Semi Trailer Mechanic

LOL

It's a Twin turbo charged Cummins. A few years ago a member on another model truck forum mentioned there what the exact model engine it was. He drove a truck that was equipped w/ that engine and said it was disapointing. I too am working on the Bill Signs kit myself (for the last 5 months) and because of the inaccuracies of that kit compared to the 1:1 I'm just building it to my likes. The chassis has still to be completed (yes it's been 5 months give or take a few days and the chassis isn't done!) But I was thinking semi gloss black chassis w/ a bright yellow cab. I think the yellow will look good w/ all the chrome accoessories. (I'm thinking about stripping the chrome except for the stacks and using aluminum plate metallizer). Scott

I like what you've done so far!!! What are you refering to as "aluminum body stiffeners" ? Are you talking about those full length bumpers you see mounted mostly at the top and the bottom? If so those are to protect the trailer from collisions. Such as another trailer being backed in a hole next to it. If the driver hits it it'll just scrape those bumpers opposed to potentially damaging the panels,posts and upper or lower rails. Van trailers are designed to maintain structure integrity as a whole box and they are supposed to flex. The sides,roof,and floor all work as one and allow the box to flex and to carry the weight of the load. That's why you don't see piers under them like flatbeds!

That's the a/c freon compressor mount/adjustment. Loosen those four bolts and the compressor wil slide up tightening the belt and down loosening it.

I scratchbuild all my door hinges. Here are some on my Trailmobible pup. These are working hinges. http://www.flickr.com/photos/9495602@N02/3893926901/

Here is what I do. In WORD (micro soft office) open up a blank page.. Create an outline of all font sizes and all font texts don't forget about WINGDINGS those symbols can be incorperated into logos and print them all on blank paper. Below is an example of an outline I've done. When you are done go to an office supply jobber like Kinko's (I know FEDEX bought them just can't think of the name I think it's FEDEX OFFICE now) and have those laminated. When you are done these will be good reference pages for making your own decals for Trucks, USDOT,unit numbers,LOGOS, Company names, for mud flaps,storage compartment doors back of cab, Trailers unit numbers for the Radius', Logos for the nose side panels,rear doors and so on or any other type of modeling you do. The cool thing about doing this is all fonts and sizes are on your laminated reference sheets. So if you make a truck in 1:32 scale or one in 1:16 scale just hold the part you want a logo,co. name, or unit number on next to that sheet and compare the font size that looks proportioned to that part. If you're not sure look at a picture of a truck say on the net and see how big the USDOT Numbers are on it and go down your reference sheet and find the right font size you think looks to scale you're building. Then when you create your decals in WORD you know what size and font w/ zero guesswork you'll need and make the adjustments as needed to the WORD page. Laminating these pages will preserve them for long life. It'll take ya an hour or so to list everything but IT WILL BE DONE!!! Here's a brief example below FONT SIZE.. 8 ABC 123 10 ABC 123 12 ABC 123 14 ABC 123 18 ABC 123 24 ABC 123 36 ABC 123 48 ABC 123 FONTS .... (JUST SPELL OUT THE NAME OF THE FONT IN THAT FONT) ARIAL COMIC SANS MS COURIER NEW GEORGIA LUCIDA SANS UNICODE TAHOMA TIMES NEWS ROMAN TREBUCHET MS VERDANA

Like everyone else said all of these kits are availiable. I personally like the Diamond Reo. That just has a good look to it. The only real problem w/ that is the wheel base is more proportioned to it being a day cab. Adding the sleeper makes it look out of place unless you lengthened the wheelbase. As mentioned Round 2 has made these kits extreamely affordable. When I got back into truck modeling 10-12 years ago the old kits were going at fair prices on ebay. A few years later went sky high. For example The Freightliner Dual Drive kit now under 35.00 I saw a few top out on ebay at over 200.00. The Payhauler 350's were at 300.00 just to give a few examples. It all boils down to what style truck appeals to you the best. Someone mentioned Revell's 359 and w900 snap tite kits are decent to build if you're looking for a basic kit to throw togather. Scott

COOL!!! I remember seeing mostly these tandem dumps and lowboys the last time I was in Florida. Very little van freight. Take your time and do it right. These dump trailer kits are my favorite all time model trailer kit. Built out of the box very plain but w/ some time and effort put inot them They look really cool!

