Chariots of Fire

AW c'mon! That's the real thing isn't it?? Fabulous work!!

That's a nice build. I like the shots that are out in the brush country. Cool!

OH, man! I don't envy you on your driveway. When we had our place in Maine I had the same problem. I knew every time we went there I was going to have to rebuilt the 300' driveway. Deep crushed stone finally solved most of the problem in the worst areas. Love the work on the crane! I will be following along.

Pure craftsmanship! Outstanding!!

Keep us up to date, please!! I like what I'm seeing!

I think the latest versions are closer to the grill in the photo of the real truck further up the page. There is a significant taper from the outside of the headlight enclosure to the lamp itself. Perhaps a bit more in that area. Other than that it looks pretty good!

That's looking nice! Tractor came out great and I really like the shade of red you used. Can't wait to see how the dozer comes out. As an aside have you ever tried the Tamiya weathering powders? They do wonders for making paint look worn just in the right places. They also bring out highlights, which on the dozer, will really stand out.

Very nicely done! Clean and neat!

Simple solution is to go to Micro Mark and get some of their smallest H hinges. They work well with all sorts of vehicle of your era. I've used them on plenty of truck models that would have the outside hinges. Hard to see but here is one example.

Just these two that I took while building the model. Seats were painted with Model Master Blue Angels Blue. Dash the same. Then I made up some checkerboard blue, gray and yellow seat covers on decal paper and added them to the seats. Seats were then sprayed with Testors Dullcoat. A Molotow pen was used to highlight the dashboard, door handles and window cranks and the center of the steering wheel. Lower door panels were masked off for a light ivory accent.

I had it from June of 1956 to about December of 1958.

Yes it was a dummy spare on the trunk. I had a good time with it. Didn't have to take the bus to school anymore for my last 2 years of high school.

Back in 1956 this was my first ride. A 1953 Ford Victoria was bought for $1000. I built up the Lindberg kit basically stock except for some real small changes here and there. The kit came with spotlights which my car did not have. I made up some decals for seat covers and added some exhaust extensions. The car had whitewalls but not real ones. Back then "Porterwalls" were common. They were just round flaps of rubber that fit between the rim and the tire sidewall. All it took was to deflate the tire, push it away from the rim a bit and put the white wall in place and then re-inflate the tire. Fender skirts were real common. Mine were mostly like the kit pieces but they covered more of the wheel well opening. Other styles fit outside but mine were like these and fit flush with the opening itself. Model Master light ivory was used for the body color. Krylon dark blue was used for the top and spare tire. That's my original license plate number on the rear. Not exactly the best build in the world. Mine is usually in the truck section with some scratch built stuff. But I couldn't resist giving this one a try for old time sake.

I have measurements on the M-715 body and cab. Took them from an actual rig that was converted to make a brush truck. This was the result.

I'll be there. Looking forward to seeing you.

No, I have an old program that is vector based unlike Paint that uses pixels. That way the line work gets smoothed out and very small details are retained. I do have Corel Draw on this computer but the old one seems to work just fine.

Just go to donmillsmodels@aol.com. He can quote you a price and will mail out an order to you.

I have an old graphics program from Micrographx. I had someone e-mail a photo of a city seal they wanted made into a decal. I downloaded the image into the computer I have the graphics in and then into the graphic program. Many times I can just grab the image and reduce it in size without doing anything to it. On the city seal it came out perfect. Probably could do the same with what you show. I can create a box the size of the image that is desired and then just grab the image and keep downsizing until it fits in the box. Detail generally is retained quite well. Printing is done on my ALPS printer on clear decal film.

Easiest way I know is to use soft wire and wrap it around a piece of solid tubing to get the diameter you want. Wrap it tight and with no spacing. Like has been said above, slide it off the tubing and pull it to stretch the wire to the size coil you want.

Long time to set up but even at that handling it will eventually dull it down to a gray tone. Best to do it last and then not touch it at all. Other than that, great stuff!

A little mud spattering is good! Logging roads are not expressways by a long shot! Not too late to try the suggestions but it does look good just the way it is!

Great Job, Tom. I left some weathering suggestions for you in the WIP section.

Hey, Tom. Nice project. Can I suggest some simple weathering techniques for you? Overdone is usually what is seen but with just a bit of easy stuff the results can be very significant. Get one of Tamiya's small weathering kits that has three colors in it. Actually there are two. They are called Tamiya Weathering Masters. One has orange rust, gun metal and silver. The other has a dull yellow, gray and green. They come with a small applicator with a sponge on one end and a brush on the other. Try the gun metal or silver on the running boards, door handles and the doors where you might close the door with an open window; any place where there would be obvious wear. The sponge works best for this. The orange rust might be used on the edges of the fender openings and the edges of the bumper. Maybe the yellow and silver on the rocker panels under the door where it opens showing wear. Try the gray on the wheels, especially at the edges and around the lug nuts. Apply some weathered black to the face of the tires (Master Modeler acrylic) If you want a bit of rust at the edges of the hood where it meets the cowl and radiator shell, try some acrylic rust color and some water diluted with detergent. The detergent reduces the surface tension. Wet the brush with water and a very small amount of the rust color, touch it to the edge of the closed hood and allow it flow down the edges toward the bottom of the hood. Use a paper towel to sop up the excess. Let it dry on its own. Run some along the center hinge of the hood. Best to experiment with this as too much color and the effect is lost. Just some suggestions to try out!

Beautiful clean workmanship! Nicely done! 1100 hours is a lot of work time!!

I did one of those as well. Did yours come with the rear view mirrors? They were stamped steel with prongs that went into the holes in the cab.