Jürgen M.

Some more progress! Tank is glued on, so is the "skywalk" (I like to call it that), the pump hoses are mounted, stacks, ladder, ...! Stuck the old bumper on again just for the pics! Still a lot to do though! Rear left tool box, new bumper and some small stuff like marker lights, ...!

First mock-up with the chromed tank!

This is the idea of the new bumper! It'll be attached by those two 2mm rods and two shakles on each. Of course the bumper still needs some work. Sanding, primer, chrome! Hope the surface turns out like the one on the 352 bumper. I'm quite satisfied with that.

I decided to make a new front bumper so I removed the old one. It wasn't glued on so no problem! The new one is being printed this minute! If it doesn't turn out as I expect I can always use the old one again. I added the tool box. Looks quite nice with the chromed doors! Not a perfect surface but doesn't matter! It's an old and used truck so chromed surfaces are worn too! I made too smaller tool boxes and glued one on already. The second one for the other side has to be chromed again. Big fingerprint! 🙈 These are so called brims or rafts from printing. When they come out so even I like to use them as mud flaps or, like I did for the 352 Pete, as inlays for the grille!

Made steps for the sleeper! Both sides of course!

Amazing. They don't look like it! Really cool build idea! Keep the Progress going! I'm in the front row! 🍿🍺

Wow! Hope you'll find a way to get the shrunken plow back to real size so you can use it this winter! Noone would notice it's a model if you would be able to enlarge it to original 1:1 size! Can't describe my fascination about this build any other way!

Sunvisor fits! The rear chromed wheels look nice too. Rest of the chromed parts still have to cure a while! Don't want to risk fingerprints or anything.

Also made a sunvisor! First I drew it on a cardboard and then transferred it on a piece of 0.5mm styrene sheet and bent it to fit the cab. Before mounting it'll be painted.

Nice paint job! With the outdoor background it looks very real!

What a beautiful tractor! Nice job!

Nice build! Does that truck belong to the class 8 category? Just asking cause of the 40' reefer! Looks so huge compared to the tractor!

Chrome Looks nice! The tank didn't get as smooth as I expected although I put some clear coat on. I'll have to wait till it's cured. Maybe it'll smoothen a little more. Rims are satisfactory I'd say, so are the pipes and the tool boxes! Sleeper is glued into place and I found some hand rails in my parts box. Put the long one on the "safe side"!

😊 I don't know why this happens but sometimes when I begin a new post the previous one gets copied! That's the reason for the smiley, I can't delete it! Anyway, the sleeper is ready for permanent mounting. The tank and the other parts will hopefully be chromed during the next days.

I can only agree on that! The 4070A was the kit with the best fit. Everything was straight and the parts were good quality. Even the surface and the thickness of the parts were just great. And you're right. The challenges you learn from are the AMT kits. Still it was really fun to build the Ertl kits! Really nice job in the tilting issue Jeff! Knew you could do it!

All this detail makes me dizzy! It's so fascinating. I just take a thin brush to make the stripes on the tubing. Of course it never looks as good as this stuff. Maybe I'll try that. Up to now I've always worked on a minimalistic level concerning details. Seems it's time to change that. At least a bit!

Decals look great and the red on top of the grille is nice! Makes the picture complete! Nice job!

I will make a trailer to it but first I definitely have to build the show case. Otherwise there won't be rooms for a trailer! 😊

Thanks! Hope it turns out good! Hiding the printing lines is the biggest challenge! We'll see how the chrome looks!

Thanks for the information! Always interesting to learn these things!

Thought so! Looked familiar! I still have that one in my parts box! The cabs are also the same in the White Western Star, Autocar A64B and Road Boss! Probably in a few other kits too! I built the Brockway (Convoy) from the AMT Autocar Kit and the Diamond T (also Convoy) from the AMT Coca Cola Western Star kit. Absolutely same cab!

Lookin' good! 👍

Don't give up Jeff! You're doing great. I know the issue as well. Even when I design everything myself, somewhere along the way you lose sight over each and every spot which might be relevant for functionality later. The first printed cabover that worked out pretty well was the 352 day cab. But I have to admit I had to replace the shifter three times till I found the right spot. One advantage of opening doors, you can approach from two ends! Anyway, I can understand your grief over cabovers concerning modelling! It's gonna be a great build! Keep calm and go on! 👍

Thanks! I very much appreciate your opinion. Never thought it would be that methodical. Wow! I wish I had more time for the bench but I've got to earn my paycheck and that takes 40hrs per week plus driving time. So often I'm actually too tired to do anything after work and I don't want to ruin anything because of inattention. I planned to apply the chrome today but I haven't even put on the clear coat. Maybe I'll accomplish at least that today!

Another mock-up: Next steps are clear coat on the tank, then masking of the tank end covers, painting the ladder, chrome on the tank and wheels, corrections on the sleeper, ...!