Aaronw

Thanks, that was the part I missed. Everything is under pressure, I'll give that a try next time I make a mold.

You describe my set up exactly, I have a paint pot and a compressor. The problem I had when pressurizing the resin is it gets little "pimples" all over the surface. As i understand it de-airing the silicone is supposed to stop this. Randy, Pat and Zoom Zoom, & MM thanks for the help.

I have been trying to pressure cast, primarily for use with clear resin. The pressure side works fine but the problem I've found is the vacuum side. How do you use the vacuum chamber and how much vacuum do you use. Do you de-air the silicone then pour the mold or do you pour the mold then place it in a vacuum to cure? Any help is appreciated. Thanks

You might have a problem there, I believe Fragile means something else in postal-ese. To most of us it means please be careful, but to the post office I think it means run it under the 12 ton press, whack it around the back lot with hockey sticks then play elephant soccer with it. I guess that thing in school where you have to make a container for an egg then drop it from a height actually has a purpose after all.

Nice job, the engine detail is great particularly the turbos. Did you make the tire chains? They look very good.

I agree with the others, the hood is too square at the front but it looks great anyway.

Good luck with that, I had a bad case in my late teens / early 20's, finally had the surgery after about 4 years of various treatments. Never have had a re-occurance and its been 16 years. I was told it tends to have a reduced effect as you get older so maybe you get lucky, at least there is something good about getting older.

I've recently started using Tower Hobbies http://www.towerhobbies.com/index.html I've been pretty happy with them decent selection of model kits, very good selection of model supplies, good prices and really quick service. They list Ambroid and show it in stock http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0093p?&C=RGG

Looks like you are off to a good start. I have plans (someday) to do something similar using the 1950 Ford. There was an older SA article on building a 1950 F-8. In the article the builder made a 337 ci starting with a Thunderbird engine block and using parts from various other sources.

Sorry it took me so long, first I had to find some time, then the movie and finally remember how to take screen shots but here you go. Texas (Dawn) sorry I couldn't help myself Spider Mikes truck Spider Mike & Love Machine (Pigpen) and in case you need some spiritual guidance after you finish the truck There really are not that many good shots of Spider Mikes truck in the movie, I got some of the other trucks too if you need them for a later project.

Spalding gets their from KFS, you might try them http://www.kitformservices.com/ or maybe not, I just saw KFS has an announcement posted that they are in the middle of a move, might be the reason Spalding is out of stock.

You can give them a soak in blech wite, which will remove any oils or mold release on the parts. Blech wite is a tire cleaner you can find in many auto parts shops. Then scrub them with a tooth brush. Personally I've found Krylon grey primer seems to work best on resin parts, but any good primer should work. Nice job looks better than my first attempts. What I've found is as my experience increases, my castings don't make a dramatic improvement but I get much better at estimating how much silicone / resin I need and I have much less wastage. It's always a good idea to have an extra mold ready to go or an extra part you want to cast so that any excess you've mixed up doesn't go to waste, you just end up with an extra part or mold for the future.

I'm pretty sure there is a comment from Pig Pen / Love Machine refering to the questionable pedigree of Spider Mike's truck right when the 3 of them first start running together, this would be early in the movie before they get pulled over by Lyle. I have the movie on DVD and the movie player on my computer allows screen captures, I can try to grab a few shots of his truck and post them if Im able to get anything decent.

I haven't heard much positive about the Testor's decal maker program. I make quite a few of my own decals, I just use the micro soft paint program that comes with Windows for most of them. I set them up on the page for printing by inserting them into a word file. Here are some decals I've made this way for some of my projects.

I got a catalog from him 2 years ago, it had some "kits" that included at least a full cab, body and wheels. Don't remember if it required a donor for the chassis or not. There is some info in the contact section with email and phone # for the owners, if you know what you want you might be able to order something. As a recall now that site was put up in August or so, you might have a bit of a wait before its finished. Knowing how resin casters are in general and the lack of competition in the emergency vehicle area, that under construction site with contact info might be giving him all the buisness he can handle. This is a new caster that popped up recently http://www.grovegraphics.com/resin_items/index_resin.htm The stuff looks rough but usable.

Hey, I found I had Freds saved in my favorites twice, and the links are different. Seems he changed company names (can't say I blame him google turned up about 4 freds making resin stuff) and web addresses. This one works, it starts out wierd (a bunch of numbers and such) but it will open eventually. http://www.frmnco.com/ Thanks for your experience with Fred's most I know tried once and were unhappy with the service, maybe they just had bad luck or bad timing if you've used him that much with mostly good results.

The Trumpeter ALF is a nice kit, I hope that Trumpeter really does decide to follow it up with another vehicle, I've heard rumors of a rescue or a ladder. I really hope they do a parts pack of equipment for it though like you can get for military models. You know SCBA, nozzles, tools etc I'd buy a dozen of those. Good luck with your search. What was your experience with Freds? I've heard mostly marginal experiences from the few that have bought from him, good stuff but spotty service. His catalog is full of neat stuff though, I've come close to ordering a couple of times.

