cifenet

Hi guys! This WIP continues. I began focusing various sub components this time. I see the end is near, but I still do not have my sleeper painted. The sleeper will be my main focus soon. Time to add details to the bumper. I drilled out the molded driving lights from the bumper. Using an aluminum tube, I will make two light housings. Using a mini tube cutter, I made two small light housing components. Using some beads and UV clear resin, I assembled two yellow driving lights. The lights are in. The left light seems to be misaligned, I will fix these small issues later. I want these lights to stick out ever so slightly so you know they are there. Spent time detailing the air intakes. These will look good once mounted on the truck. The visor came out "satisfactory" finally. The camera is not able to show off the shine, but it is there. The exhausts were painted too. I will have to mount the long pipes on the top later on. I also began the painting process of my sleeper. I repaired the glue mishap too. I started the exercise of detailing these tanks. Also intake pipes... Simulating rubber wraps for the tank straps here, but damaged surface while lifting another masking tape. I will repair the damage later. I bought this tape back in 2013 while visiting Japan and kept this unopened till today. It is made by Hasegawa. My other reflective tape is super shiny one (see air intakes above), but this has super flat finish. It is similar to Bare Metal Foil, but feels thicker and has no wrinkles to deal with. I find them easier to work on flat surfaces. I used these (Transtar 4300 as well) to represent the tank straps and they are fantastic! Somehow the pipes are short on each end. Is my cabin front wider than it should be? Another homework I need to figure out later. While mounting these doors, I had to use CA glue on door hinges. Unfortunately, the glue fume destroyed the chrome finish (yes, chrome finishes are delicate if not protected), so I spent more time fixing it. As I said before, "I measure once, cut twice"... I mounted the fuel tank on one side. Slightly skewed, but I am okay with this. Thanks for watching!

Appreciate your support! Yeah, mine got cloudy at first, but as I was applying paint layers (to achieve wet coat), the windows became clear. And I sprayed inside of the clear part, BTW.

It is advancing nicely and I like the progress so far! I have to mention that the choice of red color does look very classic and retro here. I like it!

I can see why building firetrucks may give you joy! You have done a great job making this look good!

These trailers look straight forward in terms of building, but now I am realizing they do require some work! Good progress so far.

Looks like I am hitting 2k views, I feel obligated to add more contents. Unfortunately, multiple problems occurred this time around and I have been dealing with issues and some frustration. I started to paint several parts including the cab and doors. Lifting masking tape was never a problem before, but this just happened again (I had a similar problem with Transtar 4300). It took a section of decal and clearcoat with it. I usually shoot 3-4 layers of clear on top of decals and this never happened. Too early to panic just yet, but it was definitely frustrating to face a problem like this. As it turns out, the smoke stack hides most of the problem, I can barely see the destroyed decal here. Worst case, I can probably match the paint and spray stripes manually. The positive side was that painting of the stainless trim around the door came out decent, I was happy with it. My black primer is telling me how sloppy my gluing job was... I need to fix this. Another issue was that this fuel tank (I have only built one so far) finish isn't done to my liking. The metal finish is coarse and showing dark grain spots. It certainly is going to take some effort to redo this. I will need to make a decision soon whether to continue as is or redo the finish... The air cleaner canisters came out somewhat better so I decided to continue on these. I game simple black wash on edges and this enhanced the overall look. I did manage to mount two doors and I must admit that it was somewhat difficult. I struggled to mount things based on the instruction steps, I ended up altering the order of assembly. First, the instructions are written so you install in the following order: 1. dashboard 2. front windshield 3. seats/steering wheel 4. doors This seems like a logical order, but I found out during the test fitting session that my doors wouldn't mount easily if the dashboard is attached first. There is small gap that you need to insert the upper door hinge and this gap became very tight when the dashboard was attached. I didn't want to shave the mount so it can fit into the gap as it may weaken the strength of the hinge mechanism. And lastly, it was harder to mount windshields and also gluing with this dashboard in place. As you can see, the dashboard blocks the access inside. The last thing I want is dirty windshields from glue marks, scratches from handling too much. I want to attach the clear parts correctly the first time. One chance! Instead, I installed in the following order and it made the assembly actually easier! 1. windshields (attach from outside) - use clear glue inside. 2. doors - you can open them wide and insert the dashboard/seats next. 3. dashboard / steering wheel - tight, but manageable. 4. seats - easy! I have been experimenting what to do with the side windows. I like this "slightly rolled down" look. Third issue is the fitment problem shown here with windshield parts. The windshield is definitely short, I see gap on the top! Again, no need to panic just yet, I think I have the visor piece that goes on top of the front roof which will hide this gap... This Revell kit doesn't contain license plates, so I quickly made them. I think the decals look better on plates. The rear bumper has been mounted. I think I will scratch build mud guards. Then add the license plate and the rear area is done! My next step would be to fix existing problems (sleeper, windshield gap, ripped decal, etc) and then face more problems! Thanks again for following~

Love the details here. I am thinking another major component to be built is a swinging stop sign? Awesome progress so far!

The frame looks quite sweet right now and as you add a bunch of chrome/aluminum parts around it, things are looking much better!

I didn't even know you were building these. I guess I am still too new to this forums. The A/C unit has the right amount of details, I like it! And the trailers do make the truck look complete when attached, they are nice to look at!

Hey Alex, you did good, really good on this one. Incredible finishes all around as if everything is how it should be. All of the metal finishes are top notch, too! I am working on door surrounds to give polished stainless look, your came out excellent! I really enjoyed watching all of your photos. Nice!

