PierreR89

Technically not today but a few days ago. I got to play (drive around / lift containers and then check for any signs of leaks) around in one of the machines i build at work, a reachstacker.

Thank you Have not done much to it today, glued in the headlights in the hood and thats it... I also thought about leaving the roof of the sleeper unglued so those that want can lift it off and take a look inside it, there are no decals in the way for it to be removable so why not. Thats one of the things that i am not very happy about on my Western star, all the work done in the sleeper and then just glue the roof on and some decals on the sides and the interior will never be seen again.. I have it removable on my alaskan hauler + it has opening doors so anyone that is interested can lift it off and open the doors to look at the interior. They did however mess up on the hood instead, the huge front bumper is not movable so the hood is impossible to have in open position but i made it so it is just to lift it off instead so that the engine can be looked at. I am going to post pic,s of it in te under glass section later.

For my next project's once the Black Thunder is done is an Kenworth K100 and K123 that i was planning to build as australian trucks. Most of the pics i have found of australian versions of them have dual airintakes, so that is one thing i also want to make on them. But how are the dual airintake connected to the airfilter housing? i have not found any good pic,s of it. As most here probably knows those kits only comes with singel airintakes. What engines was mostly used in them in australia? I know that the K123 could have a cat engine but not sure wich one, maybee a v8 would be fun to have in it? I also know that the K100 could have a detroit v12 in them so i am almost thinking of using the auslowe,s v12 for it. If it were used in them in australia i dont know, but i am getting tired of almost every truckkit only having a 6cylinder engine and want something different.

Finnised the main parts of the cab and there are only mostly chromedetails left to do on it. Assembled the sleeper and then did a testfit of everything on the frame. If i had read the instructions better before i started i would have bought the aircleaner set from auslowe as those in the kit are just for show and have no airhoses from the engine connected to them.. The kit wants you to use the stock airintake that sits next to the radiator and goes directly to the airfilter housing then in to the intake on the turbo. Now i am to far gone to do anything about it..

Interior and instrumentpanel are done, did not do much detail,s on them since most of it will be hard to see. This is how far i have come on the aircleaners and bullbar, still some more painting to be done on the aircleaners. I think i will have to do the last thing on the aircleaners when they are mounted on the cab so everything lines up. The lighthousings on the bullbar are going to be black and not chrome.

That it is around 80f (27c) outside not a cloud in sight and i have to drive for 2 hours soon and the ac is out on my jeep... Atleast the driverside window still rolls down.. the rest are broken in both mechanical and electrical ways...

gatorincebu: Thanks i suspected that.

Did some more tonight, Also not sure if i am going to use the wheels from the kit or replace them with spiders instead. Borrowed the rubbertires that is on it now from an american superliner kit that i have as the tires included with the black thunder are plastic..

A small update maybe? Have not done much to it only some small things. Decided to paint the frame around the cooler under the trans black. (What is that cooler for? is it for the transmissionoil or something else?) Painted the coolant tank on the radiator gray, cleaned up some paint misses where the fanhub attaches to the blades and painted the condensor in a different shade of silver. Painted some details on the mountingplate for the fithtwheel silver, still needs some work to get it to where i think it looks good. Added fuletanks to the frame and did a testfit of the hood, that also still needs some work to look good And no parts of the radiator grill is not white, it was the flash on the phones camera that did that....

Thanks.

Agree, they look more sturdy then the american trailers. The australian 48' trailer i have also looks weak compared to this as it dont have a real frame anywhere exept where the axles are mounted. Also the euro trailers dont weigh that much, real ones similar to this model only weigh 9.5-10 ton empty. Dont know how much a normal truck and trailer are allowed to weigh in the US but over here there are a few different weights that are allowed. If the tractortruck pulling it has 2 axles and the trailer 2 or 3axles and 18 meters long they are only allowed to weigh 40 tonnes. If the tractortruck has 3 axles and the trailer has 3 axles and 18 meters long they are allowed to weigh 48 tonnes (most tractortrucks and trailes here in europe are 18 meters long as that is the max allowed length of them in some countries) Then there are the normal 24 meter trucks that are used here in sweden, mostly 3axle trucks and 4axle trailers, they are allowed to weigh 64tonnes Starting from next year they are allowed to weigh 74tonnes but only with a 3axle truck and a 5axle trailer. We also have a combination that is called 25.25 and that is a tractor, link trailer and a normal trailer attached to the link. That combination is allowed to weigh 60tonnes. For those wondering what a link trailer is, it is basically a euro version of a b-double leadtrailer. Just realized that i forgot one type that also is/was used in northen sweden, it was loggingtrucks that had one stack of logs on the truck and then 3 on the trailer (normal logging trucks only have 2 stacks on the trailer) so it was allowed to weigh 90tonnes. But i dont know if its used anymore as it was just a test truck to se if it worked on the bad roads in the forrest. Next time i am going to use an airbrush or a rattlecan to paint the main parts

I took a break from the auslowe trailers i am working on and built this instead. I think it turned out good since it didnt have any instructions with it. Here is the chassie with some extra details painted on it, now after is was a waste of time to paint both sides of the brakediscs as they are impossible to see with the wheels on it. Painted the rear lights, markerlights,the triangular reflexes and the three electrical connections on the front by freehand Also not very impressed by the modelmaster arctic blue metallic paint that i used, it didnt cover anything that good, i used 4 coats on the sides of the trailer before i just gave up and called it good enough.. Still need to get some more so i can finnish painting the roof of the trailer as it ran out before i was done with it so one part is more lightblue then dark...

