Chariots of Fire

The Diamond T M-20 prime mover is going to be hauling a load eventually. Right now the trailer is in the initial stages of being designed for construction. Tire and wheels are ready for multiple castings. In the meantime I opened up one of the old AMT Caterpillar D-8 kits to see if it could be modified into a D-7 cable hoist bulldozer that was used during WW II. The M-20 hauled these as well as other goods and munitions so it made sense to try and make one up for a loaded trailer. AMT did the Cat D-8 but its tracks are awful. Not only do they not look right, they go together wrong as well. Each track should be connected to the next one with links that are bolted to the track plate above. After a bit of thought I came up with a way to make new tracks that not only looked right but also went together right as well. One of the side frames of the AMT D-8 is in the background with the kit tracks in front of it. In front of them is a first start at making a new set of tracks. The master track plate was made of brass and plastic hex rods were cut for bolt heads that hold the links to the plate. The ones you see are too large so before the final track master was made I sanded them off and used a smaller size of hex rod. The initial mold is on the left for the track plate. To the right is the second mold that casts the plate and the links all as one. This makes it possible to do many track plates and links that are all the same. The links are held together with plastic rods. In this second photo a first casting of the combined track plate and links has been done. This is how it looks with the top of the mold removed. Lots of thin flash but it comes off easily. Out of the mold the completed track plate looks ok. But it has some minor flaws that need correcting. When the mold is filled with liquid resin if it does not completely fill the hidden voids in the mold air pockets result and in turn an incomplete casting. It happened this time but not severely. I can fix the void with a bit of putty. The next casting hopefully will be better. It just takes patience. The back side of the link shows that the ends of the links on one side did not get fully formed. Not serious but this needs to be avoided as much as possible. In the photos above are the cast tracks so far. The five completed tracks on the left are from the final mold. The right four are as I initially made them attempting to make the links separately and then gluing the plates to them. These first attempts are not as good. And you can see, reducing the size of the bolt heads made them better as well. It will take a while to do enough to complete a full set like what is on the left but I'm in no hurry. I think there is somewhat of an improvement anyway. ?

And to think that a lot of that extraordinary detail is going to be covered up by a body and cab! That is just outstanding work!! Knowing your subject matter is very much on display here but the execution is what makes it stand out.

Up and running very nicely! No sluggishness at all.

Yes, looking Good! Sitting just right!

Since you have responded and indicated that this is your first time building I encourage you not to worry so much about some type of rating but rather to explain what you did in deciding to build the kit (it's obviously not a scratch built project). Tell us what you liked about the process, what you found difficult or challenging to do and how you overcame that. The more you build the more experience you will gain and your confidence in developing your skills will increase along with it. In time you may find a type of modeling that you really like. When you do, go for it, challenge yourself to try new techniques, develop some ideas of your own and above all have fun doing it. If you need help, ask for it here. There are many modelers looking on who are only waiting to help out in a positive way.

Not sure how to rate this. How would you like it to be rated? On what basis? kit or scratch, skill level necessary to construct, etc.? Did you do the work? Are you a new builder or an experienced one? These are all things that go into the process of what you asked to be done.

I figured as much. Especially for something as cumbersome as B-B. HO engines that have DCC power these days are getting expensive.

Hey, Jim. I've never looked into making a running conversion of this or any other locomotive kit. Any thoughts on how much of a project that might become? Motor and gearing for the drivers would be a problem of course but how about the valve gear and drive rods?

That's cool, Jim. I have a couple of those 0-6-0's kicking around as well. So much action with those old steamers, especially with something as big and complicated as the Big Boy is.

What?? Nobody commented on the Big Boy sitting in the background in that second pic! Are you a model railroader as well, Jim?

Welcome, Brian. Have been watching your build elsewhere on the forum. That is some serious work and a lot of it! Never a dull moment around here. Don't know much about the north country but you have to get serious snow to put that rig into action. We might need a wing plow now and then but most of our roads are done with single axle and tandem axle trucks with just the front plow. Hope you have a great time on the forum and keep up the good work!

Ok, now we're talking model building! But that doesn't just happen. Personal experience in the field, a knowledge of mechanics, a couple of good steady hands and a patient frame of mind are at the heart of it. Fabulous work with authenticity and an attention to detail make this build a special one to watch.

Thanks, Bob! I heard there is something else that can move mountains. Someone said that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we could say to that mountain "move from here to there" and it would be done. Hmmm! Anybody remember who that was?? Pretty sure the mustard seed is one of the smallest if not the smallest of all seeds.☺️

Thank you, Bren. A bit of a struggle at times. Took forever to get the right shape of the cab. The Diamond T has quite a rake on the windshield, narrow windows and rounded roof that took time to develop. And normally I would have made the frame of brass channel stock. But that is fast disappearing so I had to contend with building it up with strip plastic. Not the best choice for rigidity at first but when all of the cross members were put in place and components were screwed on it turned out ok. (The radiator and cab are screwed on from below and the fenders are screwed on from brackets on the side of the frame and on top of it just inside the hood.) Because the model is of a large sized truck it became quite heavy when everything was put together.

That gives me an idea. I have some outside photos I might try and print out as a background.

This 1944 Diamond T M-20 Prime Mover is now finished. The boxes have tools, and the fuel tanks are "full". Ready to resume the haul.

It wasn't quite finished in those pics above. But here is what it looks line now. Am working on some tools to put in the compartments in the body.

Close to being done. Just a few small details here and there and it is finished except for some dusting and light dirt under the fenders and along the sides. Can't be too clean!

Hello, Jurgen: The chain I used is just some cheap necklace type chain I found in a craft store. I would have used a piece of bicycle chain if it had been small enough. A little paint and a black wash helps to make it plausible.

Got the tool boxes build with opening covers and the side rails are installed. Covers can be removed for painting as can the tailgate. That will be next.

The box was nothing more than a container for weight. Either stone, rocks, sand, or other heavy things that gave the truck traction. The two small storage bins that I have yet to build were for tools.

Yeah, They were'nt speed demons!☺️

Got to work on the body the last couple of days. This part of the build is simple but squaring it up is most important. Checking to be sure that opposite sides are the same size, the corners are square, etc. Sides, front and rear were cut of 0.030" sheet stock and then the floor of the body was glued in. The back panel was cut open for the tailgate. An interior bulkhead separates the spare tire space from the rest of the body. Next up are two compartments that open from the top. They will be located on each side of the tailgate and will extend as far forward as the long grab handles. The bottom has cross members and two stringers that run from front to rear so that the body sits on the frame. The tailgate was made of similar 0.030" sheet stock and trimmed in 0.010" x 0.080" strip stock. To make the hinges, small pieces of flexible tubing were cut on my chopper all to the same length; 3 for the tailgate and 3 for the body. A piece of brass wire was inserted into each tube section to keep the alignment and then the sections were glued to the appropriate areas. Most difficult part was making sure that the sections weren't glued to each other, the wrong part or to the brass wire. More to follow.

Best wishes on this project. I had some Monogram Mack fire truck kits in yellow and had trouble with the yellow bleeding through the primer. Hopefully whatever Ertl used will be ok. My problem was sporadic, though. It did not happen on all of the yellow kits I had.

Here's the last of the rigging that had to be done for the winch. What remains will be part of the body work. There are 3 brass turned sheaves at the back of the frame. Two center ones guide the cable when it is used to pull or tow from the rear. The third one assists in returning the cable around the corner and back along the frame where it eventually runs through the bumper for pulling or towing from the front. The rollers keep the cable in line with the slots in each of the center sheaves but allow it to move right and left during the pulling process.