Old Albion

Tim, I had a look at your in progress builds on the web site recently. I thought the WF and the International were great. I like how you have put the White Freightliner together especially the paint scheme. It works very well. Its given me a few ideas for my next project. I like the stripes on the Pete 359. Reminds me of the "Big Mamoo"??? I think thats how you spell it. By the way where did that name come from? Best Wishes Dave

When considering purchasing model kits internationally beware!!! Unless you are fully conversant with customs invoicing and understand the costs involved. I would leave it well alone. I have bought many kits form the US and other countries. The best places to look are Ebay but also check the afternmarket suppliers. For example Sourkrauts http://sourkrautsmodeltrucks.com/ I have just ordered the White Freightliner plus some other equipment from Chris. Very efficient operation. Sent me an Email the day after to let me know he had shipped. With regards to Ebay you need to check sellers that ship worldwide. Also get your self a Paypal account it will make things alot easier. But when buying internationally watch the shipping costs. If you bought the WF kit I would expect the shipping cost to be $26.00 upwards. But this isn't the end of it depending which carrier is used when it gets here to Britain you will be hit for import duty. This all depends on the information on the customs documentation that is attached to the box. The shipper really has to know the ins and outs of it. You will probably find that the cost of getting the kit here is more than the cost of the kit itself. Hope this helps Dave

Chris, This is absolutely superb! I really enjoy watching your progress on your builds. Great Work!! Best Wishes Dave

Ray, This looks great so far. I like the use of the Detroit. As for colour there is a Pete almost similar to yours on Youtube with an 8V92TA. This things is a beast. It is painted a grey metallic colour. Looks superb!! Best Wishes Dave

Interesting discussion! I always wondered why have 1/25 and 1/24. I thought maybe it was something to do with North American companies (AMT and ERTL) using the imperial system and European companies (Revell and Italeri) using the metric system. Personnaly I am always mixing 1/25 and 1/24 parts with aftermarket and scratch built stuff to get the right kind of look! being able to disguise things is something you learn pretty early on as you develop what you are doing. Its interesting to learn about the changes in width between the 70s and 80s. The current Construction and Use regulations here in Britain allow 8' 4" (2.55m) and with a refrigerated unit 8' 6" (2.6m). I think the width is pretty universal in Europe but overall lengths do change. The maximum allowable length of a semi trailer is 13.6m or 45 feet nominal thereabouts. But there are no maximum height limits. I wonder how some of these dimensions compare with the "Italeri American Reefer Unit". I suspect that they may have taken a European refrigerated trailer specifications and added or made some changes that would make it look generically to the untrained eye like an American trailer. Why go to all the time trouble and expense to manufacture dies and tooling and not take the time to jump on an aeroplane to research the subject correctly to achieve the necessary accuracy modellers require? It makes no sense. There is a big difference between a model that is built as a typical representation of an overall theme and a model that is built to depict historical accuracy. They are two entirely different things in my book. I suspect that the model kit manufacturers are working on the former rather than the later. There are so many variants it would be difficult to please everyone. Although a great suggestion that was posted on the forum was "Why not offer a selection of different parts so the builder can build what they want". For example different wheels, tyres, engines, transmissions etc. The model kit manufacturers never came to the party (Although Italeri tried with their truck accessory kits). Well thats one of the reasons why the aftermarket suppliers are in business. There is a niche market created by model engineers who want greater historical accuracy and are prepared to spend time and money to produce the model that they want. Not the model that the kit manufacturers want them to have. Have you noticed the selection of aftermarket kits, conversions and parts that are now available to us. I think its great. Yes its expensive but I'm not building a model every week. My latest escapade has taken me nearly 2 years and I still have not finished. So when you average out the costs per month they are quite small compared with buying a new kit every week or so. I would describe my work as not historically accurate. The specifications I normally dream up. But I build for me, these are not toys they represent a personal challenge to see what I can achieve with the skills and abilities that I have. Made all the more easier by a great selection of aftermaket suppliers who aid me in that goal. Best Wishes Dave

Wow! Never seen a Cummins NTC350 dressed up like that before. Imagine being the one who has to clean it especially after a bad winter. No Thanks! Best Keep it for the show season. The colour combination will look great on the outside of the truck. On my screen it looks more of a bronze colour and will look great with the shiney bits on the truck. Nice Work! Dave

Kurt, Many Thanks for the reply! You've given me some ideas there. I never thought of using the weathering kit fro seats and worn down paint. Hmm! Interesting. I will keep on practicing and try some different shades and techniques. Any problems I will be in touch. Once again Thanks Dave

James, The 71 series Detroits were painted Detroit Alpine Green. I believe the normal colour for the Series S60 was the blue shown by Kurt and Chuck. But I have seen a silver colour to. Interesting thought in relation to when the S60 was released. Were Peterbilt and Kenworth still painting engines white or did they leave the manufacturers colours as they were? Also check Aaron's post on engine colours. Kurt, I forgot to mention. I see in one of the photo's the Tamiya weathering kit. I just bought one and I'm struggling a little with it at present. How do you fing using it? Dave

Tim, Many Thanks for taking the time to give us a guided tour of your truck room. What an amazing collection of trucks and to think you built them all!! I liked the videos of the future truck builds and in particular your idea for the 352 Alaskan truck, it will be interesting to see if you put the cover around the front. I presume that was for insulation against the cold. Thanks for sharing with us. Best Wishes Dave Bates

Check Tim's web site. He built one a while back. At least I think it was a K500, it was red any ways. Dave

