robdebie

Well..... I bit off more than I can chew, in several ways.. At the start, I cut the kit in 10 pieces. I then had quite a problem getting all the parts properly aligned again. And now that that's sorted, I find that playing car designer is not as easy as it looks.. The model looks kind of weird. Maybe the wheels/tires are too big? Possibly the rear wheels need to move forward? The real car had its trunk lengthened 12 mm (in scale), maybe that helps? I'm kind of stuck. Rob

I have a WIP report of the AMT custom 1949 Ford, with a section on the flathead engine: https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/49ford.htm Rob

Yesterday I attended a model show in Geel, Belgium, organized by KMK Mol model club. One of the highlights was a stand by 'Diolex Production' , of whom I had never heard before. It's a Ukrainian company producing 3D and resin model cars and accessories. On the table were various American, European and Asian car models, all looking very nice. The owner, Dmytro Oleksenko, told me he produced 230 different cars! American cars are in 1/25 scale, the others in 1/24 scale. He runs eight 3D printers. He said he sells on Ebay. I can't find a company website, just a Facebook (blech) discussion group that doesn't show the catalog: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiOlexProduction/ The Euro/Asian stuff is sold by Hiroboy: https://www.hiroboy.com/shop.php?p=each_manufacturers&id=193&page=4 If I check Ebay, I get a message saying: "Ths store has no inventory available in your location". Thank you very much. But I found one example of the products they sell, '68 Caprice: https://www.ebay.com/itm/256384936401 Rob

I'm happy to see that my cost estimate isn't far removed from theirs: they list a '$100 Exclusive Decal Fee' for single-user custom decals. It's reduced to half of that if they can add the decals to their catalog, but I don't have that option. Rob

I would guess it's 2-3 hours of drawing + communication, plus printing. Roughly 100-120 US$? I realize that's triple the cost of the kit, but that's the reality of custom decals. I do a couple of decal projects every year, here is more information: https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/customdecals.htm Rob

The motor's power will give you a rough idea of its 'pumping' capacity. I use a 55 Watt ex kitchen hood blower, and it's not enough when I paint 'full blast'. I have a 150 Watt blower waiting to be installed. Rob

Harry, many thanks for the scans of the instructions! I compared them to the instructions of the closed cockpit version, and the kits only differ in their clear parts. I thought the 'superstructure' (for lack of a better word) would be different, but they are the same. No problem that you couldn't photograph the parts, I wouldn't have opened the bags either ? Rob

Harry, thanks in advance! Yes, the sprues would be great too. Rob

Thanks for the engine reference file link! We/you/I would need dimensioned drawings like the one below from your collection before a 3D CAD drawing is a possibility. But I gues you don't have this brochure yourself? I'll stop doubting the Page & Page rear suspension, and order that Czech set ? Rob

Harry, thanks for the kind offer. Yes please! I'm still very interested in these F1 boats. Rob

Dave, that's very nice, thanks for posting! I like the shape of these boats. Rob

Thanks in advance for posting your photos! And a big thanks for the link, I hadn't seen that before. I think I'm starting to understand the two different versions now. Rob

Harry, thanks for reviving this thread. The instructions or photos of the parts were not posted unfortunately. I'm still interested in building one of these F1 speedboats. I remember that the European races were broadcast on TV in the Netherlands. The races were spectacular, flimsy boats and lots of power. I remember the open cockpits - crazy.. Rob

I have read too that the rear suspension was 'Page and Page 60/40 spring suspension', but I don't know how this was established. I can't see a thing of the rear suspension in the movie, with the exception of the ravine scene, where *maybe* the beam component can be seen (outlined in red), connecting to the leaf spring of the rear axle, outboard of the chassis beam? A big thanks for Czech Truck Model link, I will probably order that set. Rob

I found only two usuable pictures of the 1673 engines, most were 1693s. I found the same picture you showed, and one more, shown here. I'm going to 'park' this problem for a while. Just maybe I'll attach the cab + hood + grille with tiny magnets, so they can be lifted off together to show the drivetrain. Rob

Hakan, many thanks again for all your help! I will probably leave the width of the 3D model as it is, unless measurements from a real truck surface. It's not a scientific project anyway ? Here are the first prints of the grille. The club member who printed them did three examples, all in different positions. On the right one, the grille louvers failed to print completely. On the left one, the louvers are 99% right. But I made them so thin they look like razor blades if viewed at the right angle. The horizontally printed one is maybe the best, but it's slightly curved. All prints have in common that multiple supports attach to the louvers, and it will be very difficult to remove them without breaking the louvers. I will probably make the louvers thicker for the next print. Maybe I'll revise the ornament too then, following the picture you showed. Rob

