on here -redneck

[tbill]

she's looking good! love how you did the wheels, looks fantastic. nice job so far, keep at it.

[Brinx]

Looking good Jeff, as a DM600, this kit was pretty good. Glad to see you're getting her back on the road.

[Rigzndiesel]

A Gravel Dump trailer would look good for this Mack truck. I jumped online and looked for one, not too many available. I think Ebay is the only place to find one and I have been forbidden from that site since it has become so easy to spend needlessly there. Fun to look though!

Jeff

[Rigzndiesel]

Well, I got to work on this model again today with little interruption. However, I had a little setback from breaking one of the pins on the steering axle. I tried to drill with my pin vise to insert a metal pin through it but I drilled it crooked.

I then set out to find a donor kit to replace the axle and front tires. I got a front axle from the Ertl IH Paystar 5000 kit. It worked great because the front inner hubs are matched with the DMs front outer six spoke rims. I took the new six spokes from the Ertl DM800 kit. This will allow me to put larger tires on the front axle from the Paystar kit. I figured that would be OK since I would like to get those big off road tires and rims from AITruckModels when I build the DM800. The Paystar took one for the team as I bought a bunch of them when they were cheep.

One thing I noticed as I was putting the engine in the frame and the rear suspension boogie together was the alignment of the driveshaft. Mine doesn't line up straight. Not sure if this is a flaw in the model or if I just stink at putting models together. Probably the latter. I'll figure something out but I'm definitely not going to pull the model apart to do that.

Attached are a couple more in progress shots. Thanks for looking...

Jeff

[Force]

With that type of rear axles the drive shaft can't line up in a straight line in the middle from the gearbox to the first axle in the tandem as the reduction gearing is towards the left side...so this should be correct.

[Tyson]

Don't be too hard on yourself. Those old amt/Ertl kits are notorious for not fitting together correctly.

[Tyson]

Ah, I though this was one of the kits Ertl inherited from AMT along with some new dressing to make it Rubber Duck.

[Rigzndiesel]

I think the alignment problem may have been my mistake by not ensuring the frame halves were true. Again, I'm just getting back into this and I'll probably put the driveshaft in the way it stands and hook it up to a trailer to hide it. Not entering a contest with this one. Something to keep in mind when I build the DM800 with a few more bills invested in it.

Anyway, I got the new steering axle and wheels on. Basically, back to where I was 24hrs ago. Cab and hood clear coated, so no touching for a couple of days...

Off to the movies...

Jeff

[Force]

You will never get the drive shaft to line up exactly in the middle of the frame with this rear axle setup with the reduction gearing over to the left side and not in the middle...and that is as it should be.
So the drive shaft will go over slightly off center to the left side however you do...but the wheel base on this kit is so short so it looks to be more that usual.
And if you check on a rear wheel drive car the drive shaft is slightly off to one side there too as the pinion is over to one side of the ring gear. and not exactly in the middle...so that's not uncommon.
But other trucks has a rear axle setup where the reduction gearing is exactly in the middle so the drive shaft will line up in the center of the chassis.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Force