Scott, Very Nice! Where did you get the wheels from? Are the kit ones spokes? I have an original AMT kit somewhere stashed away in my pile of kits to build and cannot remember what wheels were with it. Great work! Dave

Tim and Chuck, I really like the look of both the old Freightshakers. Its great to see modellers having a go at the new release kits. I remember building the Pabst version in the late 70s. That 3 piece cab, what a nightmare!! I hated it . Of course 30 years ago I did not have the abilities and patience that I have now. Also these days I tend to spend more time studying how I am going to do things and plan my way through a build. In my younger days I wanted to do everything and it had to happen now. Reminds me of the story about the Bull and the young Bullock walking down a lane. Up ahead there is a field full of cows. The young Bullock says to the bull. "Quick lets run to the field and have some fun with one of those cows". The bull says "No!" "Lets walk up to the field and have some fun with all of them". I bought one of the green versions (AMT Matchbox???) from the 70s of Ebay about a year ago. Seeing these two great builds has given me some ideas. I just may bring the project forward. Thanks for posting and keep us updated with Progress. Chuck, You need to start your own thread on the Freightshaker. That is a really superb looking build. Best Wishes Dave

I found this web site selling remanufactured and new transmissions. You can see the colours mentioned in previous posts. http://stores.ebay.com/Pro-Gear-and-Transmission-Inc Hope this helps Dave

Kurt, Another excellent project! This will look great behind the Mack. Keep us posted with progress! Dave

Scott, Check the Kit Form Services Web site. The are under Special Supplies: Items SS9630 and SS9640 Hope this Helps. Dave

I found this on Youtube and thought others might like to see it. The owner needs a big Thank You for firstly, looking after the truck and keeping it in such superb original condition and secondly, for taking the time to put the 7 videos together. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Best Wishes Dave

Chris, Check the builds by Kurt McLucas (Turbo590) Kurt has built three outstanding Macks with some great details on the engines. Not sure what model Maxidynes' Kurt used but they may be similar to the one you need. Good Luck with your project and welcome to the Forum. Best Wishes Dave

Matt, Very interesting! I need an extended hood for my mid 70s Pete (The V12 Detroit will be installed in this one) that I have on the drawing board and was going to build my own. But if you have mastered one then I'll take a couple from you straight away. I have also thought about building a small window 359 with an extended hood. Probably a question for Tim. Do you know if the extended hood for the little window was the same as the extended hood for the big window 359? Now building a 1/16 Little window cab that would be a challenge! Good Luck with your recovery Best Wishes Dave

Tim, I'm please to hear that you are sorting things out. These Hocus Pocus providers seem to be a law unto themselves these days. Not much we can do about it since they all seem to be from the same mould. Things would not be the same without "Tim's Trucks"! Best Wishes Dave

Chuck, I used the mesh screens from KFS see the link below. Tab down until you come to PE91. http://www.kitformservices.com/photoetch.html Ben, Thanks for the comments. Offering it as a kit is beyond my abilities, well certainly at present. It would suit people who have the CNC mill like Crispy67 or aftermarket manufacturers like AITM, Matt Burnett, etc. I have been checking the price of aftermarket parts recently and have found they are becoming very expensive. Just gauging the price of my trailer with the price of aftermarket parts and kits on the market at present and I would guess around $150 to $200. Just think about the price of the re-release AMT stuff for example. The modeller could get probably 4 AMT kits for the price of a trailer. When you look at what it costs to bring a resin kit to market you can see the costs are probably well justified. For many modellers thats a lot of money and is way outside of their budget so maybe an alternative would be a set of plans. The modeller could then use simple raw materials of their choise for the bulk of the build and then would be at liberty should they want to buy the more difficult parts like wheels, suspensions etc. But the plans would have to be right or otherwise you could be dealing with a lot of unhappy modellers. Food for Thought!! Best Wishes Dave

Having seen some great models on the forum and progress being made all around I thought it about time that I got some thing done. I have been working on the trailer and am almost finished. Just one or two things to complete it. The tarp is finished and was quite easy to make. It does work but its a pain to keep rolling it up. When the Autocar is finished I will take both outside to take some photo's of the complete rig. This is the first model I have ever tried making my own decals. I used word in microsoft office 2007 to design them. My printer is a Kodac ESP 7 all in one contraption. Works well normally but does not like the decal paper to much. Printing on Photo paper the quality of the print is superb. But on the decals it seems a bit faded. Its probably my lack of knowledge of hocus pocus electrical gadgets thats the problem not the printer. The company name on the trailer is Pioneer. A totally ficticious company. Anyway here is the link to my albumn. Hope you enjoy. http://public.fotki.com/oldalbion/autocar-a64b-with-5/2.html Many Thanks and best regards Dave

Ryan, The weathering detail on the wheels is superb. If you had taken the photo outside in the natural daylight I would have thought they were the real thing. Wow! Amazing! Dave

Codie, This looks great so far. I really like to see the scratch built trucks and the methods that builders use to overcome design problems. Makes it much more challenging and interesting. There was an old similar looking Military Autocar for sale on Ebay early part of November. It was the subject of a discussion on the ATHS web site. Looks like it did not sell and the owner has re-listed it. Check the link below: http://forums.aths.org/InstantForum414/Top...ghlight=autocar Dave

Ed, That is a great looking little truck. Nicely weathered and good scratch building. Yes I like it very much. Dave

Jim, The engine in the Revell Pete 359 is a Cummins NTC475. Easily identified by the twin Turbochargers. Dave