Rockford

Wasn't going to do a WIP on this but here goes. Bought a few of these recently and was itching to build one. Took the enforced idleness of the holiday period as a signal to get stuck in. This typifies AMT kits in that it's brilliant and awful at the same time. Plenty to correct on these kits. First the ride height needs to be brought down by rebating the slide rails. Levelling up the horrendous rear subframe loses a few more crucial millimetres. Nothing is straight on this kit other than the van moulding, so a lot work filing, fitting etc... but end result is great. Narrowed the track of the rear axles and also the wheelbase. The tyres are too small and are 8mm apart if installed as per instructions, but slid them together slightly and the proportions look much better. Fabbed up the locking mechanism for the tandems. Usual mudlfaps from insulation tape, cut the kit ones away as they're like paving slabs. Boxed the rear end in to hide the terrible rail ends. Landing gear looks like it is made out of cake, so made my own out of square tube and some profiles for the sand shoes and axles. Took the opportunity to make them operable too, so it can stand on it's own two feet when uncoupled. Added basic air piping. Corrected the taper on the lower edge of the reefer unit. Moved the control panel up and built the casing around it. Built an exhaust pipe with a flapper on the top. Fabbed a battery box and starter cable. Added palm couplings and electrical socket. Also added marker lights. Just got to wait for decent weather for pain t now, roll on April!

Aoshima, that's what I was thinking of but I'm at that age. I once called a girl named Annabelle, "Doorbell" because that was how I remembered her name. It wasn't well received.

Interesting stuff, I always wondered when the dual rail steps came out, certainly didn't think it was as early as 1971! The research is half of the hobby for me, I love the minuteae of it all. I've always liked the look of that truck as does the sharp right out of the junction and starts climbing the hill in the opening credits.

I have no mirrors for this truck so I took a piece of aluminium sheet, cut it and bent it around a mirror head I'd shaped out of a piece of scrap. I use a black Sharpie marker as engineers blue. Filed the edges triangular and drilled a 0.9mm hole in each end, then slid a straightened paperclip through it. Drilled the door and fitted them. Look good. I want to triangulate the bracket but time has run out today.

Using a steel rule laid against the rails as a depth limiter as well as my measure, I cut my teeth as close to 1mm each as my eyes would allow. Then I put a tiny piece of wire in the runners. These engage in the cuts and keep the fifth wheel in the set place. Added stops at each end, a release handle on the fifth wheel and it was finished. Holds position well and gives me a good range of adjustment.

Are they the Fujimi accessory kit wheels and tyres? Look good.

Couldn't wait to get the slider fitted to the Bison so tonight I cut out the kit slider plate, fabbed some side rails and mounted it to the chassis. It gives quite a scope of movement fore and aft and looks tidy, credible. There's still a lot to do to it to finish but it looks good enough for me.

That's on another level mate. Brilliant.

Nice truck, paint looks good. I hate the paint stage so well done for persevering.

I was thinking of the AMT kits of old that had operative sliders. I'm really happy with what I've achieved and any truck I build from now on will have the same setup. The double sleeper Bison will have it's existing setup removed to be replaced with this unit.

Thanks. Looks right to me. I need things to look right.

I must admit I have been a bit envious of you 1/24 guys with your sliding fifth wheels. It means that you can position any trailer where it looks best on your tractor. I'm stuck with these awful fixed units on my 1/32 junk. As if in a vision, the idea came to me, I can make a slider of my own! Bit late after about 10 trucks built but it just never occurred to me! I cut out a baseplate, added the rails from 1mm square rod with a 1mm inset from the edge. Then built a slide frame out of C-section. I took a 5th wheel and added gudgeons from hollow tube, then put a companion piece on the slider frame. Quick mock-up and it looks great! The installed height is actually lower than the fixed units I've built by 0.5mm so I'm really chuffed with that. There's a lot of finessing to do but I'm really happy with it.

Thank you sir, and all the others that have kindly commented.

Very tidy looking work there mate. Well done.

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.