studioman3

6 done 350 or so to go LOL They all look good Tim, are the tanks on the 386 stock or did you paint them that shiny chrome color? I like how you eliminated the steps issue on the WF,(at least I had an issue), and the single bumper makes it look like a workhorse. The Western Star.......Sharp! Looks like you could climb in and drive away. Nice stripes on the 359, and the chrome ends on the tanks is the bomb! This one will be sweet when its finished. Glad you found an in to your website, (even if you have to trudge around in the snow to the back door) Tim

Kurt, I don't know how I missed that thread on your Mack rebuild, it is outstanding to say the least. I would be interested to know where you find a CNC machine and the kit for making the photo-etched parts. It would be great to be able to produce your own parts on a machine, as apposed to hand crafting each one, it always seems like the parts that are hardest to fabricate are the ones that you need 30 of, and of course they all have to be identical pieces. Tim

Ok, here's an update on the straps and eyelets, I took the same aluminum tubing i used for the tarp supports, and sliced off thin pieces, maybe 1/32", then flattened them with some plyers and drilled the holes a little bigger. After gluing these onto the tarp, I drilled through the tarp, (and the wood sides for support ) to add the S hooks from the bungee chords, then pulled them down to the rub rails. 4 down, 18 to go

It looks very nice! Tim

Absolutley supurb! Worthy of the beautiful display case in which it resides. Have we seen pics of the tractor? It looks awsome also. Nice work, and thank you for sharing. Tim

Thats a great article Jim, thanks, I think I'll try their method and make another tarp this week, I started making bungee chords today using small strips of black balloons and inserting pins at either end, then bending them into S hooks and snipping off the excess. This is going to be very time consuming, but they actualy work. Tim

Thanks Ray, James, I don't know yet, any ideas? Also, how many and what kind of straps are used to hold these tarps on? Bungee? Ratchet? ????

Chuck, It looks great, love the diamond plate on the rear and the plated tanks, nice job on the foil too, I've yet to try any of that. The color is sharp. Tim

Mark, thanks for the idea, I had some wrapping tissue out for the holidays, and it worked fine,( with a little bit of trial and error). I just need to add some straps and fix a few tares. Here is a pic, (its still drying). Arron, thanks for the tip on the hole punch and clear plastic, I will give that a try, and I hadn't seen those articles thanks for putting up the link, and thanks Ray for posting them, I really wanted to do the spread axle, but didn't have a clue where to start. Now I know. Tim sorry, its a little blury

The bags look great, as do the tail lights, nice work. Tim

Thanks guys, Simon, I have some gem stones that I normally use, but the way these are molded, I would have to drill them out so they don't stick way out. I might go ahead and do that though,as it would look much better. Ryan, I thought about Kleenex in a bath of water/Elmers/black paint, but unfortunately, they are too short and I'm not sure I could make the seam look right. Guess I'll make a trip to Joann Fabrics to see if I can find something that will work better. Tim

Thanks guys, I don't have any dull coat, but maybe another coat of the weathering will tone it down some more. Here's an update already, I have finished the sides and made all of the tarp support poles, (I'll need to straiten them out a little to make them more uniform), but I'm not sure my tarp material is plyable enough to give me the right look, this is a piece of weed block cut down and ironed. I took a shot of it (with the WF), with the tarp just laying on top to get the feel of things. What is a good medium for making tarps? Does anyone have a success story? Tim

They look good Dave. Tim

I started the AMT Flatbed trailer (new release), and thought I would share my progress with you. It is a very simple model to build, I had it completed and ready for paint in about 4 hrs. Part of this is due to the lack of optional parts such as, any chrome parts, or lights. The tail lights are formed in and must be painted . Other than that, it is real nice, the parts are all very clean and required very little sanding, and there are some very good detail molded in such as the wood bed, and the lines and hook ups for the air tanks. I used a fine line black marker to go down all the cracks on the bed (between boards), and then followed that up with two differant shades of stain markers follow by a coat of acrylic weathering. (two parts water, one part mud, one half part grime black. I am happy with the looks of the deck, but it is still a little shiny . I am going to turn this into a covered wagon to pull behind my WF, and will keep you posted on the progress. Heres what I have so far. Tim

Looks good Chuck! Great job on the weathering. Tim

Kurt, Looks great, I really like the weathering on the wood. Tim

Thanks to all for the comments, as far as the pin stripes, I used tape I got from Napa autoparts, I should have etched the paint before applying the pin stripes, which, were applied with a jar of black modelers paint that was a little thick and cured before I could apply all of it. Applying a thin coat of the White first as Tim suggests would have helped with the bleeding, and I will use that method in the future, along with running a knife along the edge of the tape to seperate it from the stripe. All good ideas, thanks I will use them on my second WF and see if it works out better for me. Tim

Chris, Looks great, I agree, the bigger parts look more realistic. Keep up the nice work! Tim

UPDATE! Well here it is, I think I'm gonna call her finished (for now). I used the photo-etched wipers and some staples for handles, but had a heck of a time putting the steps together, what a PITA! I shot the Red over the white, and let it setup a few days, then taped off for the black pinstripes, after a couple hours worth of taping I decided to just hand paint the stripes instead of spraying, when I pulled the tape off, 60% of the stripe came off with it . So I have alot to learn about painting, but I was able to remove most of the black and decided to leave her as is. I am pretty happy with the rest, including the 1/25 scale nodel box on the passenger seat. Hope you like it. Tim

Len, she's lookin' real good so far, keep us posted. Tim

Dave, Welcome aboard! Nice lookin Pete' you got there. Tim

Ben, Looks good so far, keep us updated. Tim

[mackinac359 Posted Yesterday, 08:15 PM Tim You are not alone in your dislike of the 3 piece cab. AMT did that so they could offer the non sleeper and the sleeper versions without having to make entire cab toolings. } Tim, It would have been nice if they offered the option of making it either way in this kit, I am not skilled enough to scratch build a rear piece to make it a craker box. Brizio Posted Today, 11:18 AM For what I can understand, looks nice! Thanks Brizio Chuck, I hadn't gotton to the grab handles yet , I carved the wipers off, and plan to use some photo-etched ones I got from Sourkrauts. I am still waiting for the white to cure on the cab so I can add the red, I plan on making mine the box art scheme on the side of the box, (red, white, and black). Your kit looks nice, lets us know how you finish her up. Steelgears, It would look good pulling my Texaco tanker, (since I painted mine white ), but I also bought two of the new release flatbeds, and want to make them into alluminum covered wagons. Don't fret too much over the glitches, they are pretty easy to fix, the sleaper tub is about 1/8" maybe too wide, but then again, maybe I didn't piece it together perfectly , but a couple minutes on the belt sander, and she'll fit in there real nice like. ultraliner13 Posted Today, 01:16 PM Well I think you have done very well. Thanks John Tim

I don't know if the word AMBITIOUS is big enough to describe what you have there Tim, WOW, I'm tired now and all I did was watch the video! I know you spit them out faster than anyone, but how do you find the time? Very impressive! Do you have more models to build than you do built ones? Just curious, cause thats a big stack of to do list. Tim

Looks good Scott, I've always wanted to do a Reo. Tim