redneckrigger

Nice build!!! And if it ain't orange, we know it wasn't built by you!

Simply stunning!!!!!!! Looks like the original put into a shrinking machine! I only WISH for but ten percent of your skills!

Dennis..............yes, the GE plant was in Pittsfield. I worked there in the early 70's when the place was still going strong. They built HUGE pieces. They had special Schnabel rail cars built for the REALLY big stuff..........up to 700 tons, absolutely incredible. Then, later in my working life, I worked for a company that had the contract to tear the place down, building by building and piece by piece. I ran a rigging crew moving transformers and other very heavy stuff. We had to drain the PCB oil from them, flush them out, and ship them away. We did ship some for reuse. We had our own cranes and trucks, but had to contract with companies like Barnhart/Marino as well. It was heartbreaking to destroy such a magnificent facility, but that was our job. We destroyed so much good stuff. They had huge test pits to do tests on these huge transformers. We filled the pits in with lathes, milling machines, drill presses, computers, air compressors, fork trucks, and about ANYTHING you can imagine, then poured concrete on them. The place is a huge parking lot now....................with an unbelievable cache of metal below the surface. We filled tunnels under the rail tracks by driving fork trucks into them with machines on the forks, parked them, took the propane and batteries off, and walked out, and did it again until the tunnel was full, and then filled it with concrete. What a sorry waste! It was FUN however when we got to play with the BIG toys. I only wish I could find my photos of everything we did.

Best wishes for your speedy recovery! AND, thank you for your service! Welcome to the site...........it's the best place on the net!

We loaded a 350 ton transformer for moving out of the local GE plant in the late '80's. The rig looked a LOT like the one in your pics. I have photos somewhere but Lord only knows where! It was a heck of an undertaking. We moved it about 12 miles. We had to reinforce bridges, make special ramps, and the whole project took about three weeks.........for 12 miles! And an absolutely awesome rig! That plant built some transformers that weighed far in excess of the 350 number. One building had 2 cranes set up to lift 700 tons. Most of the REAL big ones were shipped by rail. Loved working on that stuff.

Unbelievable detail, and life like setup as well. I LOVE the figures, as they do not look like so many scale figures, they actually have superb real life poses. Stunning!

Fisheyes can be a royal pain. We custom color firearms using Dura Coat colors. We had a Glock that was about 20 years old that the new owner wanted colored. We did our standard cleaning with carb cleaner to remove all of the oils and lubricants commonly found on guns. Hit it with the paint, and instant fisheyes everywhere. Went through the same routine only more concentrated three times. No joy. Just before giving up in disgust, we got hold of the previous owner of the gun to see what he may have used on it. He told us he soaked the polymer frame in ArmorAll to make it look newer before he sold it to the present owner. Ah HAAA! So we boiled the frame out in first a water/Comet solution and then plain water to get it clean. Turned out OK after that. Had some hydraulic contaminents on the belly of an MD500 chopper belonging to my old boss as well that gave me fits. May not be able to see what is about to give you fits, but if you EXPECT that it is there and prepare as if it IS there, you can do no better.

Did you wash the parts before paint?

Yet ANOTHER build that looks like it was driven straight out of a miniturization machine!!!!!! Wow!

1991 Mustang GT summer car, 2000 HD Ultra Classic, 2011 Toyota RAV 4, and a 2012 Chevy S8lverado 2500HD.

I wish I could make a copy of some old photos I have of what my stash USED to be and post it here. At one time, I had about 4500 or so, all unbuilt, cars and trucks. Looking at those old photos makes my eyes sweat. I sold off a small batch of the most desirable to Hobby Heaven, which paid for most of a 50 x 55 addition to what was then my body shop. I now have about 300 kits left, after a large eBay purge when I moved ten years ago. I was the town fire chief when I had the large number of kits. I was more worried about a fire and the effect that the kits would have than I was about all of the ammunition I had stashed as well. I STILL have way more than I have any sane expectation of ever getting built, and am adding more to the stash than I am building. But, that is part of the disease, isn't it?

I have the whole cellar of our house, about 28 x 44. I have a couple benches set up, one for building kits, and the other for building guns. I have plenty of room for storage of parts for both as well as my stash of kits and literally hundreds of pounds of model parts and pieces. The cellar is bone dry, bright, warm and is my haven where I spend more and more time every day. My finished builds are displayed upstairs in several glass barrister cases. Still, though, it DOES seem at times that there is not enough room!

That is absolutely stunning work! I love Detroits to begin with, and the rest of the build is superb as well. I like the subtle weathering as well, all around the truck. Can't say enough. Your workmanship is wonderful!

VERY cool build, and quality looks too...........................now if only wasn't a DODGE! Only kidding.............last truck was a Dodge, and the LAST of 4.....couldn't bear the repairs any more! Very nice work!

