Straightliner59

Agreed! I used sewing needles, for these hood pins. I punched aluminum discs, for the scratch plates. I didn't bother with the clips, either.

Zolatone. Here's their color chart,! ?

Thank you, Rob, I appreciate it! I try to keep my parts correct for the period of the car I am building.

Thank you, Dan. I think they're better than the kit parts, no? ? I got the joints cleaned up, on them, after I took these.

Okay, they need some cleanup and adjustments, but, the belts are on! I used a no. 11 blade as an adze, to flatten one of the angles. I colored the flattened edge with a black Sharpie, so that I could easily see which side I wanted to be facing in. I made the belts with Plastruct .030" triangular stock. There is also a photo of the kit piece these belts replaced. As always, questions, critiques, and comments are always welcome! Thanks for looking!

Hey, Francis! Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for your kind words. I will build just about anything, but, I've loved trucks, since I started building, back when AMT's GMC Astro 95 still had the turbine, in the kit. I got it for Christmas, that year. I think I built a couple of others back then, the Road Boss, and the Freightliner Dual Drive tractor, but, I haven't built one, since the middle-'70s. I got inspired enough, looking here, that I dug this old project out, and started working on it, again. I'm installing the belts, now. Thanks, Carl!

Thank you, Dennis. That is very kind of you, to say! I do love those old Monogram kits.

I think the pulleys are mostly done, excepting some minor details. You can see the belt/pulleys for the crank and alternator, as well. It will be interesting, making v-belts from triangle stock, but, it should look pretty cool, when it's done. Looking to get the engine to the point of paint, so I can move along to the chassis. Questions, comments and critiques always welcome!

Got the pulleys mostly finished. I hope I'm not far from getting paint on this, so I can move on to the chassis. I added bolts to the compressor head, too. You can also see the crank and alternator pulleys and the belt made from strip plastic.

Thank you, Geoffrey. I agree! I enjoy knowing it's there. Some of the lines seem to be common to almost all Cummins engines of that era.

A little more of the belts/pulleys assemblies. If I had larger diameter stock, on hand, I would have turned the pulleys on the lathe. Since I don't, I am using punched discs of alternating diameters, to make the pulleys. I've begun to make one of the belts. This is a flat belt. To re-create the v-belts, I plan to sand off one of the angles from some Evergreen triangular stock. Here, the now mounted compressor can also be seen. As always, questions, critiques and compliments are welcome!

That would be cool! I didn't even think of the butterfly hood, on the Autocar. Yes, that could make it interesting.

I am so glad you did! It looks great!

Lee, it is easy to see why! You have to figure out which component is which, then plumb it, accordingly. It's even more confusing when two pictures of the same part look different! Very perplexing! Good luck. If you have some photos of your engine, maybe I can help. I'd be happy to give it a shot! Thank you, Dan!

I would stick with the bar! I've never tried anything else, just because, when I was doing the research, that was the one that came up in most descriptions of the process. I think the bar, because it's easier to get a more uniform coat, that stays where you put it! ? I will say this, though. If I didn't have a bar of Ivory soap, I would certainly experiment. Thanks, Francis! It's always a pleasure, sir!

This is how I learned to do it, and it's worked well: Once the coating is sanded off, use a bar of plain soap (Ivory is what I use, nothing scented, of course) to coat the sheet. Now, hit it with a torch. As soon as the soap turns black, quench the sheet. You're ready to have a whole new kind of fun, now!

Thanks, Lee. With seemingly no two of these 350s alike, it's interesting, sorting out the plumbing on this thing, for sure! There are so many different things in so many different places, that, about all you can do is find the lines that are common between them, and install those.

Thank you, Bill! I always try to make my stuff look realistic. I have a few things that look kind of toy-like, but, I really like my models to have some "grit", about them, if that makes sense. Thanks for your comment!

Thank you, Bill. Appreciate it!

More work done to the pulleys and compressor. I don't have photos, yet, but, the compressor is mounted.

You can pick up a can of Weld-On 4 at Home Depot. It's very similar to Tenax or the Flex-i-File stuff. Lots cheaper, too!

Thanks, Barry! Glad you like it!

Yeah, I love the orange ones, too! Thanks, Francis! I think you should try the flashing. It's an excellent material. Two things, though, it has to be annealed, and, before that, if it's coated, the plastic coating needs to be sanded off. Once those two things are done, you're off to the races! Thanks, Scott and Larry! I appreciate your comments

Thank you, Scott! It's all in the research, for sure! Thanks, Barry! I believe I remember you from the "old days" (SLM). I really like the way the "terrible towel" worked out. It looks good,and I didn't have to mess around with throttle linkage on the injector! Bonus!

Thanks, Francis. I appreciate you having a look, and commenting. Much appreciated! It took me a while to get my settings dialed-in, and, there may be a bit more, to do, toward that, but, these are much better than my earlier efforts! I love that flashing! I use it all the time! That and tooling aluminum. Not sure what I would do, without either! Thank you, Scott! I very much appreciate it!