Plastheniker

Very good colour choice!

Considering when the model was built a very nice result! IMO the Transtar was one of the most attractive truck kits ever. There should be a reissue soon.

Dan, Ken, thanks for your replies! I am afraid there is no alternative. For a nice result all grille bars must be absolutely parallel the distances between all grille bars must be identical horizontal and vertical grille bars must form exact 90° angles you have to mill/cut vertical 0.5mm slots into the grill frame and into the horizontal 0.5mm grille bars IMO this cannot be achieved manually. Mostly X-Y-tables like mine are used by hobby woodworkers. Maybe you know someone ? If this is not the case and the grille is the only remaining obstacle it would be no problem to mill the grooves for you if you send me the baseplate/grille frame assembly.

Thanks for the recent replies! I never made own PE parts. I milled the grille. An X-Y table ("Kreuztisch") of any size is indispensable. I used this rather unorthodox assembly of a full-size X-Y table and a full-size slowly running drill with a narrowed slitting cutter. (Ignore the workpiece on the pictures). Broadly speaking I did this: AITM supplies the cast grille as a separate part to be inserted into a corresponding recess. I cut a piece of thick styrene sheet (maybe 3mm) as a baseplate fitting into the recess but leaving a gap of 1mm all round. I inserted this baseplate into the recess provisionally and glued a wide strip of 1mm styrene all round the baseplate as a grille frame. After removing this assembly I milled horzontal grooves into the baseplate through this grille frame and glued strips of 0.5mm styrene into these grooves as horizontal grille bars. Then I did the same for the vertical grille bars milling through the horizontal grille bars as well. After applying a minimum amount of liquid super glue to all joints I milled a plane grille surface using my height-adjustable modeling drill stand (Ignore the circular saw blade on the picture). Last I gave the grille frame a neat cover of thin styrene and foiled everything. As far as I remember the cab recess was not deep enough for my new grille, so I had to make it deeper. I hope this is understandable.

Super clean as always!

Beautiful and perfectly done, really flawless!

Jacobus, I think the yellowing of the glass parts is caused by UV light. I had this problem with models near windows exposed to bright daylight or even sunlight. Now I always protect my models by using my venetian blinds because the yellowing is irreversible .

Indeed!

Thanks for the comments! Yes, as long as the roads are clean and dry - otherwise Here are the 1:1 pictures

Super clean, perfect paintwork!

Hi, Contrary to Corvettes Vipers never became popular in Europe. Very probably the reason was the rather high price. The first SRT-10 was offered on the German market in 2003 at € 115,000 while the also new Gallardo was only € 20,000 more - not a difficult decision for buyers. Two or three years later Chrysler reduced the Viper price to € 105,000 without success, so in 2006 they stopped the Viper import to Germany definitely. Since the production start in 1992 to this day I only saw two Vipers on the road (both were RT/10 models), therefore the probability for a Viper owner to encounter another Viper is neglectible - a very good reason for me to import a new Venom Red SRT-10 with H-Spoke wheels in 2008. I still own it. Whenever possible I build models of my 1:1 cars and of course I wanted a replica of my Viper, too. I used Revell's kit of the 2003 SRT-10 as a basis. It is a rather nice but partially rather simplified kit so some detailing was neccessary. Among other things I remember: The headlight inserts got real glass parts I opened the body to make realistic rear lights I replaced the clumsy side vents Revell didn't replicate the standard convertible boot that covers the the lowered top I replaced the 2003 hood by the 2008 hood of the ACR kit, opened its six vents and fitted PE mesh. Finally I scratch built the H-Spoke wheels and replicated the number plates of the real car. My paint mixture matches the original colour quite well but my aged camera gives it a tinge of raspberries . Sorry for that.

Exactly this was the colour/paintwork taste of the era!

Once again super clean!

Looks absolutely perfect, this result would really deserve more model and less backdrop.

Impressive by all accounts! Groß u n d großartig!

Not really my kind of 1:1 car but once again a flawless result!

