Semi Trailer Mechanic

Yeah something along the lines of that truck however it has the hydraulic hose plumbed into the diverter valve instead of the female quick connect. Here's a few trucks put stripes on in the past... W900 (wip pic) http://www.flickr.co...57605568421547/ Reo (wip pic) http://www.flickr.co...57623319274504/ GMC General http://www.flickr.co...57603834194789/

Cool Project you've started here! If you're still open to opinions here's mine. Take the truck and strip the whole thing down to bare plastic and start w/ a blank canvas. Start by painting your chassis Tamiya semi gloss black. Next base coat your cab Tamiya gloss red. Using 1/4" wide masking tape wrap the hood/cab where you want the stripe to be. Start at the front of the hood instead of having that hook. ( Starting the stripe at the end just looks cleaner) Top coat the cab using Tamiya gloss black. Remove your tape when dry. Detail your interior either black or tan. Get rid of the lift axle all together. Clean up your fuel tanks and paint them w/ Model Master Aluminum Plate Metallizer. Wait over night and polish using tissue paper then top coat w/ flat clear. Metallizer paint will rub off unless sealed. Put your battery box behind the fuel tank on the drivers side. Use some budd rims for the drive axles painted gloss white. If you have the half length diamond plate fenders like those from the W900 kit use those and hang some half length mud flaps off the front and use regular flaps behind the rear drives.. Add a hydraulic oil tank behind the cab and a fitting for a hydraulic hose to screw on to. This is just my opinion... If I rebuild a model here's how I strip it. I don't bother breaking it down first. Unless you want the chrome pieces left. Leaving the tires on cleans them as well. This one I did a few years ago. I stand corrected "re did" http://www.flickr.com/photos/9495602@N02/2811683552/ Which ever direction you take this good luck!

Jim PM SENT!

Tony I looked thru that book and it's what it is ... a service manual. It shows silhouette outline drawings of the block,head rocker covers and so on for bolt torque sequence. It does give the o.d. diameter of the piston however it does not give the width of the piston liner flange. The liners sit in the block so the bores in the block are considerably larger than the pistons' o.d. That and it doesn't give distance between the bores in the block. The photos it has are basic and are of dis assembly. It does give distance from the end of the block to where the cylinder head alignment dowel should be on the front and rear of the block. Those are worthless when dealing in 25th scale. To be straight forward and honest w/ ya I would be wasting my time taking pictures of the illustrations uploading them and then posting them. They aren't going to give you exactly what you want. I know this because I use to look for the same kind of reference for past projects. I'd offer to sell it to ya but you wouldn't want this! It's wore out from when I started my career wrenching on trucks and then being stored in my tool box at work for over 18 years after I quit doing truck work and started fixing the trailers. Not to mention the greasy finger prints and all the reference notes I wrote on some of the pages that pertained to the repair(s) I was doing at the time. That book did give a few ideas for doing basic detailing which I used on a few past projects but I'm sure there are photos on the net that could be just as helpful. Your best bet will be a long shot but try going to a rebuilder / rebuilder jobber supply shop and ask them if they have a stripped down B model Cat (core) in stock that you could take the measurements you need and the photos that would benefit you. Like I said the photos are black and white grainy and basic. I've got service manuals for the 92 series Detroit as well from wrenching that I tried using for model building detail and I ran in to the same problem. They helped me at work but were nearly worthless to detailing a model. I tried for ya!!! Good Luck!!!

Never Mind the engine/trans here. Is this the manual you have? If it's not I'll look up the info for ya.

Like these guys mentioned the kit's basically a T600 body on an older w900 chassis equipped w/ the same vintage power / drive train. I built a T600 using AMTs' K100 suspension and the 3406 from Revells' 359. For engine detailing I've got an old B model 3406 service manual I have from when I started my career as a truck tech. For the trans I used a Fuller manual likewise. Here's mine! http://www.flickr.com/photos/9495602@N02/sets/72157603827432233/

Any home improvement center. Lowe's Home Depot. Sears Hardware.

Hey Fellas... Here's my latest project. I'm using the AMT Ford Louiseville as a platform. The truck/chassis for the most part is being built box stock however making the lights work is being considered. The box inside and out is being detailed similar to the 1:1 service truck I drive/work out of. In the parts box I had an unbuilt box from a past Louiseville project that didn't get used. From that the side w/out the door was used omitting the side door. The floor boards are basswood strips that were basecoat stained Using Minwax Ipswich Pine 221 and then detailed using Minwax Dark Walnut 2716 to bring out the woods' grain. The plywood liners are 1/32 basswood that comes in a sheet I picked up at HobbytownUSA that too was stained using the Dark Walnut to give it an aged dirty look. The 1:1 truck is equipped w/ a tire rack that holds 6 LP 22.5's premounted on hub pilot rims. So far that rack has been scratchbuilt and some basswood strips were stained the same way the flooring was which serves as a workbench. The trans was painted using a Humbrol matt grey and the engine was primered but now it's been painted w/ Tamiya Brilliant Blue. Yes I too thought this was a CAT but have learned that this is a Ford diesel. In this set are WIP pics and the 1:1 truck I drive/work out of. Thanks for looking! http://www.flickr.com/photos/9495602@N02/sets/72157629099832778/with/5304481359/

That was the first thing I looked to see was how much detail was put into this. Don't get me wrong I'm in no way discrediting whats been done just wanted to point that out in the event that could be incorperated. But like I mentioned no big deal those details can be taken care of w/ donor parts and scratchbuilding.

