Rockford

Jigs are a good idea, I did a couple on the flatbed I built, makes life a lot easier and the finished job much tidier. I wish I'd thought of a few more places to use them before I got too far along. Looking forward to watching this develop.

Gary, that looks like one solid truck, well done, great job.

Your trailers are brilliant. Watch you don't turn into a frog though,... rivet, rivet, rivet...

Turned my attention back to the double sleeper Bison. Went for a grey scheme because I don't know what colour I'm painting the truck and grey goes with anything. Didn't put as much effort into this interior because you can't see much once it's installed, just mixed up a darker grey for the door and seat inserts. Don't know if anyone else is having this problem but with Tamiya bottle paint l, when I paint over previously painted surfaces, the original coat is lifting, going wet again and mixing with the new paint. Troublesome.

That's a fantastic job. Very complex masking and painting job, must have taken ages.

Thanks Gary, so frustrating to get so near but can't finish off. I cannot heat my garage and it's brick built, so isn't very warm. I've thought of all sorts of dodges like getting the car warm and spraying then shoving it in the car quick but it's too dicey. I've plenty to do while I wait to paint it. On another note, one front wheel spigot snapped off during painting and the other snapped while I was looking at the chassis. They're very thin and fragile, later issues had thicker spigots. I decided I'd have to sacrifice accuracy for strength by drilling the axle and putting a straight piece of rod right through. The axle dimensions limited the diameter I could use. I had some 1.57mm brass tube and 3.2mm aluminium tube. The 3.2 fitted the wheels perfectly and slid over the brass tightly too. I sleeved the wheels with the aluminium and could now fit them on the axle again. Saved the day, so relieved. TIME FOR A MOCK-UP!

Looks great that.

Quick mock up, feeling better already. Leave the dog alone.

Conditions were alright (not perfect) for spraying today, 14C and 75% humidity. Both colours bloomed. Chassis looks like it's made out of brass, cab looks like leather. I'm not stripping them, I'll rub them down and wait for better conditions, which means 2023 springtime I suppose. I can't spray in the apartment, I use my garage. I'm trying to be philosophical about it. I've had it happen before, not quite as bad, but I salvaged the job. At least it's not red and black still. I'm glad we haven't got a dog, it would be sore for a few days as I worked out my frustration.

That's just a masterpiece that sir!

I took one of those jumbo paperclips, straightened it out and then bent up a side step for the sleeper. I chose a paperclip because of the bright finish and they're hard, copper wire or aluminium would be too soft I feel. Feel free to correct me. I cut the upper step and filed a vee in each end to help locate it and stop it looking like a butt joint. It's not straight and will probably end up in the bin but it's proven to me that it's a viable method. I'm going to see if I can get a packet of new ones tomorrow and put a jig together to make a few.

Shaped the brackets for the luberfiner today. If I make them body colour then colour the edges chrome they will mimic the original setup. By doing them this way they're good and sturdy.

Turned my attention to the double sleeper Bison I'm doing in parallel with the daycab. I'm down to small stuff now, coming up to paint. Added fuel filler caps from 3.2mm plastic tube with sprue caps. I used a pair of pliers to press the ribbing in them. Sanded the cab down a bit to get rid of some parting lines and finish the filling, re-scored the sleeper doors and added drip rails from 1mm square stock. Rejigged the luberfiner mounts again. Cut halfway through the luberfiner itself and inserted flat sections of plastic. Once they've set I'll shape them into brackets that hug the front of the cab. Added headrests from a Kenworth T600 interior, added an ashtray cut from plastic sheet and ground out a cigarette lighter with my motor tool. I'm not going to go overboard on the dashboard with this one because you can't really see it once it's assembled. On the daycab you can see through the rear window.

So, after reading the above conversation, I have an AMT with opening doors in my stash, and was intending to build it stock one day. Am I making a rod for my own back?

I spent a while looking at them on auction sites. If you're in the USA you could go and look at the real thing. I worked out the construction method of a real unit, noted some measurements and started looking for the closest profiles in stock plastic. It was actually quite straightforward. All a flat trailer is is steel or ali profiles welded together. You can do it mate.

Very wet today in Liverpool, so no chance of spraying anything. Turned my attention to the interior. Covered the seat inserts with masking tape just to present a different texture to the outer skin. Gave a basic coat of Tamiya XF93 Light Brown, then painted the guage cluster Humbrol Matt62. Black carpet and seat bases with aluminium pedals finish it off. I used Sharpie markers and a black liner to add detail and the end result is acceptable. Far better than the bland moulding that comes in the kit. The dashboard and seats now appear to stand separately, even though they're still all one piece.

And here's the dry van WIP

this is the WIP for the trailer you can see it with earlier on.

I have a few trailers I can use, a reefer, dry van, 20ft skeletal container, flat and tank. I've acquired a few more AMT vans too. I tend not to have dedicated truck and trailer sets because of space, but also because the fleets I worked for would constantly swap. You'd come back into the yard with an empty tipper and could go out the next day on a tank or stay with that tipper, then again you could be on flatbed work. It all depended on the work mix for the day. Also, my childhood heroes were the owner operators you'd see in Overdrive magazine who just had a nice tractor and a plain box. I am thinking of doing a liveried truck soon though. Thanks for your comments gents.

The bumper looks like some of my old girlfriends, quite hefty and something I wouldn't want to wrestle with because I'd incur more damage than them! Perfectly practical qualities I would say.

Looks good to me. What's wrong with it in your opinion?

Fabbed up my usual pogostick and placed it on a piece of 90 degree angle, then glued that to a piece of diamond plate from another chassis. Used some braided line hose fittings for the airlines, they're not palm couplings but they look better than nothing. I'm using elastic thread for airlines this time, might drape more naturally. Made some rear hubs from cheap pen tops. Closed the end of the chassis rails. Prized the glued windshield out and broke the centre pillar so made a new one out of 1mm square rod rounded off on one side. Carved the grooves in the hood for the chrome strips. Rubbed the cab down with 800 wet and dry and am now at the worst part for me... paint. Can't decide on a colour combo. White chassis with orange cab graphics? Brown and gold? Silver and red? Blue and white.

Great looking combo, and you're right about the trailer, much better as a tandem rather than a tri-axle. Looks more "of the period".

Well done Gary, tanks look great. I've always thought the positioning of the battery box(es) was odd. I wonder how much it cost them to tool up for the extra steps? Later versions had a more sensible setup. On the engine colour, weren't old Detroits the colour of old engine oil because of all the leaks? Naughty old me! Over here in UK our "oil leaks with an engine attached" were Gardner Diesels.

That looks amazing. Great build mate. Curbside kits can be so enjoyable because you're not detailing stuff no one will ever see, rapid results. A Europa used to park at the top of our street when I was a kid. If you weren't watching you could trip over the thing it was that low. I believe they were expensive toys to play with. I think you have the best version, very cheap to run.