Rockford

Thanks Ben Next job, back to the W900 and work out how to open up the hood and keep it looking straight.

Thanks Justin Although I have to jump through hoops to make these snappers look half decent they build square and straight which apparently, the AMT General or Bison doesn't, but many seem to end up looking good. I hope yours comes together ok. I built one nearly 40 years ago and was always very proud of it, but it's too long ago to recall what issues I had with it.

The daycab of my two Bisons is all but done. Added my licence plates and bingo plate, rear lights, got the sunvisor to fit by shaping it around the three middle clearance lights, piped in my luberfiner, added some perforation decals I'd drawn up to the heat shields, and greased my fifth wheel (because a clean one ain't making any money!). He's already been busy with various loads. I've got to give it some badges on the hood and a company name. I've sat him next to his brother Longshanks, who he donated his sleeper to.

Scary moment today. Took a cut-off wheel to the cast-in sump on the chassis. Cut went well. Dropped my Cummins in and it fits really well. Cab still goes on ok. Can't believe I've now got a 1/32 truck with a complete engine! Now I've got to fine tune the cab mounts and build a set of hood pivots that I can position before I part the two. Hopefully the cab and hood will remain aligned.

Thanks very much. I did similar with this. Started with a basic box and built layer upon layer. I'd like to see your KTA.

How's that for 3D printing!? All I did was type in 'Bison' and hit 'Ctrl+P' and look what happened! Anyway, enough garbage from me. Here's one of my Bisons on the cusp of completion. There was a visor I made for it but for some reason it no longer fits. Mind you, it looks good without, one of the few trucks that do. The other is the R Series Mack. Got a bit of fogging on the rear window from the superglue but never mind. Made up airlines out of elastic thread, draped them over the pogo stick and then used super glue to fix them. Added a grab rail from a paperclip. Just a few final pieces like license plates and rear lamps. I might put decals on the heatshields to mimic the perforations. I'm glad to have brought it back from ruination and got him back on the road again.

Looks like I'm committed to doing so now. I'll have to open up the chassis first and seat it in there, then work out my clearances etc... I can't believe I've been working on this truck since February!

Oh, that does look good. Like the grill work.

Now starting to fit everything. Had to use BMF on the grille shell and headlight bezels because they had gone black in the sun. That ultra bright chrome BMF is not easy to use and not the greatest when it comes to adhering, but I managed it. Added a white stripe cut from a leftover decal sheet to part the gold and the brown. Added my rear drive hubs. Test fitted the stacks. I'm fairly happy with it.

Thanks gents. I think you will see that I put it in Under Glass because it has taken on a life of it's own as a sub-project. I just thought I'd better post a "finished" picture here. So now it disappears under the hood of my W900 never to be seen again.

Thanks for your kind comments lads. I still look at it and think "did I do that?"

Very nicely done mate. Keep up the good work!

Really impressive that mate.

Excellent building there sir, like the canvas, very realistic.

Nice rendition of a nice truck.

That's a real chunky monkey, well done!

I got so frustrated with my little 1/32 snappers only having a sump, and seeing you 1/25 guys building your engines, that I decided to build an engine for myself. I have a great fondness for the old Cummins 855 (or 14litre) series, so I wanted one of them. It's going in my W900 Aerodyne and it's in the WIP for that truck, but I just thought it's taken about three weeks of consistent effort and I'm so, so pleased with the end result that I think it deserves an Under Glass of its own. Except for the sump and a 1/25 AN fitting at the end of the oil pick-up pipe, everything is hand formed from plastic card, sprue or tube and wire. The belts are elastic thread and electrical tape. The main dimensions were taken from the AMT W900 engine block. I created a spreadsheet that took the 1/25 measurements and converted them to 1/32. I suppose I could have just bought one from a 3D printist but I'm too cheap for that and I do like a challenge.

I always intended this to be my first two tone paint scheme that would require a masking job. I masked it up and followed a suggestion from one of you gents on the site to shoot one coat of the base colour first, then your second colour. That way any bleed under the tape is the same colour as the base, in this case: brown. Seemed to work a treat, giving me a nice crisp line all around. It's not the gold I really wanted, bit too brassy, I'd have liked something more like Rockford's Firebird but it's ok. I might finish it off with a white pinstripe along the top edge.

Well I couldn't believe we had a good painting day again yesterday and I had a tin of Tamiya Light Sand left over from another job. Three coats and it looks very Cumminsy. Bit of detail painting, belts back on and done.

That's really nice, you must be so proud of that. I can just imagine it with a aluminium, round-nosed van trailer, but on its own it is still a winner. Love it!

You're very kind gents. I'm waiting for the right conditions for painting, when I'll just blast it beige as they did in the factory, hoses and all. All they left off were the belts. It's 14 Centigrade today but the humidity is nearly 80%, can't risk another job being ruined by paint blooming.

I'll bet when your in-laws were talking all you were thinking about was the next stage in your Pete ?As ever, a work of art, with materials from various sources from what I can see.

Just beautiful mate, well done.

I'm pleased to hear it. You've done your homework.

You often see the chassis rendered in black on models of this truck, but I perceive that it was the same green as the bodywork. What are you doing with your rendition?