Jürgen M.

Here's some more: Still a lot to do! The mud flaps are taken from the "Big Nasty" Mack, just had to print them once more! The exhaust system will be taken from the ACX Autocar. Just reduced the size in the 3D drawings to about 80% and then lengthened the muffler! Didn't like the original one. Looked too skinny. Unfortunately my printer is now out of order. Had to order spare parts. Hope they arrive soon. Till then I'll finish up the rest! Marker lights, horns, headlights, mirrors, ...!

A sneak preview of the cab and fenders!

Here´s the chassis. Looks a bit more like a working horse now! The engine looks a bit golden colored on the picture but its iron grey.

☺️ Yes, you´re right. I liked it back then in the 80s but over the years when you get a more realistic view of those trucks it doesn´t make that much sense anymore especially looking at the engine. It wasn´t really meant to be a show truck for exhibitions I guess. Anyway, I´m glad my inspiration finds your appreciation! I wanted to do this for years. It was really about time! You´ll be glad to see, that there will be not a single spot of chrome left on this one!

Wow, thanks for that info! I probably would have chosen green or orange or something! I think I'll follow your info and paint it grey! ?

I'm still undecided which color the engine will be! It seems to be a V8. Anyone know If these engines had a specific color or if they came how ever the customer wanted it? I once read that Peterbilt generally ordered the engines in white because they wanted them to look very clean in a new truck. Thought that Mack may have had some sort of policy of that kind too.

Hi Brian, thanks, I just thought the original bumper looked a bit boring! Actually there´s a bit of sanding to do but not much! It does depend on how you place the part in the slicer. The regions you don´t see to well when it´s in place should be the down side in printing. Then the sanding is not much of a job. It makes a difference though what kind of part you print. Printing a truck cab for example means much more after work than a bumper or a chassis part. The printing lines on a cab are not really sandable since the material gets so hard that you would need a diamond sanding paper. That would let you grind all details away though so it´s better to use a filler primer. That gave me pretty good results on my last project, the IH Conco. Of course it also depends on what printer you use. If you don´t want to spend a few thousand on a high end printer (or can´t) then you use a good everyday printer for a few hundred but have to get used to the printing lines. I´m quite satisfied with my Creality printer. Does the job!

Looking really good! Nice Idea for a build!

You're doing it again: making a "grown up" truck out of a 1/32 minor detailed kit! Amazing! Can't wait to see this done!

Nice work! That rack looks great! Keep going!

Primered and painted the body parts. There will be a second color as you can see. The masking is done! As soon as I've got time, I'll apply the next color! Then decals and clear coat! Even designed and printed a new bumper!

I´m not picky at all. My trailer and the truck are far from being identical to the movie vehicles. To me the main impression counts when its finished and on the shelf. You would find lots of mistakes on mine. I´m sure the trailer will be very nice when finished. I´m watching with pleasure! ?

Looks pretty good! Will there be a black Mack to join it? I'm a big Convoy fan and always interested in everything concerning the movie! I'll be watching! ?

By the way, the scratch on the glove compartment was on purpose! It was supposed to look a bit worn.

Painted the chassis! It's actually darker than the picture shows. It's granite grey, Revell no. 69. The color of the cab and other body parts is not decided yet. The interior is touched up a bit compared to before! It was completely black and the steering wheel and shifters chromed. Like I said, assembled right out of the box.

Bigger parts are cleaned and dried! The smaller ones in the jar will either be cleaned separately or exchanged by printed ones!

Oh, OK! I'm amazed how much you guys know! Thanks for sharing your knowledge! I Always enjoy learning more about trucks and the kits!! ?

Thanks for that information! I was always convinced that it was the DM800 since it's got the badge on the side. Did they actually name the kit wrong? Didn't Mack do anything about it?

Thanks for the good advice in cleaning it, Dave! I´ll do that! I liked building this kit back then. Ertl has always been a garant for good quality. The functional rear suspension was one of the features I´ve always liked on this kit! I was probably afraid to ruin it if I try to copy the stars and stripes finish shown on the box cover so I convinced mayself it would look good in red too which it did to me for quite a while. I´ve been thinking about a work over for quite a while but I always found something else to do first. R.D. work over, Big nasty, Bruhn Trucking, Conco, ...! Now I finally got myself to take it apart. The chassis will probably stay the way it is but I´m not so sure yet! I´ll be doing the cab and the hood with grille, the fuel tanks and bumper first. The cab is stuck pretty tight. Have to be careful not to break anything but I'll manage it. The small stuff came off quite easy. Put it in the jar so it doesn't get lost. I guess cleaning them in a tupperware will be the best.

Hi everyone, after I saw Bonzekeg's Mack heavy hauler it inspirated me to finally do something about the boring look of my Mack DM800. It was also one of my early pieces, assembled without a single drop of paint on the exteriour! In the mean time it's totally dusty and the chromed parts all look old and grimy! See for yourselves! I haven't decided yet what exactly I'm gonna do with it but if I don't start taking it apart I'll never do anything with it! I'll decide shortly what to do and you'll be the first to know! ?

Looks like it's gonna BE another masterpiece! I had that kit too and it was one of my favourites back then but it got lost just like it's brother, the Freightliner Conventional! Needless to say they were built in my beginning time of modelling which means, I assembled them without any extras! It's really amazing to see what can be made of them when I watch your builds!

Amazing work Rockford! That's real modeling worship! ?

Nice work! Scratch building is really fun. Before I began printing I built a couple of trailers from scratch. You're doing a wonderful job here!

Hey Bren, sorry it took so long but we had our family day today! I can´t tell you too much about editing downloaded 3D files but I´ll try to show you my possibilities: I´m using Autodesk Fusion 360 for designing which is an easy to handle programme. The files that can be edited in Fusion are .stl or .obj files. Once you´ve downloaded it onto your computer you can load it into fusion and you´ll see it as a sort of mesh surfaced 3D picture. My example is the Duck on the hood of Rubber Duck´s Mack (Convoy). It seems big in here but I reduced it in scale to match the size needed for a 1/25 scale. Anyway, once loaded onto the programme´s surface you have to transform it into an editable file. My language is German, sorry, but I hope I can make the point. The menu to choose is mesh (I think that´s what it´s named in English). Then you go down and choose "convert mesh" (hope that´s the correct translation) and then you click on the object and click OK! Depending on how big or complex your object is it may take a while til it´s finished. As soon as the object appears again, maybe in a different color, you should be able to edit it! Could be that you won´t have all editing functions, depending on the structure of your object and which software you´re using. That´s about all the experience I have on this so I hope it was of any help to you! This duck was the first and up to now the only file I had downloaded. Everything else was self designed. Good luck! Hope it works for you! ?

Thanks Bren. About the editing of 3D files, that depends on the file type and the 3D design software you're using. I myself have tried to edit downloaded files. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't! You have to transform the file into a compatible type! I'll make a few screenshots for you and post them tomorrow, OK? I'd be happy to help! ?