cifenet

Very addicting to watch the progress! Beautiful construction work~

The operating hood is simply magnificent!

Amazing effort to make the hood function! I love your work bench, it looks like you have all the tools to make anything! Excellent work and details!

Interesting modification you are working on! Very convincing and good process so far~

Thanks for checking on me, Brian. I appreciate your positive feedback and I see that you are actively encouraging all forum members by providing supportive comments everywhere! Kudos!

I am starting to think you could actually fix the real truck by going through this build. Your hinge mounts look very detailed, there must be at least 12-15 individual parts making up each!

This one is turning out to be a tough build for me and mainly I am having difficult time deciding how I want to build this kit. All of the little details becoming road blocks just because each of them presents multiple choices on how I can go about... When I initially wanted to build this kit and started the work, I really wanted to build it straight and quick. Then I started to see different options, tough choices, several issues, and more opportunities... "For now", I made up my mind on wheels and height of the truck. This is how it is going to be built. The front fender gap seems okay to my eyes also. For some reason, it was my main concern for this kit. While I was lowing the frame height, I decided to tackle CHALLENGE 6 where the front wheels seem to be wider than they should be. Leafsprings pointed out also that the front wheels are supposed to be tucked inside of the fender. To correct this, I simply cut away the axle ends by 1/8th inch which I thought it as the simplest way to handle it. To be absolutely correct, I could have narrowed them to be more, but I do like wider stance (on all my vehicles) and only made them to be narrow enough. This is my feeble attempt connect the steering mechanism all the way by using plastic tubing parts mimicking ball joints and such. This isn't accurate either, but my goal was to make them to function as wheels turn left to right... I could have used some of the micro scale bolts/nuts to make things legit and luxurious, but I realized my supply was running low and I decided to preserve them for next build. As I mentioned above, This was one of the choices to consider and a decision to make... The quarter fender guards were made using plastic sheets and plastic tubing materials. I am planning to paint them to be shiny aluminum. Unfortunately, this kit does not have the tilting hood. If you want to reveal the engine, you will have to simply pop the hood away (remove). Surprisingly though, I found out that the latest AMT's Cross Country Hauler kit has the tilting mechanism! For my truck, I decided to see if I can add a couple of hinges to enable the tilting action. As usual, I design the hinge using my "trial and error" method. Basically, I wanted the hoot to pop upward and tilt forward and it seems to be functioning okay. I won't put this in my CHALLENGE list, but when I saw these side mirror parts, I didn't even attempt to build them. I began the work of making my own mirrors. I simply copied the design using plastic square rod and small aluminum tube. The work is somewhat easy, you just need to bend, bend, bend, and bend... The mirror fits well, so I will make the other side using the passenger side as a guide. I also wrapped my fuel tanks using thin plastic sheet; this will help me paint the fuel tanks better later as all surfaces will have the same plastic material. I may add small stainless bolt heads later on to these mirror arm joints to enhance the details, but then again, I need to preserve my detail supply.... Tough decision! This is my setup so far. The battery box is under the cabin and the fuel tank located under the sleeper. And I have this going on "BOTH" sides. Lastly, I decided NOT to plumb the truck with air hoses and brake lines. This was another choice to consider and a decision to make for me. I wanted to plumb the truck throughout, but I think the laziness and the fear of dragging the build made me to skip...

Good looking Titan 90! Good job restoring it. The paint is smooth and shining, I am sure the repair shop was reputable one for sure!

The transporter looks awesome, excellent work!

Wow, I really like how this turned out. Great work and the transporter look superb. The red painted wheels are eye catching as well, good choice of color!

Clever implementation and realistic result! Amazing stuff is going on here!

What a great solution! It looks cool how the cab is able to hold at the open position like that. I actually didn’t even know this was how Peterbilt cab tilling was done, but you had a good thinking going to mimic it! 👍

That looks super massive and you are doing some extensive work. That double door is a clever idea as well.

Looking better and better each time you add components to it. I still can't believe all parts are 3D printed and that you are assembling them as if a kit was manufactured by AMT or Revell.

My my.. Speechless. So my question is... how sensitive is the brake pedal and do you need to press deep to bite the brake hard?

Håkan! Never disappointed! I totally forgot about the split rims and tube vs tubeless tires! Great info as usual. I need to rethink about my strategy on wheels, but I think I have crossed the border and it may be too much for me alter back. I will have to blame you for giving me more options though. Nevertheless, I think the reference photos are awesome here and allow me to contemplate even more on this subject. Man, you guys are totally on the subject understanding the shortcomings and such. If mine is going to go "incorrect", then I will have to go with the story of "all of the custom modifications done by previous truck owner".

Wow, I missed this thread and now I can see you are doing some intricate work bringing out all the details! I am thinking they never actually built the kit themselves before coming up with the instructions. Great work so far!

That is some compliment especially coming from you, Randy! Hopefully I can make this somewhat interesting as I go~

That is some great information & story on this, Lee! Appreciated. I am afraid my knowledge is quite limited, but I am glad I am picking things up one by one with help form you guys. Amazing how they thought about this some decades ago! Thanks again for the info and the name of the mechanism, Steve! Appreciated also. I looked up Internet and already info is flowing~

I also spent an hour or so assembling my version of fuel tanks. Copper pipes with end pieces from the kit were used. Unfortunately, I had to fabricate the tank carrier brackets. I test fit them to the frame to make sure I can position the fuel tanks without any interference. Lastly, I quickly drew my painting scheme so I can use them as my base template to paint the truck. I haven't decided the color yet, but I really want a red truck...

Talking about grille, it could be trivial to most of the folks here, but this is the technique I have been using to cut out the center portion of the grille: This one is from Revell's Pete that I worked on some time ago. I would drill out corners in linear fashion 3-4 times so I can insert a P/E saw blade (hobby knife won't work well). Using a masking tape as a line guide, I slowly saw out the center. Once you have inner portion cut out, then using a sand block to even away the edge (to make the line straight). I still need to even out the edges more, but basically you will have an open front like this to work with. As I start adding parts to the frame rail, I noticed that if you follow the instructions to attach brake champers, the chamber will almost face upward. I questioned this and based on some photos, I think these need to be slightly facing up. But I could be wrong as usual, please do let me know if my interpretation isn't correct on the brake chamber position.

@leafsprings Thanks for the positive feedback, and this photo helps greatly. Double thanks on this! 👍 Although, I don't think I have the necessary talent to make everything look exact, but I was able to pick up a couple of ideas for the truck. For one, I will definitely try to put the front wheels under the fender. As you pointed out, that front grille is definitely interesting to look at, almost as if there are operable blinds (white) to control the airflow. But I am not sure if things were that high tech back then... Or perhaps that white panels are the radiator front? And both of the windshield wipers seem to operate in same direction too.

I like your idea of mismatching tires. I see this all the time and it totally makes sense. All these customer 3D designed parts are super nice and you can only get better and better as technology improves at the same time!

Hey Steve, That damper mechanism is super sweet, I like your execution here using stuff around you. Looking at the engine bay though, you created something really cool and unique. I am almost at the point where painting these components would hide all the custom work, no one can see how much effort you have put in to fabricate everything out of nothing here. It would be a tough decision for me!

Too cool to look at! Fantastic work, I think the build itself must have been challenging, but you made it look perfect and easy for with this one.