Biggu

Wow. I sure would like to have had the chance to get one of those…. Going to build into a real beauty. Jeff

Perfect interior colors ! I like this. I have never had a 1/32 truck kit. I like where you’re going with this. Very interesting and its looking really good, can’t wait to see whats next ….. Jeff

Well … don’t ever let that happen again ????????????????……… thanks Gary I am really going to look into this. I know I am very late to the party here. But I do hope to expand my skills. Thanks again for the info. It is a huge help … cheers my friend Jeff

That theory works for me.......... thanks for the info, I really appreciate that!

I went to the Archer website and it looks to me that they are up and running as the header says Under New Management so I assumed things are operational but I know what happens when one ‘ assumes’ What size did you buy ? It is so hard to know what size things are when all a guy can do is look on line instead of holding the package in your hand…..

Archer Rivets? And from the Archer website? That's where I was looking....

Oh me too Lewis , but holy detailed information is hard come by it seems. Glad you checked in , Jeff

Not much really but a small supply of hydraulic hoses and air lines from Ted’s ….

Oh yeah , the ‘breaker bar’ with a four foot pipe, I recall helping the guys in the shop break those lose like that and yes bone jarring when they came loose. I also remember bouncing on the end of the pipe hoping it wouldn’t break loose and the pipe came off the breaker bar depositing Jeff flat on his buttocks on the shop floor! Oh yes , the ‘stud pilot’ set up. That system was a royal pain in the posterior. Lots of broken inner rims with that system. If they weren’t checked regularly. And 20 nuts per side rather than 10 as we have now. The hub pilot system, could break a lot of rims if the truck was continually overloaded. They would break the studs and mess up the hub. Saw that happen once …… ooooo the shop foreman was wild !! Glad it wasn’t me who did that ?

This just gets better and better. One thing that looks really cool , in the photos, your wall paper in the back has a cloud or something like that, at first glance it looks like smoke from the exhaust pipes !?? Your vision is coming together really well JM. I like this a lot ! Jeff

SWEET !!!! Beautiful and rare build. Love it … Jeff

Something I notice here is the mix of rims. Chrome Budds on the steering axle and Daytons on the drivers, back in the day (locally) that showed a real work truck and a LOT of highway tractors had that exact set up. Weight reducing and looked cool. The Daytons were a good strong rim although one had to be careful on installing the rims to the hub. Make sure they were clean and straight when the rim was slid onto the hub so that when the wedges were installed the rim ran true. There was a trick to have that happen. Used to put a small piece of wood parallel to the tire and spin the wheel as one tightened each wedge gently in an ‘X’ pattern so that you cud see if the tire and rim was tracking true and straight. Sorry for the deviation , Steve. I love this project and am eagerly waiting for the next update. You are doing a great job transforming this into a great looking truck . Jeff

I will very carefully sand it, and in fact it is the area above most of the rivet detail... I'm looking into the Archer rivets actually for the ones I mess up.....it isn't a lot of sanding but certainly enough to mess that detail up for sure.... how are you coming along with your builds?

Yes, exactly, and a nice clean build with no issues is a real nice pleasurable time, and if one has to fix and repair and modify EVERY kit, then modelling becomes 'work' and then there may be a loss of interest, but those shake and bake fall together kits are beautiful and more than have their place in the modeling world, and I love them as well ( I may even have a few ? ) but even at that I see, on this site, those kits and what some of the guys do is absolutely amazing, as an example of going the extra 100 miles, Brian Kerr's Tandem Sand Truck is a perfect example taking a nice kit and scratching an ' attachment' to take it to far beyond the next level is really modelling.... just my thoughts....

If you want to 'cheat' there are these out there.... https://stsupplyco.com/collections/cab-hood-parts/products/trailer-side-box-18mm-lowboy-tall-style-3d-printed-trailer-parts-copy And NOT taking anything away from Charles's great tutorial, and his are probably much cheaper financially, but this is an option, I have two sets and they are nicely done and work..... just a thought....... you can email Paul and ask when he will have more, he is great to deal with..................... Jeff

Thats fantastic. Great tutorial. !

Yeah , you’re sure right on that Steve. And when the numbers boys in the corporate offices make decisions ….. it’s all about the bottom line. Money. …. Huh?

“Disturbances” ?I love that. Lol. It took a lot of clean up to get this far, and I know a lot of guys complain about the old AMT moulds and the quality of the kits, BUT to me , fixing the blemishes and clean up is ‘modelling’ …. And lining things up like frame rails so they are straight and true is modelling. I do check out some other forums , airplane ones for the most part and the litany of complaints of the parts don’t fit perfectly is sometimes off the clock, and to me, and I’m only speaking for me , perfect fit models is really not modelling it is more ‘assembling’ , modelling is doing the extra detail work to make something nice and or different with what you have before you. Those are just my own thoughts, I want to expand my skills and a leas than perfect kit does just that. For me anyway. Thanks for your kind words and encouragement JM !

Thanks for the kind words and following along….. I am VERY interested in your up coming 352 build. I will be watching and looking for more and better ideas than I have. I hope you start it soon. …… I’m excited for that. Jeff

JM …. DUDE !!! That really is cool. It looks great , yeah a little bumpy BUT once you get the printing refined to what you want , you can always print another one, but because you designed this yourself and made it yourself is fantastic. I’m like Steve, all I can do is hack up someone else’s work and try to make it into something, you , my friend are creating from the ground up. Fabulous. ! I really like how this has come together. And I like the color choice… well done. This is so cool ….. Keep on truckin , Pal Jeff

VERY cool ! This would make a good base for an excavator in 1/25 scale……….?????

You were right... I found that I had to plug some pre-drilled holes for the air horns, so that they can be moved forward when install time comes... so plugged the holes and then had to do a little filling, then sand smooth.......... one issue dealt with... I'm sure I will find more...

What a COOL build. Great scratch skills. Awesome looking rigs !

Thanks Gary. That may very well be the case here but so far I’m pleasantly surprised how well this looks………so far. I will leave it for a bit and then I’m sure I will see all sorts of flaws but this is not going ro be a show truck bit a working truck, so a blemish or two would be authentic. Thanks for the tip.

Ok ……. Take me out back behind the out house and slap me ……….. I see what goes on here with the paint thing….. most if not all of you guys do the primer deal on your builds and find all sorts of little details that need attention after a splash of primer and then also can show a pretty good job. I have a confession …… I have never used primer ….. ever….. and I have had some success with paint jobs although NOTHING like the caliber I see here on a regular basis. On a recent trip to Vancouver Island I stopped at a couple really good hobby shops and picked up some Tamiya grey and white primer….. so I thought I would give it a go, did some cleanup on “Pete Hayes” and gave him a shot. That primer is really nice to work with. And after this long winded explanation , the cab doesn’t look too bad under a splash …..still one or two little details to be addressed but over all for a first effort I’m fairly pleased.