cifenet

Thanks Alex! Yeah, the engineering of the kit is fantastic given the age, but I was somewhat puzzled that they missed the obvious shortcoming. I was able to spent a couple of hours to assemble fuel tanks. I think fuel tanks (one of each side) play an important role, I really think they help the look of big trucks. For this truck, I want mine to be shiny and clean. Unfortunately, the kit already has details embedded into fuel tanks (foot steps, mounting brackets), I had an idea of build one from brass pipe from scratch. I quickly gave up that idea thinking I will do that next time (it was late night and I must gotten lazy). I sanded out the rough seams from halves jointing together and ensure that no gap is revealed. To improve the look of the tanks, I added small details. I initially thought these were called mud guards or wheel protectors, but they are referred as quarter panel guards? I didn't like the look of the center beam going across the frame, I cut them off and built them to be independent on each side. I started my second paint session. My main focus was to prime the cab, hood, and sleeper here. Please ignore that orange part, but this is after 30 min of painting. I shaved and drliled out existing bolts from the front bumper and also took out the integrated "fog lights". Fuel tanks were given 2 coats of Mr. Hobby's Ueno black. All of the driveshafts will be replace with aluminum tubes. I don't know what color I want the truck to be, but I went on and gave beige interior anyway. Mistake?... I test fit the tanks here and found no issues. I will be permanently attaching them in next step. By the way, does anyone know why the position of fuel tanks are staggered (non symmetrical)? Shouldn't they be identically located in opposite side to help the balance/weight distribution of the truck?.. Hmmm. ? After a quick application of primer, I noticed some bad sink mark on the back of the sleeper. I know I am going to add details in this area later on (maybe a tire, or tool shelf, etc), I decided not to deal with it right now. ? Thanks for watching!

Hi guys, This would be my second attempt at building a semi tractor kit and I am literally craving to build more of these massive vehicles! Lots of wheels, H frame, big exhaust pipes, and shining chrome parts everywhere. Having said that, my knowledge is probably basic, but I hope to learn as I build these. I have to admit, I didn't even know what "COE" meant till a couple of month ago as I was building Chevy Titan 90. ? So please forgive me if I make obvious mistakes in this WIP, I am hoping you guys will go easy on me. When I build automotive kits, I usually start with wheels. While chrome parts from the kit looked reasonable, I wanted darker and deeper metal tone for more realistic feel. So I decided to remove all of the chrome here. I wrote quick procedures on what I do to remove/paint chrome parts in "Under Glass" post below, so I won't repeat the procedures in this WIP: 1/25 AMT Chevy Titan 90 I removed the chrome plating and started making engine assembly. I do not think I am ready to do "full detailing" just yet on this kit because I don't know much about the subject , so I just added simple fuel rails and wiring based on some reference photos. I can see that removing the chrome plating makes the wheel already visually sharper here. I did some research on this kit prior and there are some issues mainly how the front wheels are positioned. The front wheels are positioned slightly back from the factory. This is an easy fix, I simply moved the cross wheel frame ~1/8 inch or so forward. After find adjustments and the wheel geometry looked right to my eyes. I simply used super glue and affixed mounting pin to help it stabilize the setup. The another conundrum is regarding how wide the front wheels are from the factory. They are also 1/8 wider. I took a big breathe and chopped each side. After grinding a chunk of plastic, I attached the pieces back and reinforced with thin plastic strip. I also had to shorten the tie rod, but gave a slight "toe" in setup. Front sub-frame fastened and I assembled the entire frame. I confirmed that H frame rails are straight and square. I had to attach the brass beam on one of the rails to keep the frame straight as it had annoying/slight bend which I couldn't quite address. I did a mock build and things are starting to take shape. Whenever I see tube/bar/shaft/pipe parts, I tried to replicate with actual aluminum tubing. These parts are ready for painting. For tires, I gave a light acrylic flat coat to tone down the shine. I gave semi-gloss coat for the frame, E7 Silver Plating for metal parts including wheels, and metallic blue (I mixed some random ratio between metallic blue + blue + silver) for the engine part. This was after 45 min of nonstop painting.... Engine mounted and now there is no turning back. I mounted the wheels/tires and confirmed that all tires are touching the ground correctly. The frame is parallel to the ground, the cab position looks straight also. I will start working on the fuel tanks next... Thanks for watching!

Nice recovery! Fantastic job so far with great details!

At first, I thought the pics were generated 3D CAD. But then I realized I was looking at the actual model! I like how you built this, very clean and smooth. Very convincing too. Nice job! And the last pic nailed it!

Wow, this is total customization here! Unfortunately, I don't have knowledge to help you anything in this, but I am just so impress that you are building this with authority!

I am amazed how complicate this build is and that you are doing an awesome job making it! I love the details too!

Wow, you executed this perfectly. 1 to 1! Except the model looks much better! Thanks for sharing this with us.

