Rockford

Gents, I've got to make a bit of an apology here, I never thanked you for your kind comments about my trailer. My brain's a bid scrambled nowadays since I got COVID in Feb of this year and I keep forgetting to do things. It's getting better but I'm still missing stuff. So thanks very much for your observations on my flatbed. I'm very proud of it, l look back at my work and I really don't know how I did it!

Been doing little fiddly bits on the Bison daycab lately. Did my usual rectification to the hollow rear diffs and added brake chambers. Bent up some exhaust pipes up to the mufflers and stacks. Used hollow plastic tube and a candle. Sat the interior tub in methylated spirit to remove the black paint. Then added a rim across the top of the dashboard. Made some can mounts. On the real truck there's the little amber and red parking/direction light. I was thinking of just gluing a square piece on the fender but it just wouldn't look right. The real thing sits on a little podium. I used a similar method to that I used on the Pete 352 only using square rod. I cut a shallow groove around it, wrapped wire around it and made a pigtail for attachment. Once cut from the length I just thinned it down with a sanding stick. Painted it chrome silver then used clear orange and red accordingly. Drilled a hole in the fender. Once fitted, they look ok and are fairly robust.

I'd say narrows. Too wide looks looks out of place, more from the late 50's.

Gator It wasnt a mess, it was a form of torture!!! However, the pain is all forgotten now I have it the way i wanted it. Thanks for your kind comments. Indeed thanks to everyone for your encouragement over this and my other projects. Steve

Thanks very much, I have to say I am so glad I finally got it the way I first intended. The stripe issue was gnawing away at me.

Thanks gents, I'm really pleased with it, the stripes just make it. We will never see the likes of them again.

Thanks for hanging on until the end and for your encouragement over the months gents. You must have thought it was never going to be finished, I know I did.

Thanks Jim, thanks for sticking with it over the months.

Well these Snaptite kits fall together you know. ?

Three weeks!? It'd be three years for me. Looks fantastic.

This is the look I was trying to achieve and I'm quite satisfied that I did. Just found the picture where I mocked up my first draft that I cut out of paper. Can't you tell I'm chuffed!?

This time it really is done! Well, I don't know why or how but another set of Winslow stripes from the same piece of decal paper as the other two sets went on almost perfectly this time. I know I'd given up but I was so gutted over my 352 not having stripes I just tried again. It worked brilliantly. They're not perfect, but they're good enough for me. So here's Ozark Trucking's Peterbilt 352 Pacemaker with Winslow stripes. I'm so happy with the results. He's on a run from Tucson to Tucumcari, then Tehachapi to Tonopah (great song that...). I've put it next to a pretty box stock 352 of the same kit. Some of the differences are obvious, others not so. It's been a very satisfying project with a very pleasant result.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!! I clear coated the set of stripes I printed at the same time as the last ones (so these are the third set). Gave it two coats, same as the rest, put them in water and they just worked pretty much perfectly! They probably didn't lay down quite as well as kit decals might, but maybe that's my nervousness after all the problems, making me a little over cautious. The lower stripe mimics the chassis colour pretty well and so ties the theme together. Anyway, I now have a Peterbilt 352 with Winslow stripes all of my own making. I'm so pleased with how things turned out. It's not perfect but it will do me. Little things like being able to see the Cummins through in the doghouse, the single stack and the internal air intake just make it for me. It's been 11 months in the making. Here he is with my favourite trailer, the AMT dry van.

Sorry Clayton, didn't mention it above but dutifully done, two coats, applied to two sets of stripes and still they crack up. That's what is so galling about the situation, and that's why I reckon the paper's shot, like the film I'm printing on to is cracked through being bent or stored incorrectly. Otherwise, why would half of the decal be perfect (circled red) and the other half disintegrate (blue circle) ? ?

That's a great looking truck. You're doing great work here.

An admirable project. That's small! I'd be scared of dropping it and losing it. I seem to spend 50% of my modelling time looking for things I've dropped.

Interesting subject. I've done similar to diecast cars, adding plug wires etc...

Great build, love the weathering.

That's just amazing work, really impressive stuff.

I said I wasn't going to try again but I did. Printed another set of Winslow stripes, removed the decals I put on last time and hoped it would work. As soon as they hit the water the ink started breaking up in places. Some of it stayed perfect though. The parts that cracked were no longer colour fast, when I touched them against another piece of paper the colour came right off. I think I've got a duff sheet of decal paper so I'm going to see if I can get another sheet from a different source.

Carried on with the wheels today. I used my motor tool with a round stone on to rub the filler down, then gave them about three coats of Tamiya white gloss. Overall result is acceptable. I much prefer the look of the two-hole wheels. Just got to try and find the front bumper now. Can't for the life of me remember what I did with it. The Bison is pictured with the AMT dry van. I added Monogram wheels to this because I got sick of the AMT wheels being so out of scale small. It looks much meatier with proper sized wheels and tyres. The AMT tyres are really well formed and meticulously detailed but they're just too small. They make the trailer look like a roller skate. Moving the axles closer together would sort the look with the original wheels but I'm not taking the risk of trying to separate axles from running gear now.

I've used the template and gelpen method on 1/25 vinyl tyres before now with very good results. Takes practice mind. I don't see why it wouldn't work on 1/32 provided you have the right surface to draw on. I assume you'll be painting the tyre, and I think you'd be ok with a semi matt or matt finish.

I wonder if someone could assist me please? If anyone has what was the old ERTL 40ft Great Dane reefer trailer [I believe it's now sold as an AMT piece], could they measure the dimensions of the reefer unit please, as in the attached drawing? I want to build the old Sentry type of Thermo King unit in 1/32 but wherever I look I can't really find photos that I can scale to measure from. If you could just list the dimensions A to F, that would be great. Sorry to be awkward but I dont want the old style reefer on the original AMT Fruehauf trailer that's been reissued in Coca-Cola colours [other carbonated soft drinks are available], it has to be the Thermo King on the Great Dane. I've attached pictures of the kit I'm talking about. Wish I had one, beautiful kit. Thanks for your help lads.

I emailed Bare Metal and asked if they could advise me on a possible solution. Randy emailed me back in just a few hours, on a Sunday!!! How's that for customer service? He suggested that I'd brushed the liquid decal film on too heavily which has bonded the decal to the backing paper. I never thought that could happen. I might try again.... Glutton for punishment.