Chariots of Fire

Gottcha! I didn't pay that much attention to the idea that they were mated together. The real reason I decided to cut the two apart was that when the model was built the gap had been filled in with glue to hold some vertical exhaust pipes. Really messed up the joint and would have been difficult to clean. Too late now anyway! I have the cab back filled in. Just have to sand and clean up.

That's what it is,Bob. But not any more! They have been separated, put in some brake fluid to soak and here are the results.

I'm going to go with the wheels and tires that were there. They are in pretty good shape for something as old as this build is. Color will end up being red and white. The nice off green would have been great but it's a hard color to match.

I got this package at the LHS a while ago. the '34 Ford wrecker rebuild came from the same box. Some real dirty and old stuff inside. I've taken the '60 Ford F100 apart now to do another rebuild. It needs some real tlc to get it looking good but that's half the fun. That's it in the background. parts have been washed but they need to be cleared of old paint. I was hoping to find a color similar to this one at Michaels. They had some super craft colors but today the complete bin was empty. Bummer!!

Thanks, Bob. Are you going to Meriden, CT for Fire Fest?

That is outstanding. Raising the building bar for sure. Explain, if you will how you created the hood hinges. The fit when the hood is closed is spot on. And your BMF work on DODGE on the tailgate is awesome. Thanks, Francis. I will look for the file. I tried doing some hinges on a Reo and without good results. Very small work for sure.

I had bleed through on some Monogram 1/32 Mack kits in both yellow and red versions. For some reason it did not happen in every case. So I'm thinking that it has something to do with the composition of the plastic. I mated two yellow cabs together to form an extended one and half of it bled and the other did not. Go figger. Finally tested the underside of a couple of different kit cabs until I had two that did not bleed.

You are welcome! It was a nice break to do something relatively simple for a change. No particular details to replicate, just some ideas that might have been the thing to do back in the day. It was fun to get back into the building mode again.

That is outstanding. Raising the building bar for sure. Explain, if you will how you created the hood hinges. The fit when the hood is closed is spot on. And your BMF work on DODGE on the tailgate is awesome.

I've got this one. Found it at the LHS for $0. Just a take and do as you will. Still got the later Ford p/u's to deal with. But I re-built the '34 Ford.

That appears to be a somewhat later and heavier model. It's adjustable whereas the one I did is not. I like that one. Here are a couple of updated photos. Calling it done.

I worked from photos and tried to copy the location of height from the cab. I made the width of the frame 40 mm and squared it off. The boom is just eyeballed and might be a little long. What do you think?

Got back into modeling a bit on a small scale. This dusty glue bomb was restored to working status with a brass Weaver Auto Crane. Fun build in a short time.

You can make them if you don't have a source for them. Have done that many times by carefully grinding away the existing lug pattern and re-drilling new holes to form an 8 lug pattern. Insert some small craft wire and #15 fusion beads for the lug nuts. They are hex shaped ceramic pieces that just drop over the wire. Snip the wire off after securing the beads with some CA. In this case I needed a 6-lug pattern rather than the original 5 lugs.

Scratch built the engine from on line photos and information. Sorry being so late with the response!!

ANYTHING YOU CAN\'T SEE!!?

Number Please!!!!!!!!!!!??

Something so large it won't fit on the display table.?

Do a lot of scratch building and grabbing things from other kits like Roger says.

I have used both CA and Tamiya putty for pin holes. Comments above are spot on. Lots of careful sanding involved. When I use CA to fill cracks or pin holes I sometimes start sanding before the glue sets. That process mixes some of the sanding particles in with the glue. In the case of CA it usually sets up much harder than the surrounding plastic co be careful not to wear down the area around where you filled as you sand.

FWIW: I wouldn't use real mud to get tires to look used or worn. It will look too heavy or out of scale. There are plenty of new paints that can be used to great effect especially if used to delineate the sidewalls and inside the tread. The tread surface is always darker than the surrounding surface that is deeper since it is readily worn away. To simulate the sand or fines that can accumulate within the tread area, try a wash of light tan and drip it into the tread pattern and let it dry.

Don't use aluminum. Nothing seems to stick to it very well. Clean brass will work with either 2 part epoxy or CA.

Have not used it. Duplicolor filler primer or Rustoleum gray primer is pretty good and both dry quickly and are sandable to a smooth finish.

Here's the 3D printed tire that I copied in resin. You can make out both the Goodyear and tire size in the photo. It's been painted over with weathered black acrylic.

I'll try and post a pic of the tire so you can see the results.