I wanted to get a particular shade of green for my Detroit engine builds, so I mixed a few greens I had on my bench, reduced with my enamel reducer to airbrush consistency, and did the job. Came out beautiful. I cleaned up with lacquer thinner and all was good....................until I looked at the three bottles of paint to see which ones I had to get more of. I saw that I had used a Testors Model Master enamel, a regular Testors enamel, and a Testors Model Mater Acrylic. These are clearly not meant to go together, but they worked fine, and gave me both the finish and color I wanted. will I try it again?????? Probably not! Had some paint left over, and when I looked at it again about a week later, it was like snot in the jar and could NOT be salvaged!

As I used to own a body shop, and also worked for a construction company painting their trucks and equipment every winter, I also had access to 1:1 automotive paints. I still use the same products. I use ACME brand gray Quick Slick sealer.............don't know if it is still made, but I have a lot. I reduce it for thin coats to avoid hiding detail. I have also used Dupont Vari-Prime primers. I then use PPG or Dupont acrylic enamel, without hardener. I make my choice of brand based upon the availability of the color I want. I thin it with medium drying reducer, and spray thin coats. I try to make sure the plastic is covered with a sealer that won't attack the plastic, then I paint using whatever I would use on a 1:1 vehicle. I don't use hardeners only because I didn't want to spray Isocyanates any more.......did plenty as a youngster, and it works fine without. I have not used base/clears on any of my models, only on 1:1. I don't try to get the ultra high gloss on my builds as I did on the 1:1 jobs as I feel it looks out of place in 1:25 scale. I also use PPG flatteners for reduced sheen areas.

Nice PE for sure..............price is, to me at least, irrelevant as long as you get something that you yourself feel is worth what you paid. And, to me again, that sure looks like great value received!

Very neat build!

Superb build! Gotta love those old school cabovers! Lord knows I DO!

I used it straight out of the bottle. It is the 1000 grade. I used a Paasche H air brush. Works well so far! It can be thinned with Mr. Color Thinner, but I have never used it...so far! And, so far, I REALLY like the results from it. I used to use regular primers and sealers left over from my body shop, but those are long gone now, so, I tried this and like it. Gotta try the 500, 1200 and 1500 grades next! Yeah, I thought about the high cab, but, the 4090 was already higher than the standard 4070 to give added clearance to allow for the larger engine and required radiator. The altered frame rails then raised the cab another 3/16" over stock, but that is typically what happens when a conventional powered front axle is added to a 1:1 truck in this manner. And, since it is only the cab that gets raised, it is a compromise worth having to get a powered front axle. Of course, now I see that there is a hydraulically driven front axle that is being fitted to Class 8 trucks and such, that doesn't alter height at ALL..........but that is WAY too "new" school for me!

Thanks for the good words from all! I actually started doing the front axle add-on by simply removing the stock front axle and replacing with the driven. But, the driven axle is straight and does not have the drop ends and would raise the front of the truck by 9/32". THAT would require putting a 9/32" lift onto the rear driven axles and the pusher. So, I DID that but it looked lousy, and spindly. It also raised the fifth wheel height to way beyond usable. Then I remembered an AWD conversion we had on one of our fire trucks, also a 'Binder. The original frame had a drop down front, as does the 4070 basis for this build. The conversion on our truck took the entire front of the frame off, and replaced it with straight frame extensions. This allowed installation of the straight front driven axle without need for raising the rear suspension. It did however, make the cab height higher. So, the raised rear suspension came off and went back into the parts box. The razor saw came out and off came her front frame. I then used a parts frame from another 4070 to make up the full depth straight extension, complete with fish plated joints. The stock height rear suspension went back on where it WAS before my brain storm, and the front axle went to her new home. All of the standard shocks and torque arms went BACK on and I splashed a coat of Mr. Surfacer primer on it. NOW, I think it looks the part of what I intended it to be in the first place. Just finished making an oscillating fifth wheel for her. Now the piping and wiring is next. I figure if I took all of the time I have spent on this and converted it ALL into POSITIVE gains made, I'd have this one done and probably the next two as well! But, THAT is the fun of this hobby. I only build for myself, and so far, I am hitting the mark! Cheers to all!

Finally implemented the idea that I had a while ago............converting my work-in-progress to a 6x8 with a powered front axle. Got the axle, a Mark Savage piece, installed as shown in the photos above. Instead of raising the suspension to install the driven axle, I did it the way we had one of our fire trucks converted, by replacing the front of the frame with straight frame rails in place of the drop down front frame extension in the regular CO-4070 or 4090. Gave the frame a squirt of primer, and here is a mock-up that HOPEFULLY will continue towards completion instead of the three steps forward, five in reverse that is my typical approach! Lots more to do, but on the way, once more.

That was the kit that had operating headlights, if I remember correctly. AWESOME build!

Gregg, just found this forum a short while ago...................IT'S TREMENDOUS! Will be signing up for the magazine ASAP. I may be a newb to the forum, but have been around this hobby since the early days, for over 45 years. Am also a veteran of 8 back surgeries and fusions......get better soon and OBEY THE DOCS!!!!! Thanks for doing what you do, don't sweat the complaints about being late.........it's better than NOT doing the mag! Keep up the good work, and THANK YOU!

The site the wheels came from has 65 different styles of wheels available......................just sayin' and they look good too.