Doing burnouts like that he'll replacing the diffs in both axles. I bet the cross pinions were glowing red and every once of gear oil turned into gas. I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of the hub wheelseals blew at the end of that day. LOL

Jim Didn't the two trailers and dolly show as well? Or did ya not check em' all out? As far as how did I get the pics to scroll like that? It's like Calgon detergent.....Ancient Chinese Secret HA HAAAAA

Hey fellas. I'll calling it quits on this one and it's ready to roll!!! This project was started in 2008. There are some small repairs that need to be done to this having moved and being in storage but right now I have no desire to fix them! The name C&S Freightlines is fictious. My former girlfriend of 14 years had always asked me to incorperate our names into a project since I got back into truck modeling 11+ years ago. So the C is the first letter of her name and the S is the first in my name. Well we broke up less than a year ago so I guess a project has taken too long when it outlasts your relationship. LMAO!!! So here it is. The latest picture is a little blurry I no longer have a digital camera. That pic was taken and downloaded off my cell. I'm still on the fence deciding to keep this or do the repairs mount everything on a stained base and sell it? Thanks for looking!!! And it might take a second or two for all the pictures to completely scroll and rotate thru so grab ya a fresh cup of coffee,cold soda/pop or a frosty bottle of beer and relax for a few. LOL http://www.flickr.com/photos/9495602@N02/sets/72157628408123233/

If I'm not mistaken... it's on their website! I haven't seen it but the word is they took the container chassis and altered it to be a log trailer.

I'd rather see another semi tractor or trailer. That's me... Just Sayin' ... The pride/ detail they put into that Lonestar and if they got the license from Paccar I can only imagine how well a 389 Peterbilt would be!!! Or my fav the 359EXHD!

Use acrylic flat black and paint the entire grill. Let it dry. The go over it w/ a damp cloth that won't shead any lint or paper (paper towel) Gradually wipe across the raised surface until the chrome has been cleared of all paint. Then take a soft towel again nothing that will shed lint and lightly polish. Don't use any polish just the clean dry towel. Take your time get it done right the first time. If you have a "junk" grill practice on that until you have the hang of it then do the go ahead and detail the Reos' grill. Good Luck!!!

Nice Job!!!

Do I see a Hendrickson air ride suspension?

Interesting. Modifing the suspension to a 10' spread and this trailer would look right at home behind AMT's K100 Areodyne!!!

Cool!

NICE!!!

The conspicuity tape offered by Line-O-Tape as mentioned is your best bet. I've used it in the past. OR you can use the real stuff. Use a straight edge and cut sections out to the scale you're working w/. 3M is thick. too thick for a model. Grote has some really thin conspicuity tape that would work well on a model however it's grey and red not white. Something else I've used for trailer reflectors is this. Truklite has round paper thin reflectors. Peel the backing off and stick it on. I used a hole punch and it made perfect scale size reflectors for model trailers. Use the discarded part that is punched.

Absolutly impressive!

To adjust the size of an inserted pic,clip art,ect.. Click and drag an edge. Dragging away from the pic will enlargen and dragging towards the pic will reduce. To access fonts and adjust font size hold these keys all at once. Ctrl Shift P

I used Microsoft Word. Open a blank page. Experiment with differet fonts,font sizee and spacing keep in mind the "WINGDING" fonts have images that may work out for your logo. You can also insert images and adjust the size. When you get an image you're content w/ print it on normal paper and see if that's worthy then save the image. To make multiples just copy and paste as many as you need adjust them to the file page where you want them printed on your decal paper then again print it on paper and see if every things going to fit before printing on decal paper. Once you're ready then print all logos on your decal paper. Allow to dry overnight then clear coat and allow to dry overnight.

Cool! If that's Tamyia Camel Yellow I've had good results w/ that. However. That Pure White is a very hard paint to use. It will run fast and each coat was transparent. I used it and had to put mist coats on it to keep from running. I mean It took over a dozen (mist) coats in over a week to paint an AMT W925 cab and hood but the results were out standing. You may want to paint a piece of scrap plastic or a glue bomb model to see if the paint will give you trouble or not.

TWO LANE BLACKTOP