Rockford

I intended to work on my fuel tanks today but when I looked at the brackets I'd drawn up out of plastic card I thought they'd be very fragile once I'd cut them out. I needed a sturdier solution. Then I had a moment of brilliance! I carefully cut out slots in the tank where the brackets would meet the tank. Then I fashioned tank straps out of plastic card. I glued a bracket each side of some 2.5mm square rod to form a hollow bracket, then slid the brackets into the slots either side of the installed straps. I think they look great. Need to fill the ends and tidy up, then fashion some tank caps. I mocked them up and they look right. I also wanted to use the Holland fifth wheel from an AMT kit. It's very bland and too thick so I filed it down and added some of the bracing underneath for a better appearance.

I didn't know it was that late but I remember it was to make oil leaks obvious, ie: they didn't expect any, which my experience with Cummins is a fair expectation, they were very oil tight.

Thanks mate, I think it will look good with a coat of Cummins beige. I've not done the front end details because you're never going to see them. Just the back end.

As you'll see in other pictures the cab of this kit has a solid "mesh" in the doghouse opening to hide the empty engine bay. I wanted this gone to give a more realistic appearance but this left me with a dilemma. How to solve the problem of the empty "powerbarn". So, I made my own Cummins. Two plastic card boxes on top of each other to imitate the block, heads and narrower rocker boxes. Then I made an aftercooler from square rod and sprue. Rocker covers and timing cover from card. Then assorted sprue and rod to make the oil cooler, compressor, fuel pump, exhaust manifold, turbo, charge air cross over pipe, thermostat housing, breather and added some plumbing for coolant, fuel and air and it looks great. I'll use my old friend Chubby Sprue to make some trunking from the airfilter and to the exhaust. I know some of the scratch building on here would put me to shame but I don't think this is too bad for a few hours' work.

Gorgeous Mk1 Ezzy!

Excellent looking build, very clean and tidy.

Lovely job, proper workhorse.

Two nice rigs!

When I built it some time ago this was an ERTL kit, something I'd never heard of in GB. I then got the Transtar conventional and about three of the Great Dane reefers with the chrome bulkhead. They were beautiful kits too!

I can only say I agree with all the compliments that have been said. Fantastic work Sergey. A masterpiece.

Thanks for you kind comments gents. I'd love to build 1/25 stuff but I'm very limited on space.

Very nice job!

That would be a ten year project for me! So much to like about this truck, so well done, congratulations.

Very nice!

Looks really good with the modifications you made to the hood and the wrecker body.

Great looking rig, always loved this kit, after several AMT kits this one showed me how good kits could be. Love the chassis length on this too.

That's a very realistic looking truck. A proper worker with no bling. One of the unsung heroes.

Thinking of the length of the chassis I'd omit the sleeper and keep the Dayton rear wheels. Proper heavy duty piece of kit.

I'm plodding on with this. Added slack adjusters and S-cams for the rear brakes, also turned some brake chambers to install later. Cut out and shaped some brackets for the rear suspension mounts on the chassis. Fitted rear shock mounts and made shocks out of aluminium tube that telescope like a real shock. I'll mount after paint. Bought some 20mm round electrical conduit to use for fuel tanks and made two up. Now drawing up brackets to cut out to support them. Filled the join on the cab and left it for a week before sanding it because it seems to shrink over a few days. Seems to be better this time.

Wow!

That's interesting. Different countries different rules I suppose.

Got a bit more done to the Pacemaker. Added a lower flange to the chassis, used a Camaro alternator for a brake relay valve, filled and profiled the rear axle and suspension arms and installed the exhaust bracket and pogo stick. Mocked up a stack to see how it looks. Still got my usual brake chambers and piping to add, also rear hubs on the drive axles. I like the way the gearbox hangs separately in the frame as it would in the real thing. Also filled and sanded the joint in the cab about three times. Lot more of that to come I think but looks ok. Going to add the intake pipe through the cab on this one. Thinking about fuel tanks now. Don't think I can use anything from this kit or anything else, I'd have to do so much cutting they'd be destroyed. I'm thinking of 20mm electrical conduit but not sure if that would work with any adhesive. ?

Same here, started with Airfix kits in bags with the instructions inside the label stapled to the top of the bag! Spitfires and Hurricanes, Heinkels and Messerschmitts all badly brush painted with Humbrol and paint spots all over my jeans! My brother built a few of the cars. Sad t say I actually worked on a few Commer PBs, ex Telecom vans as were the thousands of Bedford HA vans like in The Beiderbecke Affair on the telly. Apologies, I digress.

I'm pretty much a lover of American iron of most kinds from the 50s through to the 90s and fortunately got my fix over the early 2000s when I bought about 150 kits from various sources, both model shops in the NW and Tower Hobbies in the States, but the import duty for stuff from America started becoming punitive so I dropped that source. I always look at eBay, which I'm really beginning to resent due to its profiteering attitude, but it is the only sizeable source of kits and every so often, a good buy does come up, so it does pay to keep an eye on things. The irony is that the 150 kits sit unmade in various cupboards and I'm busy looking for 1/32 Snaptite trucks on eBay that are affordable now! Living on a little pension I really can't afford to pay current kit prices in retailers so I'll just have to dip into my stash. Someone commented that there is a big American car community in GB, well Liverpool used to have quite a few knocking around because of Burtonwood Airbase out toward Warrington. That was an American supply depot and the personnel would sell their cars off after their tour of duty rather than ship them home. I remember a bloke who drank in the Chepstow Castle in Walton had a Chrysler Newport, I'd see it parked outside the pub. As for model shops, few and far between. None in Liverpool as I am aware, used to be several in the city centre. One in Formby does trains and radio control cars. Then it's out to Widnes for a good shop with a few AMT/Polar Lights etc... Used to be Transport Models in Preston but they closed due to retirement. When I bought my stash of car kits they were £12 - £15 each. That will give you some idea of how long ago it was. I would like to build them one day...

The snap fit design of these kits dictates that function stands over form. For instance, the cab has a hidden locating slot at the front but the rear has two tangs that clip into the chassis. Monogram hid this with the exhaust frame and pogo stick mount but with me just having one stack it's all exposed. So, I took some I beam I had from another kit and rigged up some better rear mounts for the cab, then cut the old locators off, but that exposes the hollow gearbox, so I removed the moulded in piece of frame surrounding the gearbox and formed a lid and selector box out of sprue and plastic card. Looks ok. I also did my first pass with the stopper on the cab seam. I put masking tape either side of the cut so I didn't end up with stopper all over the cab. Not sure whether that was a good move yet. I'll see when I start rubbing down.