Superb! And the realism is at its best!

You did a nice job cutting this clean. Very clean!

Awesome build! Really nice job on this! Interesting to know that the car has an engine fitting issue, but glad to hear you corrected it. And I agree, the yellow is gorgeous!

Rusty shared a helpful link about "tinting windows" above and I also started to experiment for my application. This is definitely a useful technique for building fighter jets or automotive kits where tinting clear parts is desired. The funny thing is, I have done tinting before, but I just totally forgot how. The difference may be that I used acrylic paints before and now I was trying to figure this out using lacquer based paints. Luckily, I am documenting the procedures here, I won't need to remember this "how-to" again. The challenge was to have tinted windows without windows losing transparency (or without becoming foggy). After a couple of trial and error sessions, I was able to achieve what I wanted and it was rather easy. It really came down to my paint mixture and by adding additional gloss clear on top of green/blue clear, things started to look better. I found my testing materials! This is the mixture I used for my application using Mr. Color lacquer paints. The problem of fogging windows went away as soon as I started adding gloss clear into the mix. The regular blue tint was rather boring, and this is why I have both clear green and clear blue in the mix. I have my thinner ratio rather high and this allows me to apply multiple light coats to achieve the shade I want. My second try was successful! As most of the Revell kits, this truck doesn't come with side windows. I like the look of having the door windows rolled up as shown here, I will have to find a way to make this work. These are the actual front windshield parts and the tinting looks quite good to my eyes. I don't know why, I am still struggling to complete the painting of visor. All kind of blemishes showing up and now the paint is all wrinkled. I will strip the paint and try it again. The interior work continued as well and I wanted to add small details without spending too much effort. For the instrument panel, there are 3 ways (that I can think of) to build for this kit: 1. Paint everything including gauges, dials, buttons, lights, etc. 2. Apply decals which is included. If using decals, I would sand off the face to make the panel surface flat. 3. Use aftermarket parts. I elected the option #3 and purchased an interior detail P/E set from czechtruckmodel.com. It took roughly 10 days to arrive from Czechia to USA. I used most of the P/E parts except one part which is to replace steering wheel spokes. The kit has a four spoke wheel and the P/E part is for a three spoke steering wheel. And the size didn't match either. Hmmm. The wood grain/color is too red for my taste, but the overall look is quite good. I applied UV resin clear to add realism on gauge dials. I have purple interior now! While the paint was getting dried, I completed the work of detailing dashboard. Didn't want to go too crazy, but I added various things just enough to improve the feel. My shiny purple seats are debatable, but my feeling is that they do stand out. I also wanted to add seatbelts and I think they were anchored to the wall. I found some left over materials to build two seatbelts including anchors and buckle clips. I just want enough details to show off when doors are opened, but if you examine the belts, they don't look like they extract and retract! Also the location of the speakers are incorrect, they should be where the upper anchors are at, but placing them at the above location works out nicely. I will be painting the door surroundings to give polished stainless look and this is how I am able to mask the curves. I will get the paint session going soon. Looks like I still have many steps to go, I am hoping to mount the doors next! Thanks for following so far!

Yeah, here in states, they use sodium chloride everywhere for de-icing including highways. Steel components won't survive for sure. I would think putting them in a glove compartment makes more sense to me, just like how we keep wheel lock keys! I hope this build "diary" isn't too boring, I really do not know the general audience yet. I really need to complete this soon. Thanks for your interest in this, Gary!

Talking about repetitive work requiring extreme patience! Small details do speak volumes here!

First, thanks for sharing this. I can’t believe you started this back in 80s. Really nice job on the kit, I know it does require some effort to finish since it has a decent level of detail parts. The color is quite wild and I like it. The blanket looks cool, I see what you did there. Overall, this one is super cool looking truck.

This one is good looking Chevy, Steve! Nice job on custom decals also, they look right at home. The 2 hole rear wheels look sweet and I like what you did with license plates where you lined up all at the bottom. Many small touches made up the truck look very convincing!

Ok, once decals go on, things are looking much better! 1:43 scale has its charm and your build is showing off these small and yet fine details very nicely.

Love the color and progress so far! Never knew nail polishing color can be this good! I built the same kit some years ago and I enjoyed building it. Keep up the good work!

Much appreciated for your kind words and support! And thank you very much for the thread discussing the subject I want- tinting the windows! It has some excellent information! I have been also experimenting the tinting part and the technique I am trying is to thin the paint three four times than usual and then make multiple passes to gradually adding the shade. And lastly, I was also not a huge fan of trucks in general as of March of this year. But since then, I am on third build of trucks. Just like that.

How are you building these so fast and so good!? I know you just introduced a couple of trucks last week which were also fantastic! I really like this one, the overall finish is top notch and I like what you did with the frame. The glossy red finish fits perfect. I always thought semi gloss or flat finish would look better for the frame, but this really looks superb. And all of the upgrade pieces do make the truck look quite special including the exhaust pipe ends spitting outwards! Nice job~

It looks very good, but we want more photos!

Thanks Daniel! It has been very fun build using all kinds of metallic finishes. Lots of chrome on this truck, I really want it to be be shiny at the end! Let's see if I can pull it off! Thanks Haken for detailed info on brake chambers, I actually did not know that they store the bolt within the chamber. Having said that, I really wanted to add that cage bolt piece to enhance the look and having it really makes the brake chamber sophisticated. I suppose you can still have these cage bolts in the truck considering it is getting the brake components serviced during the maintenance check at a dealer. Ha!

Nicely done! Great engine details as well!