tractoraholic

Good Morning, I have used Future as a clear coat for a while on my builds. I know there are those that don't like it and advise against it, but it worked for me and have been happy with the results until today. So my son is building a Amt 66 Chevelle and I airbrushed the body for him, let the paint dry, applied a coat of future and after a week, it looked like the paint expanded or the future shrank and caused fine cracks, crazing or a cracked glass look, spider webbing. Now it's not noticable unless the light hits it right and you REALLY look close. Fortunately it wasn't the paint, because future comes right off with Windex and warm water, and I have a flawless surface again. Any of you future guys have that happen? A little more details, I used Rust-Oleum 2x enamel paint, I decant and thin it with lacquer thinner to airbrush, and I let the car dry for 2 weeks in 70 degree temps before the application of future. I don't air brush future, never had luck but apply it with a soft red sable brush. Is it possible the future is bad, I have a original bottle that's probably 10 years old. However I used the same paint and future on another model 6 months ago and it's flawless and shiny like the day I applied it. The car body I ended up polishing with the novis 3 step plastic polish and looks good now with out future. Thanks in advance for your replys

A little more progress this weekend. I am done with all the airlines to the rear of the truck, just have to plumb the supply and reserve air tanks together and run a line to the air dryer, compressor and front brake cans. Since I'm on a roll with this stuff, I'm going to run Hydraulic lines from cab tilt pump to the rams, power steering lines and fuel lines. More to come, enjoy

Very nice Peterbilt, good job!

Your cab came out great.

Nice job on your frame. Coming along nice

This is a amazing and unique build, nice job on all the scratch building.

I'll be watching this, you build a lot of cool trucks.

Nice job, I like the grill, really stands out and nicely detailed.

Looking real sharp! Very nicely done

Thank you for your kind comments, did a little more tonight, added the lines to each brake can, and started plumbing them back to control valves. Also added some resin bolt heads onto the drive shaft universal joints. Here is the under side, I dropped six airlines, 2 for each rear axle brake can and 1 for each front axle brake can. I made the assumption that because the rear brake cans are longer than the front, that the rears contained the spring brakes therefore you needed two sets of air lines, one for normal braking and the second for pushing the springs closed when the tractor protection valve/ parking brake is pushed in, and a single line to each front can for normal braking. That's it for today, enjoy.

Looking forward seeing your build.

A little more progress today, I didn't like the look of the craft wire, as it does "conform" as easily as I hoped, so I pulled it all out and bought dead soft copper wire instead. It's easier to work with and it " loops and curves" more like real airlines on a truck. I moved my dump valve to a different cross member to make room for other valves. I also added tees on the axles to feed air to the brake cans. Added some hex nuts for fittings on the air tanks. I also started to make a height control valve from a misc fitting. Hopefully l will be done with the suspension this week, then on to the rear and front brakes, power steering and fuel lines. Here is the start of the height control valve Some pics of the air supply to the air bags Brake can air supply tees on axles

Small update for the weekend. I started on the airlines for the truck. First the air system for the air bags. I scratch built some t fittings out of 3/64 rod, drilled them out with a .3 micro drill. Then connected them all with some .30 craft wire. Brought the wire to a quick release valve on rear cross member. Still have to scratch build a height control valve and install the air tank. This is my first time doing something like this, very tedious with my big hands and tweezers but I think it will be worth it in the end.

Yours definitely looks like it has a little better fit with work. The flat windshield hood, it's not even close, I'll experiment with mine if time permits this week. I guess it's one of the joys of building something unique.

Thank You. I always loved these International cabovers, and the different color schemes the Eagles came in. It was the first truck I drove, it had a big cam Cummins with a 10 speed. With cabovers, drivers loved them or hated them, but you can't beat their maneuverability. I was able to get in places where conventionals had a hard time.

I will Gary, I have a w900 revell grill coming in the mail tomorrow, i see how it fits up, or I might fill the gap with styrene and see how that works also. Here what the kit grill looks like.

This Got me thinking, I just went and checked mine, the grill does not fit, going to have to work with styrene to fill the gap, or I might modify the grill from the w900 to see if that fits tighter.

I'll be watching this one too Gary. I have the same hood, but for the flat windshield Kenworth cab for one of my future builds.

Looks good with the improvements. Looks more like a Marmon now rather than a Marmobilt.

It's finally starting to look like something. I did some test fitting of the engine, installed the rear cab supports, battery support and stack support.

What do you guys think about my interior colors? 1st picture is a real 1:1 cab, second picture is some colors I airbrushed on a plate.

Thanks Gary, I am going a little more out of my "comfort zone" with the detail, but I want to try something new, just to see if I can do it. Right now I'm experimenting with some .08 solder wire for airlines, etc seems like it will work, I like the fact you can bend it into shapes and it tucks in nice in frame cross members and rails. You ever use it on your builds?

Added some mesh detail on the front of the radiator.

More Work on the frame and engine. Started the tedious process of sanding and filling seam lines on engine block half's, transmission, intercooler, and rear drives. I'm about done with the frame, I took some .062 styrene rod, glued it in all the unused holes on the frame, then cut off the excess with sprue cutters, and now a little filler, sanding, and it will be a nice smooth holeless frame. I also added another styrene strip inside the frame up it the front to kinda beef up the frame rail attachment point for the cab as the resin cab is heavy.

That orange and black, came out very nice. Your build is coming along nicely