Wow, I am very flattered! Appreciated very much. I hope I can contribute more here and share the joy of this hobby. But as far as these trucks go, I am still learning many things and when opportunity arises, I would like ask you guys for advise. Hi Warren! For Titan 90, I used three different metallic paints: Alclad Chrome Alclad Polished Aluminum E7 Silver Plating (E7 is the brand) Between Alclad and E7, I found E7 paint to be more durable (when handled) and I used these paints to give different metal tone throughout. This way, the build isn't too boring. The applying technique is something that most of us know, but thought I can share mine: I basically removed all of the chrome parts by using "SuperClean De-greaser" (in US). SuperClean won't hurt our plastic, so I usually leave them for awhile. Once chrome is removed, it is just regular "modeling activity" from here. I glue, sand, and putty gaps and repeat till things look decent. I like using Mr. Color GX2 Ueno Black as my base color prior to applying my own chrome. I think it shines easy and gives deeper base tone. I applied the black and sometimes it reveals imperfection so I would repeat "sanding" (shown in red arrow) and painting black again. Once the surface looks clean/shining enough, I apply chrome using low psi usually around 10. If I want "mirror" like shine, then I would clear coat prior to chroming it, but sometimes it makes things a bit toy-ish. Titan 90 wheels were painted with Alclad Polished Aluminum and they were given Tamiya acrylic clear coat (to protects the chrome paint from rubbing off). Lastly, the top of the exhaust pipe and intake pipe were made using aluminum tubes and other exhaust components were painted with E7 Silver Plating (without clear). Thanks!

Great build! I like the blue paint livery, I can see it can give you trouble if you don't line up the curve lines correctly, but you did a good job! Thanks for showing us a beautiful model!

Thank you guys for supportive comments! I have been looking at the beautiful models you guys built here for some time and I must admit building these is never easy. And some of these kits produced with engineering from 40 plus years ago certainly did not help building them “easy”…

Good job making this truck so clean and pretty! The color shifts very nicely and it is something that would show up in a national truck show possibly making one of top three awards. Even the interior looks like a fancy lounge. ?

This is very convincing and I like how gradually the tone of red changes from bottom to top. Thanks for sharing this, it is beautiful.

Congrats, this truck is definitely massive! I can see tremendous work has went into building this and it shows!

Hi guys, I found this forum not too long ago and decided to share my first semi tractor build here. I have never built big rigs before and ever since building this one, I have been bitten by the charm of building them. Now I am working on International Eagle 4300 and it is also great experience going through wonderful build steps. Being this my first AMT semi tractor kit, I struggled throughout the build, mostly the problems were related part positioning and based on the positioning parts, it created a dependency of other parts which would be attached later on. For example, I think all of the exhaust/intake (including piping) components should not be attached till the later stage where everything should be mount at once. This way, you can easily line up and position everything as correctly as possible. I realized attaching the front bumper is the same way, you really do not know the height of the bumper till you attach the cab. And I lowered my cab 1/8 inch, so attaching the front bumper was my last step of the build. Even I test-fit and performed the mock build so many times, I got burn by certain parts being attached in an early step of the build where I had to re-adjust later on. This type of activity made everything difficult... ? It is not in the pics, but I attached windshields to only find out that they interfere inserting interior floor tub all the way into the cab. The windshield parts being clear, I didn't want to re-attach/adjust possibly damaging the surface with glue stains. I had to manually reduce the height of the interior floor tub part by cutting off side walls (crazy!). I have to admit I didn't have many reference materials and I actually do not know much about semi tractors. Some of the things were done in a way based on my logic when no information was available. I built this box stock except adding custom trim parts (hand rails, mirror mounts, wheel guards, some wiring there and there, ext). I stripped all factory chrome parts and used Alclad and E7 Chrome paints. At any rate, I found this to be a very rewarding experience! ? Thank you all for watching, Cifenet

Complex modifications here! But you did a fantastic job to bring out the perfect result. Awesome!

Awesome job! The overall build has solid and calm feel to it. I like looking at it and I can already envision that the final build will turn out to be excellent for sure!

I can see the quality work shaping things up and the wrecker is coming out fabulous!

I hated riding the yellow school bus when I was a kid and the harsh ride quality didn’t help the experience. But for some reason, I am digging it and enjoying this WIP. Looks very authentic and black stripes do look cool! Good job so far!

The red cab and red frame do look fantastic. It catches the eye for sure. It also makes the truck look very sporty without chrome trims.

Cool Benz! Love the quality finish, I like the look of this and red color stands out. Great job!

Brilliant! The paint scheme is complex on this one and you did a fantastic job making it look good. The opening door and the interior work is top notch. Thanks for sharing!

Nice job, I like the clean build! The color contrast works also, very eye-catching. I would like to build one just like this someday and I would hope to make mine as clean as this one.