Chariots of Fire

Some more progress on the engine details. I found some 0.18 craft wire that works well for ignition wiring. I have to order some small compression fittings that look like the bottom of spark plugs and that will finish off the basic wiring. There is still plenty to go and the right side is still a bit sparse. I used some of the same material that I used on the top of the radiator to carve out the BUDA name. The raised letters and surround were pressed into some clay and three copies were made with two part resin. The face was just a skim coat so the result was easy to glue to the side of the engine. The fan belt is a slice from a latex glove and the pulleys are turned from aluminum round stock.

This is what scratch building is all about. Work on something, check it out, let it sit for a while and see where there can be improvements, go back and make the changes and move on. Sounds like a lot of work and it is but it is also very rewarding to know that the job was done right. In essence that is what life is all about as well.

Here's a look at the engine from the left side. Not much to show on the right yet. Just finishing up this side. so far. The two small gold colored pieces on wire in the forefront are condensers that are fitted to the site of the coils. The 12 wire distributor sits on the end of my probing needle. These little details won't be added until the block is painted.

Had to do some adjustments on the location of the water pump, etc. They were sitting too low so they were taken off and repositioned a little higher up. It makes a little more room for the return hose to the radiator. Last nite I turned some pulleys for the fan belt and made up a four blade fan. I cut a thin slice of material from the finger of a black latex glove and stretched it over the pulleys for the fan belt. Will take a pic a bit later.

The engine has been started. I don't have all of the photos I would like to have for this portion of the build even after going on line to see what photos of Buda engines might be out there. Not too many that would do me much good. So I started with the bottom half of a Monogram Mack AC and went from there. Thank goodness for Evergreen stock! The purple looking piece above the Mack oil pan is some of the same material I made the top of the radiator out of. It shapes real easy and sands easily as well. I did have enough info to do up the head with the correct number of head bolts. Holes have been drilled out for the six spark plugs. Like the truck itself there is a lot of stuff mounted on the outside of the engine block. Things are quickly taking up space. Still to do on the left side are the distributor and and two coils. They will be mounted at the left front of the engine. I'll turn some pulleys for the fan belt out of aluminum stock and mount them to the brass rods. Wire of different sizes and colors will enhance an overall gray color of the engine itself.

I see what you mean about the wide tires protruding out some. I was going on what I remember from building a DM-800 and the front tires were way outside due to the axle length. What you have looks about right after seeing the pic of the actual truck!

It actually has a small 5th wheel in the bed. It tows a gooseneck trailer. Will post a pic.

I did these two Chevy's a while back. The first one is a '49 Chevy suburban that my father bought as his first new survey truck. It came with three seats not counting the small seat in the right front. The middle seat was short so you could make your way to the full width seat in the back. He took the middle seat out and put in the full width seat leaving the back for survey tools and equipment. The second one is a 1950 Chevy pickup that has been modified using pieces from a 1999 kit. Just a fun build for hauling around a trailer to pick up old rigs for restoration.

One more pic of the Coleman with the visor over the windshield. Now that the cab is essentially done and located on the frame I can begin work on the Buda engine. Looking forward to that part of the project.

Looking better all the time!

Looking real good! A handsome job on the container construction.

Hey KJ. Check the width of the front axle before you get too far ahead. Those Mack kits were notorious for the tires ending up way outside the line of the fenders on the cab. Even tho' they are wide tires, they should still sort of fit underneath. Nice job on what you have done so far!

Work continues with a little more done on the cab. The hood was fabricated out of thin brass sheet. After it is heated up it loses some of its stiffness making it a little easier to bend. A wood floor was cut from basswood. The driver's side door is done. 0.018" brass tubing was superglued to the edge of the door with three small pieces glued to the cab side. A very small stainless rod extends up from the bottom and holds the door in place. A seat was modified from a Monogram Mack AC to fit inside the cab.

No! I did not duplicate all that stuff inside the front hubs!! I will use the outline of the transfer case though to get the shape of it somewhere near.

