Chariots of Fire

The cab interior is done. The windshield latches and fire extinguisher have been added. Now to figure out how to make the soft top removable so you can see all this stuff.

A few more details done inside the cab. Handbrake lever, transfer case lever and power takeoff levers are installed. Steering wheel, accelerator, brake and clutch pedals are in. I found two M-1 rifles in the stash and they were painted up, placed in scabbards and mounted. Inside door handles are added also. That's a carbon tet extinguisher sitting on the seat. It needs to be finished and mounted on the cab wall next to the driver's seat.

Concentrating on the cab interior the last couple of days. The dashboard is done and made up using common pins, gage decals and small beads. The steering wheel was converted from an AMT wheel using bent brass wire. The horn button has a Ross insignia in the middle. Treadplate is on the floor of the cab but is hard to see. The windshield is done except for the two clamps that hold it in the upright position.

Progress continues. Just a lot to do to get the details down. Bit the bullet and did some painting. Got the hood louvers done and went to work on the windshield wipers. got them done although I should have darkened the blades first. Wiper arms will get OD color. Started work in the cab interior with making up the dashboard.

Got some paint on the fenders and frame. Headlights and guards have been installed along with marker lights and blackout light. The winch is now in place and wrapped with mylar coated wire for the cable. The cable will have a chain and hook. Glad hands have been painted; yellow for rear, red for front. the cab is in primer and awaiting the final fit of the hood sections.

Not much of a truck racing fan but the work you are doing is fantastic! Paint job is great!

They came out ok. The side sections need to be cut to follow the fender contours. I marked the right side for reference but before doing the cutting I need to be sure the fenders are where they belong. Here's a look at the latest work. The windshield is built and a basic frame for the soft top is at the back of the cab.

I'm having trouble seeing the replies to my posts even though at the top of the page it says there are some there. They don't seem to show up right away. What's the problem?

Still making progress. The top hood pieces are done and I'm working on the side pieces now. Some small pieces of photoetch treadplate are glued to the top of each fender.

Very well done, Jeff! Love the trash touch! Even a little wet on the bottom! You know your detailing!

Fenders are shaped and put in place. Got some tweeking to do with the cab. It sits slightly off center in the front in spite of my early attempts at keeping it straight!

I hope you have a lot of patience, Jeff! Got a long way to go. But I did get one fender shaped and sort of put in position. Not final yet as I think it needs to move forward a tiny bit. And a notch needs to be cut out next to the radiator.

The outside of the fenders have been rough sanded. Now its grind out the underside time.

Yesterday I worked on the winch and got the basics of it done so that it could be set in place. The shaft that connects it to the power takeoff is also set in place. I had to notch the front engine crossmember for the shaft but when I checked out the Walkaround of the Diamond T I saw that they did the same thing to the real one! Sometimes you win one! Today I concentrated on getting the radiator set up and made the cap and overflow for the top and drilled it out for the top and bottom hoses. Just to see how it would look I gave it a coat of OD. The renshape top is smooth and all it took was some fine sanding with a fine grit block. It has gotten to be the time to start on the fenders. With those done and set in place I can then concentrate on the top and side pieces of the hood. The two blocks in the photo below are pieces of Renshape with the fender profile glued to each one. The shape will be rough cut with a bandsaw and the upper surface sanded to shape with a disc sander. The underside will have to be carved out using a dremel and round sanding disc. This material is great to work with as it has no grain and is strong, even when cut in thin pieces. CA glue works well with it. The left over pieces of Renshape will go in the materials box for future use. It's expensive stuff but a little piece sometimes is all that is needed. No sense in wasting it.

I decided it will be the wrecker version. I don't have one in the collection so this will be a first.

Work continues. More details on the chassis and some work on the cab. The exhaust is now complete. It's more like a truck now than just a plain frame. Doors are hinged. Tow hooks and glad hands are on. Cab is still removable for now. There's a lot to do inside so having it separate makes the work a bit easier.

Looks good, Brian. Don't forget to chain down that load! That's a beauty also. Wouldn't want it to fall off on the way home!!?

To cut them free from the sprue you need some photoetch cutters. Ordinary cutters are not sharp enough or tough enough to cut the material. Try your LHS or Micro-Mark for special cutting tools for photoetch. They will certainly help. You can use 2 part epoxy for gluing also. It takes a bit longer to set up but it holds well. White blue or even CA doesn't do well on photoetch materials. An option to either one is Testors clear gloss lacquer. Again it takes a while to set and you may need more than one coat to make it more permanent.

Here's the latest. The grill in front of the radiator is done. A bit of a challenge getting all of the bars straight and spaced the same. But it's done.

Made some slight adjustments in the cab sides. The small door opening should have been slanted at the back. So I soldered in a sliver of brass to make it so. Next was to build the bumper and get it attached to the frame. L shaped brackets on the inside of the frame support the bumper.

More done on the cab. The sides of the cab are curved so it made sense to use brass for that. Plastic would tend to creep over time. Don't want that. There are more parts that go on the inside of the panels but now that they are in place it will be easy to add them. It's beginning to take shape! And I got tired of trying to pose the tires and wheels without them falling over so the rear hubs got painted and the wheels were glued on. I can still take the whole works apart by backing out the screw in the center of the hub. That will be done when the frame gets painted.

Work has started on the cab and radiator. The shape and size of the cowl and cab were taken from a 1:35 kit cab of the Diamond T tank hauler. The measurements of the kit pieces were increased by 1.4x to 1:25. Came out reasonably close to what I was able to get from the Walkaround and TM9-811. The radiator was made of several pieces and had to be modified slightly to fit the frame. Distance between cowl and radiator is now close so that some work on the hood pieces can be started soon. The cab portion is raised up about 2mm in order to fit the height of the radiator. It won't make a lot of difference in the look (I hope!).

Got some painting done on the engine. Some wiring left to do and to permanently mount the air cleaner but that will have to wait. I want to be sure there is clearance under the hood. The radiator and cowl need to be constructed first and then the hood sections.

Two strips of electrical tape, Jeff.

One more pic with the fan belts and twin oil filters in place.