Ben If I still worked for Swift I could get you pics but I don't. Now I'm at JB Hunt most of the trailers I see have Meritor air rides that are completely different than the Hendrickson that this upcoming kit has in it.

This is the air ride the kits' suspension is based off of. I took these pics when I replaced an air ride bogie at work for reference to scratch build one. THANK YOU MOEBIUS FOR SPARING ME THE HEADACHE OF HAVING TO DO SO!!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/9495602@N02/sets/72157613787358657/

I'm impressed w/ the suspension. Only one detail you left out! At the rear of the suspension there are the two pedelstools. This is an option called a Sure Lock Dock System added to trailers that automatically dump the air ride when the parking brakes are set. On there is a smaller air chamber I believe it's a type 15 air chamber 15 sq. in. plunium inside the chamber. That is connected to a piece of flat stock welded to the bar those pedelstools are attched to via a clevis and a seperate spring hooks into that flat stock link age to the mount that chamber is bolted to. And that mount bolts to the slider frame. Basically the same as a brake chamber does to a slack adjuster. That chamber has a single air line that's plumbed into the leveling valve. When there is supply air present in the leveling valve it actuates that chamber kicking those pedelstools towards the rear of the trailer when the air ride is inflated. When a driver sets the brakes on his/her trailer on some trailers the air ride will deflate when the brakes are set. When this happens that chamber looses air pressure and a spring inside that chamber no longer held back by air pressure will engage those pedestools and they rest on the ends of the air ride trailing arms. This allows the trailer to remain at ride height otherwise when the trailer's in a door (dock) the floor of the trailer won't be level w/ the dock. If you can't correct this no big deal. Some Evergreen Scale angle, flat stock, c-channel, and a few bits and pieces from the parts box can take care of it.

When I worked at Swift there was a pole take on what would be the most favored truck to get company driver to become lease opps if Swift were to offer their favorite truck. The answer was the W900. That lasted about a year before a problem came up. Obease drivers were having trouble getting in and out of the 900's and the T2000's were very driver friendly. So the W900's were still an option but most of the guys were opting for the T2000, They claimed there were getting better miles per gallon and much easier to get in and out of. Ya see .... executives that run major trucking companies see trucks and trailers w/ much different eyes than those who like trucks for a hobby.

When I worked at MS Carriers Mike Starns CEO said white paint doesn't look bad when it fades. That was his reasoning for his company consisting of white trucks. I'd say that's the industry standard for using white for the most part..

I've used round stock styrene for fuel lines and smaller air lines. Use a little heat to bend it and it'll hold shape. In the past I experimented w/ fishing line but paint flakes off. Out at work the red tags I used to put trailers out of service have fine a fine metal wire through the tag you use to tie the tag to the trailer. I've used this wire before. You just have to get creative.

Nothing wrong w/ building a daycab!!! Sometimes those look better than a sleeper truck.

Go to an office supply store and find the transparentcy paper used in overhead projectors you use eraseable markers on or the transparent covers that you use the plastic binder clip (report covers)

I've seen some 1:1 hot rod trucks w/ 255.75.R22.5's on them. That's the tires used on some lowboy trailers and a very common tire size used on the steerable lifts used on dump trucks and the strong arm axles on some mixers. Testors had a few 1:28 scale die-cast models out that would work. I've also seen a few 1:32 scale trucks at toy stores that had wheels that would work as well. I'm sure there's a few resin wheels availiable in the after market as well. I don't know of any but I sure a few other guys on the forum can point ya in the right direction.

I like to paint the area/component that'll be rust weathered w/ rust color paint. I'll let that dry then go over it w/ a dull clear coat. While that is still wet I'll take a die-grinder w/ a sand paper drum attatchemnt and some red-brown chalk and grind it so the chalk is being thrown onto the wet clear coat. After a day or so I'll go back over it w/ a clean brush removing excess chalk. One thing I've noticed that strikes me funny... I've seen people paint the turbos' exhaust turbine housing rust but the rest of the engine looks like it just came of the assembly line it's so clean. The reason these housings rust because they're subjected to high temperatures from thousands of hours of operation in all climates under all kinds of work loads. (From the tractor idling,bobtailing, and pulling a load on level ground to up a mountain). So by the time the housing has burnt off the paint and the bare metal starts to corrode the rest of the engine has weathered too.

If you haven't already glued the wood to your bed consider this. Min-Wax makes stain touch-up pens and stain those before you mount them. Several Years ago I built a step side and did just that to some balsa strips. it really looked good!

Well done!

Well Done!

There's already a kit of this or aprox year KW. It's 1:48 Benkins Moving. Saw one at a hobby shop a few years back.

Here's one of mine...

Cool