What would we do without Evergreen stock!!!!!!!!! I try to keep my supply up but invariably I'm either out of a certain size or just about out with less than the full amount I need! BBRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Here's an update on the build so far. Fuel tanks are made up and in position, front fender brackets are mounted, the radiator was re done with a smaller top and the cab shape has been completed. Lots of cab details left such as opening up the doors and doing some rivets along the corners. I found a good yellow color at Michaels craft store The frame will be shot with Duplicolor etching primer before receiving the finish coat. Now that the radiator is positioned and the cab location is set I can begin to set up the engine block and drive train assembly.

Nice work on this rig. AITM is a good company to do business with. I see Dave Natale at NNL East just about every year.

That looks nice! Love the scratch building and your attention to detail.

The latest wheel looks really great. Can I make a small suggestion? I'd sand off the lug nuts and then glue on some plastic hex rod. It will give you nice crisp edges. The other thing you can do after the hex rod is in place is to drill a hole in the center and glue in a piece of plastic rod the size that the lug would be. Just snip if off and sand leaving just a bit protruding like it would be on the real wheel.

I like the old stuff Harry. There is so much class in the way they were put together and it all hangs out in plain sight where you get to see the details. There is a good amount of study that goes into coming up with a build before it actually takes place. I know I've said it before but it bears repeating. If you are going to take photos take a lot of them. There are never enough of them. And for those pesky details, take photos of the same thing from different angles. It's surprising the info you pick up from just doing that.

Thank you all for your kind comments. Here is a pic of the parts so far. I didn't take the springs out of their mounts but you get the idea. Next could be the engine and then the drive train. Lots of things going on with those details. I just noticed! I forgot the front wheels and tires! So a quick trip back to the bench and a new photo!

Looks like a nice kit. Do things go together well?

I appreciate someone who is not afraid to start over! A nice job on the wheel Robert! What kind of molding materials are you using?

Well, it's up on all fours. But not to my liking. The back sits about 3mm higher than the front so I have to do some tweaking in the form of artistic license. I'll cut a notch in the rear springs enough to bring the back down close to level with the front. If I can get it dropped 2mm that will be enough. I can live with a 1mm "rake". The rear hubs are not made so that I can slip off the center part, slide it on the brass axle, secure it with a brass washer and then slip on the rest of the wheel and secure it with some two part resin. Securing it with superglue would not allow enough time to make sure it is even all around and doesn't wobble. Besides I need to do a lot of detailing and painting before the outer wheel can be set in place. And the rear coil shocks need to be secured with some small pieces of plastic rod. This has been kind of an engineering puzzle as well as a modeling one so it has been fun to do. In the third photo you can see the center part of the wheel that looks like a small gear. That is the part that slips out and is then put on the brass axle with a washer in front of it to secure it. Then the wheel slides back over it. To do that and get it centered I measured the inside diameter of the plastic tubing that it sits in. Then measured the outer diameter of the "gear" tubing. The difference is then divided in two and small strip stock is glued to the gear tubing that is half the difference. Doing that in several places insures that when the two pieces are brought together they will be centered. The same procedure was used to center the wheel's outer rim to the 8 spokes and center hub. It made it so simple to do and with practically no sanding. I don't know for sure if the rear wheels could be doubled up given the spacing of the wheel and brake drum but many of these old trucks used single wheels because it put more weight on a smaller surface for traction. The track of the rear wheels is only 80" outside to outside. Today I worked on getting the frame to sit level. Instead of notching the rear springs like I mentioned above I decided to modify the shackles themselves by raising the tubing that makes up the connecting points for the ends of the springs. The old ones had to be cut off, the face of the shackles ground down and new tubing was soldered in place. then the extra tubing was trimmed off leaving the small round openings in the shackles for the bolts to go through. The results were good. Now the frame is only a half millimeter or so out of being level from front to rear and I'm not going to try and improve on that.