Rockford

They do stretch you but the satisfaction you get from it is great. I have to say it looks brilliant!

He did apparently, only one season. I thought they were asking him to impersonate Woody Allen when I watched the Rockford episode with him in.

Thanks mate, I have considered it on the drives but I've messed around that much with them already, and they'd be a harder one to pull off cleanly....

Very, very nice.

So R.D. means Rubber Duck! Now I get it. Wheels look great, keep up the good work. Can you print a Kris Kristofferson?

Major project this. Would keep me busy for years!

Watching The Rockford Files (obviously, I'm a fan) and I just glimpsed this gorgeous K100 Aerodyne in the Fibreglass Specialists, among the exotica. Never noticed it before. Nothing to do with the project but never mind.

I decided I had to do something about the wheels on this trailer because the shallow wheel moulding really spoils the overall look of the model. I've often considered doing it but always chickened out, not this time! The 5 spoke wheel is so well cast so I want to keep them, I just need to recess them to the correct position between the two tyres. The outer tyre has a flat backing that needs to be removed so the wheel move inwards. Took the boss down on the back by about 4mm and shortened the stub axle to suit. Then I needed a new wheel rim. I used 20mm electrical conduit cut to 5mm slices, then split it and took a section out so that it would fit into the 18mm wheel opening. I made them really tight so that they push themselves round and leave no gaps. The joint between the wheel and the rim just look like the strengthening rib in a rim. Boxed them up, what a difference! I'm really pleased with them. I should have done this a long time ago! Also added a square crossmember at the rear and cut the rear pan-type crossmember away. There's only one thing missing now - a side loading door. Thinking to be done. No I'm not going to do anything about the tyres.

So good! Really impressive.

The quality of the work in this job is really impressive. Craftsmanship!

Jürgen That is something else! The question is, how do you beat that with your next one? It's like the men who went to the moon, anything else is a bit too run if the mill. ?

Piped up my tandems, did my usual alterations to the landing gear to make it functional and just had to mock it up. I know it's a minor change to the rear suspension but to me it makes such a difference. I'm very pleased with it. Still a lot of work to do tidying up and making things fit but I think I've caught the look.

Colour really pops!

The Kysor radiator shutters were an unpolished aluminium as I recall, which takes on a whitish appearance over time, with weathering, but that would be a difficult appearance to replicate in a solid grille moulding at 1/25 so in 1/32 it's beyond my capabilities I'm afraid.

Which season's truck I'm building has already been decided for me because the AMT kit has the older style, stepped air cleaners with the chrome covers on the bottom. Here's a question Håkan, did the season 1 trucks have the pintle hook on the rear cross member? If so I'll have to build one.

You ARE the authority on this subject Håkan!! I was waiting for you kick into action. Thanks for the excellent information.

I still have considerable work to do on the tractor but I'm itching to start work on the trailer, particularly the suspension. The 1/32 Monogram Fruehauf vans come with the F2 spring suspension that has the wide side brackets. There was another version Fruehauf did, I think it was 'F2 Lightweight' because it had smaller brackets and crossmembers (I've worked extensively on both but never found out why the difference). This is the version Pruitt's truck used. After extensive Googling I established that the kit pieces could be modified to suit, which made things much easier. I took the original pieces and as well as doing my lowering procedure (documented in other builds) I reduced the size of the side brackets and crossmembers. I held everything in line with drill bits while I bored the holes through each set of brackets for the new tubular cross members. Added some 0.75mm strip around the edges to replicate the rolled lip. Results look really good I think.

Very nice. Resourceful stuff.

Brilliant in many ways!

That's something else mate! Shame you're running out of space. I don't think I could part any of my stuff, I'm such a hoarder.

I'm glad someone like yourself thinks along similar lines. I might try test panels on some scrap to see what effect different colours have underneath. I was even thinking of what effect red oxide primer would have rather than grey. ?

That's fantastic! It must be very rewarding to see it all come from your own efforts. Well done.

Here is the truck mated to my Trailmobile dry van. Looks right to me. I want to do an aluminium Fruehauf dry van as you mostly saw it with in the series. Typical that I've got six van trailers and none of them are right for it. Bought my paint. I had to settle for Rover British Racing Green metallic as there just aren't the stockists of automotive spray bombs anymore. Still cost me £22 for primer and topcoat!!!!!! I'm wondering about getting a gold to do a base coat under the green to maybe lighten the shade, knock the blue out a bit. Not sure if it would work though.

Looks great, especially with the trailer you've chosen. Like the sandboxes in front of the tandems too, don't see them very often.

Thanks very much. They do, with the "crooked KW" stamped out of the rear crossmember. The fact that it's the "crooked" emblem dates it to late sixties early seventies (I'm sure someone knows what year it changed). Your build looks great though, I don't think any of us could do a perfect Sundance, there were so many of them used by the studio and they didn't care about accuracy so we just do our best, and yours is excellent.