Aaron, thank you again! 35 mm matches my 3D design pretty well (34 mm), I'm happy to hear that! I hadn't heard of this aftermarket part, but I found a single phot report here: https://public.fotki.com/mackinac359/peterbilt-model-gal/pie-350-tractor/ The photos of that model trigger a fear I have: I think the needle nose conversion of my AMT 359 will result in a hood that looks longer than the movie truck. The hood of the Silver State Resin Peterbilt 350 also looks too long to my eye. The spec sheets say the distance from bumper to rear of the cab is alway 119.25", and the AMT 359 model agrees well with that number. However there's one old spec sheet, hardly readable, that has one shorter option: a Hall-Scott 590 engined 281 was 113.25". That's 6 mm in 1/25 scale, and should be very visible. Help? Rob

I think I found that issue here: https://www.magzter.com/US/Model-Cars-Magazine/Model-Cars/Automotive/158720https://www.magzter.com/US/Model-Cars-Magazine/Model-Cars/Automotive/158720 The front wheel problem was solved by another 3D design: Doing all these parts in 3D printing is a bit of an experiment. It will move yet more time to the computer, away from the modeling desk. And I don't know whether I want that. On the other hand, scratchbuilding the wheels or the grille the old way is a ton of work, and probably never as nice.. Rob

Taking ~6 mm from the AMT grille brings it from 48 to 42 mm, the widest of the values I found. I think that's too wide. I'm strictly building the original movie truck. I've identified the film bits that show the second truck, and I'm ignoring those parts completely. The 'thingie' is indeed the hood ornament. I found a few photos of it on other trucks, but all were slightly different. In the end I made a simple representation, since I wanted to send the file off for printing. I didn't know that the commonly stated 1955 vintage was wrong, interesting. And thanks for posting that great photo! Regarding the drive train, I haven't decided what to do with it. There's no kit with a Cat 1673B, and making a 3D design with no more than a few bad pictures will be horrible. Maybe I'll make it a curbside with a dummy engine.. Rob

Thanks for checking! My original question was a long shot, I realised that. It's not science anyway, so I decided to guesstimate the width, in order to make progress. I made version 2 tonight: narrowed it a bit from 35.5 to 34.0 mm, added rivets to the sides, and added a simplified hood ornament (since I couldn't see it properly). The file is off to the club member who will print it. Maybe I'll see the result next Tuesday at our monthly club meeting. Rob

Hakan, thanks for your measurement! 32 mm, that's the lowest number so far.. My grille has grown in width during the 3D drawing, from 35.0 to 35.5 mm, so that sounds like the wrong direction. But I can change that relatively easily. Indeed I want to add the rivets on the rear edge of the grille, some movie scenes shown them clearly. I also need to add a ribbed 'thingie' on top of the grille, do you know what that is? Regarding the butterfly hood, I have't studied that properly so far. My main question is probably the approximate diameter of the piano hinges. I haven't found a single photo of that detail so far. Rob

I'm thinking about making the STL files available, but only after I finish my model. It has happened before that I sold cast parts to others, and they had their model done before mine was finished.. Rob

It took me a bit before I spotted it's a Kenworth ? Rob

Aaron, thanks for this detail that could explain the relative width! In my unscientfic measurements it's a little wider than 2/3rds of the 359 grille width. Last night and tonight I made a 3D CAD model. I will probably add some rivets, and maybe change the dimensions if new information pops up. Rob

I'm preparing to do a 'needle nose' conversion of the AMT Peterbilt 359, in order to create a 281 (the 'Duel' truck). With new parts required for the hood and radiator, I was pretty sure I would lose the aligment of cab, hood and grille. Therefore I built a jig that held these parts in place. The jig has three steps. Here's the jig with the kit's cab, hood and grille (taped together) placed on the jig Now my question: what width should the narrow grille have? Does anyone know that figure? I have three reference values: 1. in the 1984 FMS article, the author narrowed the grille bij 1/4", making it ~42 mm / 1.65" (or 41" in reality) 2. I measured the grille width in a line drawing in an old spec sheet, and found ~34 mm / 1.32" (33" in reality) 3. I plotted a drawing of the wide AMT grille over a screenshot from the movie, narrowed it until it fitted, and found ~35 mm / 1.38" (34.5" in reality) As expected, three different values.. Help? Rob