Old Albion

Jerry, Nice build. I like that International trucks by ERTL. Have often thought about getting hold of the Transtar 4270 but they are fetching quite a price on Ebay these days. Great Work! Good to see you posting a new build!

Tim, Great looking truck. Colour scheme looks just right. The headlights, do you have your own mold for casting, or do you make them from solid material?

Very impressive!! I like the challenge that a resin conversions brings. This certainly looks a challenge. Good Luck with the rest of the build. Look forward to seeing it finished.

Looks good so far. I like the engine especially the colour. Is that the Cat engine with the auto transmission? Good Luck with the rest of the build!

Dan, This looks interesting. That will be quite a rig when its finished with its trailer. Will that second axle steer? It reminds me of Tim's Wireline truck and Ray's (FlatbedKW) Cab Over Freightliner project. Good Luck with the rest of the build.

I agree with Tim. That would be an interesting trailer to see built. Do you have a photo of the real trailer? I'm becoming quite interested in scratch building trailers and believe this would be a very interesting project, would go well with a cab over tractor.

Thanks for the comments! Dylan, I will be fitting the grill guard from the kit. What does the Autocar heavy duty bumper look like? Do you have a photo? Ray, The front axle will be set back as per the kit, this will help with weight distribution and give a better turning circle. The truck and trailer will be from Michigan, I don't know anything about axle loadings or overall lengths of vehicles in the state. So I shall be relying on photographs and any other bits of information I can find. The tractors appear to be short wheel base but heavy duty which suits the Autocar well.

With the re-release of the excellent Autocar A64B I decided I would have a go at building one so over the New Year period I made a start. The Autocar will be complete with a 5 axle dump trailer. Year will be about 1971 or there abouts. General (Hopefull) Specification as follows: Autocar A64B 1/ Frame length as per AMT kit. 2/ Butterfly Hood to operate and will be extended by a scale 10". 3/ Front axle heavy duty cast metal. 4/ Brakes will be fitted to the front axle. 5/ Wide high flotation spoked steer wheels and tyres will be fitted. 6/ Steering gear will operate. 7/ Rear walking beam suspension will operate. 8/ Rear wheels will be spoked with heavy duty drive axle tyres fitted. 9/ Engine a Detroit Diesel 12V71TA rated at 525HP. Twin exhaust stacks with short curved pipes after the mufflers to be mounted behind the cab on their own frame. 10/ Wet Line Hydraulic System. Pump to be driven of a PTO on the transmission. Tank to be mounted on the drivers side of the frame. 11/ Both drivers and passanger doors to open. 12/ Colour of frame, fuel tanks, front fenders French Blue. Colour of cab grey. Colour of wheels orange. Truck to be weathered. 5 Axle Dump Trailer. The specification has now been finalised. It will be based on a 1972 Advantage trailer. This project is in the very early stages, so if anyone has any ideas let me know and I will consider them. I can see this project taking a long time to finish. I have had to make a lot of changes just to get the big Detroit between the frames. The steering gear was a bit of a challange but I've sorted it now. I put the specification together just for fun and I've no doubt I will have to change things as I go along. So please don't hold me to it. Does anyone have an Autocar build sheet which shows the format? (It would be good to produce an Autocar build sheet to go with the truck) http://public.fotki.com/oldalbion/autocar-a64b-with-5/ Hope you enjoy the project.

I bought a batch of 3 off on Ebay about a year ago. They are the old Hendrix ones kit No HX304. I checked with Sharon of Spauling Trading and Shipping a long time ago about the V12 detroit. She said that it was not available any more and that STS or Griffin were working on the moulds, but didn't know when they would be available. So when I saw the batch of 3 on Ebay I bought them. You might want to check with Sharon if anyone has made any progress. The engine I think is based on the engine from the AMT Super Boss kenworth. Not sure. With regards to my builds for 2007, well not too many. But here they are: 1/ Cummins KTA 600 http://public.fotki.com/oldalbion/cummins-kta-600-die/ 2/ Pete 351 with Milk Tanker http://public.fotki.com/oldalbion/pete-351-with-imc-t/ Be sure to check the individual build albums for seperate details of the Pete and tanker builds. Hope you enjoy.

Superb! Excellent build, that weathering is very convincing.

Robert, I agree with Ray a " How to" thread on topics such as working suspensions would be a great thing. A sort of extension to the Ken Smith "Detailing Model Trucks" series. Maybe there could be found an area on the web site for such reference documents to be kept. I supose thats down to the people who run the web site. Just my thoughts.