(continued) CK-40 Dodge CNT 900/1000 grille: clean windscreen: strongly curved windscreen frame/weatherstrip: missing panel lines/gaps: straight wall thickness: medium surface quality: very good CK-11 Mack LMSW grille: acceptable, but replacement would be not too difficult windscreen: plane windscreen frame/weatherstrip: replicated panel lines/gaps: mostly straight but partially reworking necessary wall thickness: thick surface quality: acceptable, but recessed areas around both side windows very poor I hope this was useful. If you need any further information please let me know.

Jacobus, thanks for the pictures! You don't see finished Fleetstar cabs very often. Your pictures show that this cab can make a very attractive model. Great work! (continued) CK-19 Mack LJ grille: acceptable, but replacement would be not too difficult windscreen: plane windscreen frame/weatherstrip: replicated panel lines/gaps: mostly straight but partially reworking necessary wall thickness: medium surface quality: good, but recessed areas around both side windows very poor CK-130 Dodge LS-1000 grille: clean windscreen: plane windscreen frame/weatherstrip: replicated panel lines/gaps: straight wall thickness: medium surface quality: very good CK-7 Mack B-61 grille: acceptable, but minor reworking necessary windscreen: plane windscreen frame/weatherstrip: replicated panel lines/gaps: mostly straight but partially considerable reworking necessary wall thickness: thick surface quality: good, but edges of recessed areas on the rear panel not straight To be continued

Thomas and all of you who might also be interested , I have these AITM cabs still in the stash: CK-43 International 2070A Fleetstar CK-13 Mack C-600 CK-19 Mack LJ CK-130 Dodge LS-1000 CK-7 Mack B-61 CK-40 Dodge CNT 900/1000 CK-11 Mack LMSWM CK-107 Mack H-67 CK-110 GMC 530 I exclude here the Mack H-67 because its massive resin grille is an integral part of the cab. Removing and replacing it by a realistic grille is certainly a particular challenge. I also exclude the GMC 530 because its general casting quality is the poorest by far of all my cabs. Contrary to my former consideration I also exclude the GMC 9500, so after all I will post everything here in the Mack thread. If inspite of that you have a special interest in the GMC 9500 cab you can find more detailed information about its issues here http://www.wettringer-modellbauforum.de/forum/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=43240 I suppose the German text will be no problem for Thomas . In the following link (Post #12) you can find some remarks of a skilled Swiss fellow modeler concerning other AITM cabs, namely CK-71, 72, 73, 74, 77, 48 and 100. If the sense of the German text is not understandable and you are interested I will translate it. http://www.modell-laster-forum.de/t3173f14-Mack-F-Daycab-AITM-mit-Flatbed-Trailer.html I will point out some pros and cons of my cabs regarding them notabene as a very first AITM project. The differences between these cabs are considerable. I am going to post 3 photos of each cab. The corresponding pictures on the AITM pages are too small to show very much. Remember that I can only judge my own cabs cast some years ago. Things might have changed in the meantime. Your final decision, however, depends on your individual skills, your modeling equipment, and your willingness to spend more or less time and effort. And last but not least you have to like the 1:1 cab. Before any decision search the web if you can find sufficient scale drawings and pictures of the 1:1 vehicle and check availabilities on the AITM pages . CK-43 International 2070A Fleetstar grille: clean windscreen: slightly curved windscreen frame/weatherstrip: missing panel lines/gaps: straigh,t but depth varies wall thickness: thin surface quality: good CK-13 Mack C-600 grille: clean windscreen: plane windscreen frame/weatherstrip: replicated panel lines/gaps: mostly straight, but partially reworking necessary wall thickness: thick surface quality: good To be continued

Beautiful paint scheme (that you don't see very often done really symmetrically), a fantastic colour combination, clean daycab conversion and scratch built trailer. Looking forward to some close-up shots!

Again modeling on the highest level!

Thanks a lot for all comments! As mentioned probably several times before I love older kits like this one because opposite to some modern and pricey Japanese kits they are still a challenge.

Thanks for the latest replies! Thomas said in his reply that the colour choice is particularly important for this kit. This is true, the colour(s) really make or break this kit. If you consider to build it, search the web and you will find a lot of unflattering colours.

Super clean! The real mesh insted of a styrene part pays off.

Really different, executed with obviously great skills!