Rockford

This is interesting, an article in Overdrive from 1977 on AMT and the model production process. Sadly the last page appears to be missing but still some good info. I won't spoil it.

Great little rig that mate. I have to restrain myself from getting into 1/87 stuff, there's some really nice stuff out there.

So, "I'm calling this finished" - to coin a popular phrase. It's one of the two Bisons I've been working on in my WIP, the other being a double sleeper. Final step was to draw up some Chevy bowties, a BISON nameplate and my fictional company logo Duvall Transfer Company. All done with old Microsoft Paint® on clear decal paper. I know they lose their colour against the paint but they look ok. White decal paper would have created its own issues. I'm happy with it all round. All the little adjustments have come together to make it a decent looking truck.

That's a masterpiece.

But how's the cab? Did it survive ok? It is such a work of art that you did there I'd hate to see it damaged.

Thanks Steve It's easier than it looks, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it! ?. Yes the wheels on these kits are horrendous but it's all I've got to work with. They're hidden usually but with opening the hood I've created a monster here. I'm currently working out a fix for this truck. I'm not a 3D printer/aftermarket person. I have to be resourceful [or stupid/stubborn?].

Thanks Ben. You can do it mate, just do your homework, get dimensions, positioning etc... and start building layer by layer. I'm not craftsman, believe me.

Didn't get my full afternoon off today but got a little done. Broke the candle out and bent up suitably sized sprue into a bottom and top hose for the radiator and an exhaust pipe from the turbo. For rubber hose I used some sheathing for household wiring that's sat in my garage for decades. Does the job perfectly. So my radiator is plumbed in now.

Put the inlet system together. Built a crosspipe between the air filters out of chubby sprue. Used the same with a candle to form two 90 degree bends. Wrapped the bends in 0.8mm square rod to simulate the strengthening ribs and matched it all up to the turbo inlet. Looks ok.

I had success several years ago using food colouring to tint screens. You basically form a bath of food colour and dip the pieces. It takes a bit of experimentation regarding strength and method but it worked well. There might be a tutorial somewhere.

Love these old 'shakers. Such a shame the big fleets like CF have disappeared.

Very tidy job you've made of that. It's going to look great. It's a very rewarding thing making something from scratch isn't it?

You're doing a great job on this kit, just as you did on the Transtar. It will be an impressive and distinctive truck when it's finished.

That's looking great mate. You're right, it is finally good weather for painting over here in GB. I'm sure your paint job will turn out great.

Today's project:- scratchbuilt a radiator. I used the AMT 1/25 kit for reference, also searched for 1980 W900 radiators for sale and truck auction sites. Used plastic card mainly and built it up in layers. Had to notch the bottom corners to get round the hood brackets. Header tank is 4 layers of card with one slightly proud to form the seam. Opened the hole in the fan shroud and inserted the edge of the cowling. Looks ok and the hood still closes.

I keep looking for updates on this project. Good to see the colour going on! Can't wait to see it finished. Force makes a good point, that it is practically impossible to form an opinion on a colour from the TV screen or stills, probably because there was so much intense artificial lighting being used. Sometimes it looks really dark green and other times there's a like a golden tinge in the colour. Yours does look great though. Keep up the good work.

After all my work yesterday I went to bed and started checking some things on the interwebs and found that I'd made the hood inserts the wrong shape. I'd copied the AMT 1/25 shape but looking at Twinsticks Garage's truck I realised that the line sloping inward is straight. So, 6:30am Sunday morning whilst making breakfast I removed the wrong ones, cut some new ones and got them fitted. TBH it will make shaping the hood easier, looking at the real things there's a gap between the bottom of the hood and the cab. The insert fills the gap.

Terrifying day today, I could not put off separating the hood from the cab any longer. I could ruin my all my work if I get it wrong! Carefully made the cut with my razor saw. I just cut straight because I knew the inserts for the air filters would have to be made up anew. I removed the inserts from the hood and, cut new ones from card and attached them to the cab. Added a drip rail to the top of the firewall. I'll have to trim the lower rear of the hood so that it passes the air trunking ok as it tilts. AMT didn't anticipate the hood tilting so the angle is a little too sharp. Fabbed some engine mounts and dropped the Cummins into place. Looks great! The hood closes almost perfectly. I might just have to raise one cab nount a touch to get spot on alignment. With the bumper and grille in place the hood tilts to the perfect 90 degree position.

The tyres on the Revell kit are indeed unbelievably bad. Hard to conceive how someone could look at that in the factory and say they approved of it for production. It's not as if they've never seen a tyre before is it? This build is becoming an epic! Great work and well done for detailing your steps. You keep saying that you're a novice, well in choice of kit only, your abilities are excellent.

You're giving this your best efforts. Great to be able to print your own stuff to sort the problems out.

This is one worth watching.

Trying to be methodical in my approach to opening the hood. I carefully trimmed the cab mounts I'd fitted until they just sat on the cab floor. I then cut the fronts off and glued the bottom piece to the chassis. This ensured that the cab assembly sat level supported from front to back. I then glued 2.3mm tube in place, two on the hood, two on the chassis, and pinned them together using a large paperclip. The theory is, when I part the hood from the cab it should be correctly aligned. It's a bit terrifying but if it goes pear shaped I can always glue it back together and use my Cummins elsewhere.

Thanks sir, I'm sort of resigned to 1/32 because of space constraints but I do enjoy the challenge of making these things credible. I'd much rather work in 1/24 or 1/25, so much more choice.

Thanks Ben, can't wait to see your 1/32 build. We're a small group.