Chuck, Thanks also for posting this. I completed the survey and submitted my results. I,m surprised that companies like Revell, Italeri etc don't use forums like this to test the market place to find out what products people want to buy.????? I think they need a lesson in marketing! Ray, Good to see you back on the board again!

Whilst perusing the ATHS web site recently I came across this beast. Wow!! What a restoration. Just look at the length of the factory fitted hood! ATHS Photo's here. http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/at...post?id=2392049 ATHS discussion here. http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/at...post?id=2392319 Enjoy!

Tim, Scott, That is a very impressive line up of builds for 2007. That A64 is indeed a very interesting build. Whilst waiting for some custom decals from Dan Poulin to finish my Autocar dumper I made a start on the A64B. It arrived about 3 days ago, after reading such good reviews and studying the kit in detail I decided to make it my next build. But box stock NO! I'm getting like one or two people on this board where I just can not build trucks box stock. This one will built to my specific requirements it will certainly be a Michigan tractor with a very rare 12V71TA Detroit Diesel between the frames, with an extended hood larger radiator, twin air intakes, frame mounted hydraulic wet line system, heavy duty front axle and wheels front and back it will be complete with a scratch built 5 axle dump trailer. I will start a new topic on this soon. It is due to the enthusiasm, skill and dedication to the truck building hobby of people like Tim, Scott and all the others on this forum that gives me the drive to produce my trucks. Well done guys!! Lets hope 2008 is equally if not more productive. But most of all lets enjoy ourselves and see what we can achieve.

Looks like your off to a good start. That frame looks very robust, definately a heavy weight truck and one that would certainly complement any fleet. This would make a great wrecker. I think Ken Smith built an A64B as a wrecker in his Detailing Model Trucks Series. He used the wrecking body of the Pete 359 but built it as a Twin Boom version. I'll have to have a look through my information. Hmm! that gives me some ideas. Good Luck with the rest of the project and keep us posted.

Dave, This is superb. The details like the ladders, extinguishers and the pressure gauges on the side are great and really finish the truck of well.

Pat, Looks like your off to a good start, the colours look interesting. The white plastic of the cab goes well with the orange frame. Will the cab be painted white? Also what theme are you using for the build? restored, new, well used etc. With regards to the colour Cummins Beige. The transmission probably matt or satin finish Black or dull red. Depending on your theme will determine the colours and the condition. For example if you build the truck as a hard working truck but well looked after (My favourite theme) You might paint the engine beige and the transmission black with some light weathering. But if you build it as a restored truck its really up to you you might want both the engine and transmission the same colour as the frame. Its really your choice. I have an original A64B but will probably keep that untouched and get hold of a couple of these new re-issues. I'm very close to completing my Twin Steer Autocar dump truck and may just build an Autocar A64B as a heavy Michigan Tractor and Scratch built dump trailer in the same colours as the twin steer. So I will be interested to see how you get on with this? I like the old Autocar its a great looking truck and its a shame that they aren't around anymore! Good Luck with the rest of the project and keep us posted with updates.

Great looking truck. Nice details like the tools and engine. I bet that V8 consumes some gas?

Check out this old Kenworth that was sold on E-bay a few days ago. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Kenworth-W9...10QQcategoryZ80 It has a 12V71 engine in Detroit Alpine Green. If you look on the ATHS web site there was quite a discussion about it which led to other things. I have saved the photo's for future reference. Hope this helps.

One of my next projects is to build a batch of three 12V71T Detroit Diesel engines. Trying to find the correct shade of Alpine Green has been difficult. But I've found a colour that matches pretty good. Its the Revell SM365. Its a satin finish, but I'm not to worried about that because all three engines will be weathered anyway.

Very interesting well finished truck. Great work!!

Great looking MACK. Like the weathering.

Paul, This is a great looking rig. I like the weathering. This truck would look great photographed outside on a sunny day.

Dave, Its always a pleasure to see your latet project. This looks like your of to a good start. Keep us posted with pictures as you go. Good Luck with the rest of the build.

Tim, Another great looking truck. Very interesting build, the orange looks well and suits the Pete. I'm always impressed with your use of Bare Metal Foil. I'd love to know how to apply it correctly? It seems to bring out the details like the door surrounds superbly. Look forward to your next build.