It is my understanding that AITM, still carries everthing MTFACO did, you just need to email to find out what he has unless you have one of the old catalogs. Be prepared with a list of what you want because the MTFACO catalog looked like a magazine (lots of stuff) and it would take forever for him to list it all in an email. Off the top of my head there was a decent smoke ejector, circle D lights, a variety of tools (flat & pick head axes, round shovels, square shovels, pike pole heads), a portable monitor (deck gun, wagon pipe, stang depending on local terminology), variety of sirens, some lights (but no light bars), most are cast metal. I don't recall any PPE or nozzles. I don't know if you have been to the Scale Fire House or not, its a model site for emergency vehicles and has a pretty good list of (the pathetically few) suppliers of parts out there. http://www.scalefirehouse.com/ If you don't mind my asking what are you going to build?

You could check STS or AITM, both have a variety of wheels/tires that might work. Spalding Trading and Shipping http://www.stsmodeltrucks.com/ American Industrial Truck Models http://www.aitruckmodels.com/ You will have to email Dave at AITM about wheels since he is still using the old MTFAco catalog for now (unless you have the old catalog). I am assuming you are looking for off road big rig tires, if you want smaller then there are a few more out there, but I'll have to try and remember where.

I'm an impulse builder so I need to have a lot on hand in case thats the impulse I get. I know I will probably never build some of the stuff I buy, but I might so I buy it. Also with the way kits come and go, some getting re-issued all the time and other one time only I treat kits something like resin, get it while you can. I'd prefer to have it on my shelf unbuilt than the urge to build it and no kit.

Sorry, thought you had a real one. Hope you caught the :wink: just giving you a hard time. Thanks Tim, that makes it pretty easy if its an older Pete the motors white.

So what color is it? geez you drive one of these and don't get the point of the post :wink:

Is that available in a kit? Never mind it was a typo should have been NTC not NTD in my list. :oops: fixed it

Edit - I updated this first post on 8/2/10 to reflect the additional info collected so far. Thanks for the help and feel free to offer further corrections or info. On another site someone was just asking about the correct color for the motor in a truck kit, this got me thinking it is a pretty common question and since there is a fairly limited number of truck engines available in kits or resin it could be handy to make up a list of the colors so we have the info in one place. Allis Chalmers - Plum Crazy Purple Caterpillar 3406 - New Cat Yellow 3208 - New Cat Yellow Cummins NHC250 - Cummins Beige NTA370 - Cummins Beige NTC350 - Cummins Beige N14 - Black (may have red valve covers) V-903 - Dark grey or Black Detroit Diesel Series 60 - DD Alpine Green 6-71 - DD Alpiine Green 8V71 - DD Alpine Green 12V71 - DD Alpine Green or Silver 16V71 - DD Alpine Green 8V92 - Silver Chevrolet 1940s to late 1950s - Medium grey Late 1950s to 1963 I-6 engines Chevrolet engine blue, V-8 Chevrolet engine red (orange) Ford Ford 331 Flathead truck engine - Dark Spruce Green OHV 1954 to 1961 - Red 534SD - Ford Blue GMC GMC 1940s - Avacado GMC late 1940s to early 1950s Dark Green GMC 1950s Crimson Red GMC 1960s V-6 Alpine Green, V-8 Red Turbine - Red International V-800 - Metallic blue Mack - Pre 1990 gold, Post 1990 grey, or blue / grey if equipped with an intercooler ENDT675 ENDT676 ENDT865 4cyl (Mack AC) - medium grey Super tip turbine - red Exceptions, some truck manufacturer's use their own colors instead of the engine builders color AutoCar - White through 1968-69 then manufacturer color Ford - Black until 1965, Ford Blue until 1982, Ford Corporate Grey Diamond Reo - Red Peterbilt - White through 1984 then engine manufacturer color Kenworth - White through 1975 then engine manufacturer color Might as well include the available paints as well Krylon New Cat Yellow Old Cat Yellow (I believe Caterpiller changed to the new yellow in the 1950's) Duplicolor Detroit Diesel Alpine Green Ford Blue Fleetrite (available at International dealers) Cummins Beige DT466 Blue Testors Model Master offers many factory engine colors. Suggestions for close matches with non-factory paints IH V-800 - Testors Model Master Lacquer #28150 metallic 1969 Ford Acapulco blue IH V-800 - Tamiya #TS19 Metallic blue Diamond Reo / Mack - Testors Model Master #52709 Boyd Red DD Alpine Green - Testors Model Master Acryl #4774 RLM 25, Polly Scale #505270 British Interior Grey Green AC Mack Grey - Model Master #1725 Neutral grey, Model Master Acryl #4757 Neutral grey

That is a great looking truck, what did you start with?