redneckrigger

My whole shop is a shelf of doom! (So is my 1:1 garage!)

Very cool!

Welcome! And those builds are very nice! Your ride is sweet..............had an '87 Pontiac 6000 sport Wagon with that engine. I swear it could not be killed, and lord knows I tried! So did the next owner, who sold it after we both had put over 350K total on her! Enjoy!

Your weathering technique is superb! You should do a tutorial on it. I have ZERO skills at weathering and rusting, but your looks so real, I can smell the old oil and grease, and just feel the rusty metal disappearing before my eyes! GREAT job!

X2.................My go to tool is the back side of a #11 blade as well. Works superbly!

Very nice start on a cool build. Those Dodges have a character all their own! NICE!

That is a great build! Love the engine details and there is no way to tell this was born from a snap kit!

These older trucks are what make me build. They are my memories and even though the new trucks are nice, the road scraper bumpers and huge visors aren't my cup of tea. Now, when an oldie rolls out there, THAT gets me going! GREAT photos, keep 'em coming!

So I'm sitting at my work bench fiddling around with my DM600, and I get to wondering what a B81 cab would look like on that chassis. So I dug out an old Jim Etter era MTFA resin cab and plop it on the chassis. Hmmmmm, looks good and I'm off track again, taking off on another tangent that is SURE to become another long project. Took the cab and cut out the hood, thinned the hood panels to look better, and installed a hood hinge strip between the hood halves. That looked cool. Then I realized I never liked the thick fenders of resin cabs, though a necessary evil. So out came the razor saw and off came the fenders. Went to my Mack junkyard and got a set of DM800 fenders out. Cut them down to replace the resin ones and fitted into place. So, I guess I am falling victim to my regular problem.......a short attention span for one project. So, this one will be a heavy duty twin screw tractor, probably red and black, though like most things with my projects, subject to change.......often!

VERY nice work! LOVE cabovers!

X2 Like the colors............and yes a red dividing stripe would set it off perfectly! NICE WORK!

NICE BUILD! Very reminiscent of an '80 Chevy 1 ton I had with a Holmes 475T body on it. Tough truck, WAY more capability in that body than a 1 ton could handle!

Just received a hard to find Ford CL9000 resin kit from Doug, (Mr mopar). All I can say is that he deserves 6 stars on a 1 to 5 scale! A VERY smoothly done deal, and spot on description and communications! Thank you VERY much Doug! Tom

Very nice builds.......................can't wait to see more!

Nice old Mack...............wish it were in MY yard!

A true survivor, and it's awesome that it was bought by someone who wanted it so much! Enjoy!

One would be VERY hard pressed to even THINK it was a snap kit. WONDERFULLY done!

This diorama never ceases to amaze me! A WONDERFUL work in progress, always getting better!

An ambulance service that I used to work as a Paramedic for had a Sprinter ambulance, made by Mercedes, marketed by Dodge. We had to do a rig check before every shift. The check list for all of the rigs, the 2 Fords, and the Sprinter were the same. The Sprinter had no dipstick, so the oil check never got done on her. It was ALSO one of the biggest POS trucks I've ever seen, and two I'll tell you about were not cheap. The Sprinter and my own Dodge each cost well over 45K. With the Sprinter, everything from the brakes going bad at a year old, transmission breaking after 20K, to the sliding side door falling off while enroute to the hospital, with patient on board...........rather exciting I will say! The other biggest POS was also a Dodge, a 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 Hemi which I put 62,000 miles on in 5 years. It went through two transmissions, 12 u-joints, a rear end, rotors all around, calipers all around, two air conditioning blender control systems at 1000 each, three exhaust manifolds which rotted off the engine, engine control computer, 3 O2 sensors, a catalytic converter, a fuel injection pump, 5 injectors, and the last straw was an oil pan that the bottom fell out of while I was trying to remove the drain plug...........BUT, the oil sure did drain FAST. Danged thing cost me 8500 on out of warranty repairs in the last year I had it. It was TRULY a POS that was probably a Friday built truck or a Monday hangover built truck. Had a Ford 1993 Eddie Bauer full size Bronco before that which I put 416,000 miles on............flawless. I only got rid of her so I could get a vehicle big enough to plow my new driveway. I would LOVE to get her back!

No better words ever spoken! I have sent out a few parts and such to fellow members when they were looking for something. No problem........and no $ asked for in return. But when I was looking for some custom decals and could find no decal maker to do them for me, a fellow forum member contacted me and made me a whole sheet.........gratis, and the best I've ever seen. I NEVER expected to be on the receiving end of paying it forward, and that is all the more reason to continue trying to help anyone who is looking for something.........just because! This is a great hobby and an even greater bunch of fellow builders found on these forums!

I have boxes of seemingly unrelated "stuff" in my shop. Every bit of it is something I saw, somewhere in my travels, that spoke to me as something that I could use when building a model. Some of it will never get used, some I've forgotten what I had in mind for it, and some is being used right now, but the bottom line is keep your eyes open and think out of the box. You'll be amazed what you find and where.

I use nothing but acrylic enamels, regular automotive grade materials. I reduce them with the according reducers. Not that I don't like lacquers, but after 40+ years of painting in the 1:1 world, and not having used basecoat/clearcoat systems on my scale builds, I stick to what I know. I usually use either PPG or Dupont materials, and get great results. They do have their limitations, but they work fine for me.

Sounds like Bill has done this a few times before! And he is dead on correct! These are the very same methods used in the 1:1 world for tiny imperfections, and they work.

I have used the razor trick many times on 1:1 paint jobs. There even is a special tool to do this that uses single edged razors. It DOES work well as stated above with clears, and also works well with solid colors. Get the bulk of the run out, then use a block backed fine paper, wet, to remove the rest, then buff to original shine to match the surrounding area. BUT, DO make sure it is DRY DRY DRY.