Old Albion

Clayton, Nice find. Thats going to be an interesting restoration project. Dave

Jim, Both of these rigs look great. The paint work on the Astro is exceptional. Dave

Tommy, The drill bits are for drilling holes. Once you start fitting parts together from the kits you will realise that a good selection of small drill bits are very useful. Also for drilling holes to add details to your builds such as air lines and for scratch building. Check the link below which shows the fully working walking beam suspension on an Autocar I built recently. All done with basic hand tools. http://public.fotki.com/oldalbion/autocar-a64b-with-5/autocara64binprogre-19.html Dave

Ray, Good to see you making progress! I like the small sleeper it looks just right. Dave

Tommy, Be carefull with knives!! For me the most important tools and equipment are: cutting mat, razor saw, needle files and small drill bits. I do have 3 Xacto knives, one with a chisel type blade (used the most to chop parts of on the cutting mat), one with a conventional blade and one with a saw blade. These are still the same blades I first bought when I got back into modelling 6 years ago. That gives you an indication of how much I use them. Hope this helps. Dave

Tim, Very impressive. Your standards of paint work are exceptional. Dave

This is easy. Peterbilt 359 little window cab, extended hood with Clatterpillar 1693TA or Detroit 12V71. Peterbilt 359 1100 series cab, extended hood with Cummins KTA 600. Kenworth W900A extended hood with Cummins KTA 600. To be honest I like all trucks, but these are my favourites. Dave

Blake, This is a great looking project. Very very impressed. Looks like you have liking for the 351. A personal favourire of mine as well. Look forward to seeing this truck finished. Dave

Ben, I have never looked into having parts cast before so I am out of my depth here! I'm open to suggestions? Dave

Many Thanks for the kind words. As far as differences between our Project engine and the electonic (Hocus Pocus) engines, you have to include all the 3406 models in this. There are no similarities what so ever. They are entirely different. That is why all the parts for the project engine will have to be scratch built. You could I suppose use the altenator (generator), air con pump, power steering pump etc from an existing kit but these are just one or two parts. The head assembly alone will be 10 parts. This engine will have the brake saver as well. Its important to break the engine down into individual parts and assemblies. This way we will retain important details and features. This makes the engine more interesting and gives the builder more satisfaction. If the engine was cast in one it would be very poor detail and builders would not want to build the engine since they would have to spend a lot of time reworking everything to apply the details. As the project develops we can assess whether it will be suitable for casting. This is the intention. But there has to be the demand and the interest there. I need 2 engines for a couple of little window 359 Pete's. So there's a start. Remember this project is not just for my benefit its for all truck model enthusiasts. Thanks again. Dave

Jim, That trailer looks great. The W900 you built would look right at home pulling it. Dave

Very nice and well built rigs. Dave

There has been much discussion in other topics on the forum about a certain make and type of engine not available to modellers at this time. From the comments it looks like modellers would be interested in such an engine so I decided to build one. For obvious reasons I will not make any reference to a make or model. This 1/25 scale engine is based on the big horsepower engines of the early 1970s. Those familiar with trucks from this period will know which make and model it is based on. When I get it finished we will see if there is enough interest to get it cast. Builders can call it what ever make and model they want, but we will refer to it as the Project 4 1/4 (425HP) The parts are held in place by small dowels. So far the top half of the engine is nearly complete. I just have some bolt details to add to the aftercooler. Next part I think will be the block. For reference in the photo's I have a resin 3406 so you can see the differences. More photo's and details here: http://public.fotki.com/oldalbion/project-4-14/ Dave

Chris, Nice engine detailing, I like it. Dave

I have a lot of information gathered but dimensional details are very few and far between. You really need to see the engine up close to get all the info you require. In many cases I have had to scale the photo's and drawings to get the info I need. Sometimes you find that when you put the parts together they don't look right so you have to make adjustments. This means that the engine will not be completely accurate since you are not working from accurate drawings. I have been working on my version of an engine and have the top half 95% complete. This is an interesting engine to build and bares no resemblance to a 3406 in any way shape or form so all parts need to be scratch built. The block is a very complex shape with many different contours and ribs. The cylinder head is one piece with a very prominent exhaust/turbocharger/aftercooler system. I will start a new topic soon and post some photo's. Dave

Matthew, I'm sure Ford own or owned Volvo at one time. Dave

Jeff, Check www.truckpaper.com there are one or two FLC freightshakers for sale with some usefull photo's http://www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=2484499 http://www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=1984211 http://www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=2490033 http://www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=1735153 http://www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=2339181 Hope this helps. Dave

Romell, That C16 looks great, very impressive indeed! Dave

Chris, The engine as fitted by Kenworth would normally be painted white. The beige colour is Cummins colour for their engines at that time. If you see an engine painted beige chances are that its been overhauled by Cummins. Dave

I use the Model Car Garages piano hinges when making butterfly hoods. They are a little tricky to work with, but with a little care and perseverance the result is well worth it. The first hood I built was for my Pete 351, the hood itself is made of brass sheet. The second is my Autocar dump truck and last is the Autocar with the big Detroit. The hood on this is the kit hood modified (I extended the hood a scale 10" to get the Detroit in). Hope this helps Dave

The transmission in the AMT Alaskan Hauler KW is a Spicer 15 speed married main and auxillary (The auxillary is an air shift). Its not the same as an Eaton 12513 13 speed. The transmission in the AMT Pete T500 is an Eaton 13 speed (I think, probably best check with Tim) and the Autocar A64B is a 12515 15 speed Eaton/Fuller. I don't know what the transmission was in the MO trucks so cannot comment. The torsion bar suspension is a great idea. The Germans used it extensively in their tanks in the second war. Jaguar also used it on the XKE models with good effect. Check my photo albums for details of the set up. http://public.fotki.com/oldalbion/aths-convention-08-/trucksatathsconvent-33.html Hope this helps. Dave

Ray, Thanks for the comments and also Thanks for the information about the photo etch parts for the WF. I ordered 3 sets and they arrived about a week ago. I had already made my own mesh grill so I decided to stick with this. The new photo etch parts would be used on another build sometime in the future. When i opened the packages up I was amazed at the amount of detail in these kits. There is everything from fuel tank straps, dashboard details (clocks gauges etc), to under cab structural members. There are also many combinations so you will get a lot of parts left over for other builds. This is without doubt one of the best detail kits I have seen. I also got the GMC Astro kit although this is just the grill assembly. The kits are available from: www.modelltrucksandparts.at Product number CTM-004 for the GMC and CTM-005 for the WF. Dave

Paul, I just had a look at your albums. WOW! Its been an hour now and I still haven't looked at everything. Your model collection is very impressive indeed. Thanks for sharing your albums with us. Dave

Thank You everyone for the compliments. It makes building all the more worth while when you know that other people have got some pleasure out of what you have built. I have a soft spot for the older trucks "old iron" is a great way to describe them. This was the look that I was after. My work bench is now clear and looks rather baron. Next up the 1693, hopefully have it done by the end of the year. Thanks again for the kind words. Dave

Jim, Thanks! I know the Revell/Monogram kit you mean now. Is that the KW you are going to put with the tank trailer? Dave