Rockford

A day of highs and lows. Got my quarter fenders in without marring the finish. Got most of the decals on but the stripes for some reason just curled up after a few minutes on the truck. This is how they went. No amount of dabbing, pressing or Micro-Set made a difference. I don't know what it is about decal paper and me but we just don't seem to get on. In the midst of the gloom I had an idea. I dug out some blue electrical tape, cut strips 2.5mm wide and applied them. Much simpler than my intended idea and not as flexible as decals but they're on and capture the second-life look I wanted. Nearly done.

Did you find yourself sitting at traffic lights flicking the range change button and listening to the clacking from the box up and down? I was terrible for that.

Gary, it hasn't even got a name on it, it's just the cheapest tripe I could find. It's very thin aluminium coated with a plastic film, it's not the real stuff like I've used on HVAC jobs. Sorry I can't be more informative.

I lasted longer than I usually do without touching the new paint, I think it was Wednesday when I started messing around with it. Painted the steps and the rubber wheelarch trims. I've started using cheap ali duct tape, (and I mean cheap, less than £2 a roll) to cover the air vents and door handles. It's way cheaper than Bare Metal Foil and sticks like muck to a blanket. All I'm doing is flat surfaces so it's more than adequate. All I do is cut a template from masking tape and then use a piece smaller than the masking tape so that there's no adhesive left on the exposed paintwork. Finished effect is as good as BMF for me. Fitted the interior, my complex little system actually worked. Tried to get a photo of it but I can't. I'm quite proud of my little rolled up centre curtain made from kitchen roll and tied up with cotton. I'll try again later. Started building a roof mounted aircon unit.

Excellent paint job, great looking truck.

Very nice. Well done. Welcome to the future in more ways than one.

Looking at what you've done so far I'd say you will sort a perfectly good solution to the butterfly hood issue. Looking great.

I'll believe that when I see it. ?

I suppose some parts are different because they were locally sourced. They would not want to import everything because of the import tariffs. That's why the Pontiacs built in Canada shared loads of Chevy parts.

Looks great! Must be very proud of what you've done and more to come!

Although I could change gear without using the clutch, I always did use the pedal, except in Fodens with their own gearbox, they were like a knife through soft ice cream. I remember if you were driving an empty tractor the seat back would pound your kidneys as the back axle hopped everywhere. Yet I still prefer those days ?

Found this today on YT, shows some of the stuff we used to have to drive and keep on the road. The Shell semi tanker seen in a few clips was affectionately nicknamed "The Fin-Faced B*st*rd" because they were a royal pain to work on. Fibreglass non-tilt cab. Gorgeous truck to look at, designed by Michelotti in Italy but very much form over function. The truck at the beginning where he's filming from the trailer is a Guy BigJ and the first in-car shots leaving the yard is a Seddon, which shared many cab panels with Guy. The cabs were made by Motor Panels in the Midlands. I shall bore you no longer.

To look at the two cabs you really wouldn't think there was that much difference but once you start digging in it's amazing the number of little changes required. Well done.

Still impressed!

On the engine mounts the natural thing is for them to sit on the frame ears but the "suggestions" do seem to show it going underneath. If the driveshaft angle looks ok and the manifolds etc... don't clash with the frame rails then maybe you've made a discovery after all these years. Maybe that's why everyone complains about a poor fit. Well done with the bolt heads, my shaky hands would drive me nuts (no pun intended) doing that.

Makes you wonder where it ceases being modelling and becomes an art form. Really breathtaking stuff. Well done.

As you can see my resolve to not touch the Freightliner didn't last. However, I mainly limited myself to assembly, the work was done to the parts I'd taken off, like the stacks- polishing and applying the decals to the heat shields, fitted the logo to the mudflaps and then reworking the front bumper. I realised that I do not have a painted front bumper on any truck. I have now! I carefully removed the lower half and tidied the cut up, then painted it. I think it's really in keeping with the rest of the truck. I also narrowed the little grille above the bumper and blacked the panel behind.

This is a fantastic saga of a build. Shame about the problem with the filament but you beat it! The La France job will be something to watch. Well done.

It's a difficult decision, and then you find photos like this.... What a beautiful brute of a machine. It's even the same colours!!!! No frills except Aircon, so obviously working in a sunny state. I was born at the wrong time in the wrong country. It's too late for this project but the single stripe choice is in the same era and approach. I think I'm settled on a scheme.

Thanks for the kind comments. I didn't have time to mock this one up this morning but these old style paint schemes always do something for me. I'm not sure which to go for. The first two are complex factory ones, but this is the kind of thing that a paint shop would do on a repaint for a truck's second life. I'm really torn.

I made a little engine block out of popsicle sticks that I have in abundance. I suppose you could say it's got a wooden block, wooden heads, wooden pistons, wooden valves, a wooden crank, a wooden cam. When I tried to fire it up it "wooden" run. Old ones are the best.

? I'll think about it. Just trying some of my schemes. Hard to decide.

Well, who said that the UK isn't a tropical paradise!? Yesterday was just about good enough for paint in the garage (humidity 78%, temp 16C) so I got some colour on the job. I'm not expecting a day this good until next year now. This year I think it was April/May before a useable day came along. The blue was supposed to be much darker according to the cap, it's a RAL colour but it came out like British Leyland Pageant Blue. It's a great shade of blue either way. Because I don't know when I'll be able to paint I tend to do primer and topcoat on the same day, so I don't get the best finish but it's acceptable, especially for a working truck. On cars I used to let the primer harden then give it a wet sand before topcoat, gave a much better finish. Don't ask me why I ended up with these colours, I realised they're almost exactly the same as my 352 but never mind. Put a coat of gloss black under the chrome paint, looks better. Now I need to LEAVE IT ALONE! For a week to let the paint harden up, so I can work on it without marking the paint. I've already tried putting the stacks on, I just can't help myself.

You've got your next project! 1m x 2m should be enough. ?