Rigzndiesel

JT Very nice looking truck and trailer. I like it...I like it a lot!! I'm curious too, where do you keep all these ultra long combos? Jeff

Jeff_ Great looking and I can see lots of love and care and it is Nice that you want to keep things as they should be. Keep Me posted. KEEP ON TRUCKING!!!

Well, I have slowed on the progress of this build, I am sidelined because of the windshield. My skills are not what they used to be. I decided to repaint the cab. In doing so I destroyed the "G.S. Carter" decals when I stripped the paint off. Funny, I have several of the little window Pete kits and never liked the decals that come with it. When I was searching for a door decal to match, the brwnnblk accented the gold really well. I did like the look of them on this little Mack. Now I'm in search of a set of "G.S. Carter" and "Louisville" decals. In the meantime, I'm debating on whether I should start another build or finish up on one of four stalled builds. Yesterday, I stopped at the local HobbyTown and picked up the Moebius GD trailer...impressive kit!! J

Sean - I wish this was a Pete model to have missing glass. That curve is exactly what I'm thinking about that's gonna be a pain. I'll give the floor wax trick a shot too. I did notice that "ghosting" and almost removed the decal and was considering redoing it. Good tip! Cappy - I will give the clear acetate a shot as I am curious to see how that stuff can work. I'll look into sourkrauts for a couple of steer axles! Thanks Tom - When I smudged the door the primer came through. I then reapplied paint to that area. Let it dry. I did (wet) sand it lightly with a 4000 - 6000 grit paper. I think it's still showing because I used a metal flake paint. When repainting, the metal probably laid differently than the first application. I'll try it again using the floor polish trick. Jeff

I thought the same thing, that it was painted with Alclad. Looks really good. I've built about four of the RoG Petes and could never get a pair of tank halves to line up. At least not without sanding the seams and ruining the chrome. I've painted mine too except once I did BMF a set. I sat in front of the TV one night as I did it while relaxing. I had a straight edge, a bunch of new blades, a drink and a sheet of foil and just took my time. It turned out pretty good but it took a few hours. Lots of do-overs and patience. I like the Pete. Jeff

I really want to finish this model before it finds a place on the shelf. At the moment I have a major problem; I don't have a windshield for this truck. I purchased this kit over 10 yrs ago on Ebay - open box some missing parts and no decals. I have a couple more Mack models but I hate robbing Peter to pay Paul. What to do......what to do... Here's what I got done so far. The rear fenders are removable and the A/C unit is just sitting on the cab and so is the bumper. I might dig out a windshield from another kit... still debating on doing that. I like to keep my collectable kits 100% complete and sealed in case I have to liquidate. I do have other models that are considered "buildable kits" in which case you just build it but I don't have another Ertl Mack. Unless I unseal one. Oh well...I'll figure it out. Jeff

Hello again, Here are a couple of pics with the new decals applied. I'm limited with decals so here is what I managed to come up with. At some point during this build I broke the center post and the drivers side window pillar. Once the clear coat dries I will fabricate new ones. I fumbled the cab during handling instead of letting it sit to dry and put a smudge on the passenger side bottom of door, Rookie mistake to try and mock up the cab when the paint/clear coat is still wet. Oh well, this one will sit high up on the top shelf...lol I also want to "Thank" those that left comments. I appreciate them! Jeff

I think the alignment problem may have been my mistake by not ensuring the frame halves were true. Again, I'm just getting back into this and I'll probably put the driveshaft in the way it stands and hook it up to a trailer to hide it. Not entering a contest with this one. Something to keep in mind when I build the DM800 with a few more bills invested in it. Anyway, I got the new steering axle and wheels on. Basically, back to where I was 24hrs ago. Cab and hood clear coated, so no touching for a couple of days... Off to the movies... Jeff

Well, I got to work on this model again today with little interruption. However, I had a little setback from breaking one of the pins on the steering axle. I tried to drill with my pin vise to insert a metal pin through it but I drilled it crooked. I then set out to find a donor kit to replace the axle and front tires. I got a front axle from the Ertl IH Paystar 5000 kit. It worked great because the front inner hubs are matched with the DMs front outer six spoke rims. I took the new six spokes from the Ertl DM800 kit. This will allow me to put larger tires on the front axle from the Paystar kit. I figured that would be OK since I would like to get those big off road tires and rims from AITruckModels when I build the DM800. The Paystar took one for the team as I bought a bunch of them when they were cheep. One thing I noticed as I was putting the engine in the frame and the rear suspension boogie together was the alignment of the driveshaft. Mine doesn't line up straight. Not sure if this is a flaw in the model or if I just stink at putting models together. Probably the latter. I'll figure something out but I'm definitely not going to pull the model apart to do that. Attached are a couple more in progress shots. Thanks for looking... Jeff

A Gravel Dump trailer would look good for this Mack truck. I jumped online and looked for one, not too many available. I think Ebay is the only place to find one and I have been forbidden from that site since it has become so easy to spend needlessly there. Fun to look though! Jeff

I like the idea of big steer tires. I'll use what I have available at home; no aftermarket stuff until the model building takes off again. I think I'll look for them out of the Pete Turnpiker or IH 5000 kits. Thanks Jeff

Well, I messed up on the first paint scheme. I wet sanded the green took too much paint off a couple of seams. I also decided it was too dark of a color and I really just want to keep this a simple build as I am just getting back into it. No kit bashing, scratch building, or weathering on this one. I'm not set up with a modeling area other than the kitchen counter and the cold basement to paint. Not trying to set a building record on this but if it sits too long on the counter the wife will get on me and then it will join the others on the shelf that got half built. Took advantage of the warmer temps here in Colorado and repainted the cab. Came out OK. I have to find some decals that go with gold now. Maybe some sort of fictitious excavating, farm or rental equipment company. Thanks for comments!

I built this kit as a kid 30 years ago and remembered how cool the movable steering and suspension worked. At 16 it was the neatest truck model on my shelf. I had never seen the movie Convoy, so I really didn't know the kit didn't replicate the movie truck. I built the model right out of the box with no paint. This time around I'll paint it British Green with a gold top. I got a little modeling/painting in today as my kids are all grown up and the holidays are pretty quiet these days.

Hello, I am new to the forum. My name is Jeff. I have been watching for a while and decided to build a truck again after a few years absence. I picked a kit that has parts scattered about and off their sprues, a "builders kit". It is the inaccurate ERTL RUBBER DUCK kit. Since it will never be the RS700L, I decided to build it as a plain U600 bobtail or maybe a lowboy puller. Here's a few pics of where I'm at with this build. I got the frame/engine built and painted then dullcote. The cab is primered in flat white, sometimes I use flat black as a primer. I have a few parts de-chromed waiting to be painted . I think I will paint the cab green. well, that's it for now... J