I started to build on the black thunder from italeri that i bought a while ago. Have just built on it for a few days after work but here is how far i have come for now. Frame is completed, engine is assembled and painted, radiator is assembled and painted, also painted it silver on the inside to simulate how it looks on real trucks when you can see the aluminium through the fanshroud. Also started to paint the hood white on the sides and flat black on the top. Have to repaint the other side as some of the paint on that side came up with the maskingtape...

Nice. I have always wanted to build the Duel truck and someday i will.

Got mine today and everything was ok in it, no broken parts or bad chrome The only thing was that some parts had gotten loose from the partstree but i blame that on the international shipping and not Revell.

Found these on ebay a few weeks ago and got them last week: Have not decided yet if i am going to build the black thunder from the box or add righthand dash and floor from auslowe to make it more australian as it is lefthand drive from the box. Also was thinking of having the truck pull the trailer as i think it will look good to have a black truck pull a darkblue trailer.

I thought that i should introuce myself as i have not done it yet My name i Pierre, have built models for i think something like 20 years. Now i build mostly trucks as i kind off miss working on the real things now that i dont work as a truckmechanic anymore. Went from that to build reachstackers at a company here in sweden (soon to be the only manufacturer of them in sweden as the other is moving production abroad this year) I used to build alittle of everything, cars,planes,tanks, ships and a few special items as an oilrig. I also have revell's bucketwheel excavator that i am going to start on when i feel like it. I also have an B-17 that has a woodframe waiting to be built. Ask if there is anything else you want to know.

I bought one of these from ebay and are waiting for it to arrive, should be interesting to see if the cab is broken or not. If it is broken is revell usa or germany i should contact about it?

If they are maintaned properly the shattering is not a problem as the brakerotors will have been replaced long before it reaches that limit. Also the shattering happens most on trucks and trailers that have ventilated brakerotors. The ones that have solid rotors dont shatters easily. Volvo FH series uses mostly solid rotors that are something like 48mm thick new and they are to be replaced once they reach 36-38mm. The ventilated rotors have the same thickness but once they start to get close to the minimum thickness (same as the solid ones) they will have stresscracks in them and if they are not replaced by then they will enentually shatter. The rotors are allowed to have stresscracks but they are only allowed to be 3cm long, not start/end at the edges and must be less then 1mm deep, over that = replace I have had to replace drakedrums on 5 wheels on a 4 axle trailer because the brakelinings got loose from the brakeshoes and they then got wedged on something in there and kaboom went the drum.. The drum also took out the airbag, tires and damaged the controlarm that the airbag sits on, it did even manage to dent the frame at that wheel. I have also had to replace brakerotors that have shattered and took out the brakecaliper to. When the rotor shattered the brakepads got thrown out, then what was left of the rotor hit the pistons inside the caliper and bending them and causing the rest of the rotor to fall off. If the truck was unloaded the wheel would just have stopped turning but this happend one a fully loaded (65ton) in a downhill so the weight helped to push on and destroying even more.

blunc: thanks for that link. For the trailer i was thinking of hiding the wires under it and close to the edge of it, that way i dont think that they will be visible at all. For the truck i was planning on hiding them under the cab and sleeper and those to the rear lights will have to go in the frame. The headlights and possibly aux lighting will also have to go in the frame and then up in the hood to reach the lights. If everything turns out the way i want it the only visible wires will be those between the truck and trailer like on the real ones Was also thinking of making those wires removable if i need to split it up for some reason. For now i am thinking of having the roof of the sleeper removable and hide the battery and switch in there. cowboy rich: thanks for that tip, i will look at it.

Anyone here that has added led lights to their truck or trailer? If so what size have you used? I was thinking of doing to one of my next builds just as a fun thing.

Thanks. Was going to multiquote this but i messed up..

Thanks. If i have time i will take new pic,s of then this weekend to show what have been done since those pics, i might even have the time to paint the trim around the sides of them. Those are going to be silver, for the chassies of both i am thinking either black or the same red as the western star has on its frame. They will look great with a superliner pulling it, but untill i have that i am going to use one of the trucks i already have (exept the 50 years of revell Scania T500 because i think that will just look wierd)

I have not decided if they are going to have any graphics on them or not.

I have been working on these for a while now. They are the auslowe b-train lead trailer and auslowe 48'foot trailer Taking breaks for a few weeks at the time as i worked as a truck and trailer mechanic when i started these and sometimes i just did not want anything to with them. Since i took these pics i still have the fenders and lightramp on the B-train trailer and on the 48' i have the brakecylinders, fenders and lightramp to do. Assembling the axles and drumbrake's on them was not fun and took some time to get everything lined up properly. The landinggear, sparetireholder and doorhinges are mounted on the 48'trailer and on the B-trailer only the doorhinges are new. The italeri western star was just there to hold the lead trailer up but i think i am going to have the auslowe superliner pulling it when everything is done. Also need to decide what colors to paint everything in, anyone have any suggestions about colors because i have no idea.. With the western star its about 48" long.