Rockford

This is the ESCI 1/32 container trailer. It's very European in appearance so required quite a few modifications to make it look comfortable behind American machinery but I think it turned out ok. Reminds me of when the 20ft container was the standard and 40 footers were the exception rather than the other way round, as now. The 20ft container is still the unit of measurement for cargo capacity on ships, they use the term TEU : Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit. The fact that I can remember that demonstrates just how boring I can be. I tried it behind all my tractor units, I think the Aerodyne looks best, no the T600, no the General, no the Pete, no the Mack, no the Freightliner. D'oh!

This is very adventurous! You have my admiration and interest sir!?

This is pretty much finished now, just the twist lock handles to fit and a licence plate to find. I gave the container a coat of semi-gloss clear to stop it marking easily and tone down the red oxide a little, then made up some decals for it using white decal paper. I made them for a company that does (or maybe did) actually exist, Triton, and after making and lacquering them, realised I'd been thinking about Tiphook, a British company that grew very big very quickly and promptly disappeared. Never mind, Triton it is! The details for rear doors are on one sheet of self adhesive vinyl so I cut each one out, stuck it to my white decal paper and then applied as a decal. This allowed me to move them into the right position using setting solution, stickers are a one shot gamble. I found a great way to keep the trailer out of harm's way when working on the box too. Hung from a screw! Overall I'm very happy with the result, brings back memories of all the 20ft trailers I used to see in and out of Liverpool docks, before 40 foot "boxes" became the norm.

I shall follow this with interest. Do you have a photo of the kit you plan to base it on?

Bubbltop beauty that mate! Well done. Good colour choice too.

You wouldn't miss that on the road! Looks brilliant, well done. It reminds me of when I was near Liverpool docks and the Corvette team were on their way back from Le Mans, a huge Peterbilt powered race rig had to make a right hand turn on our pokey little streets, all I can say his, he was some driver! I sat and watched in awe. Great truck mate. Keep up the good work.

Impressive build. Love the look of it. Must give you great satisfaction to build a truck you knew in the metal! Now there's just the other 93% to do! Look forward to seeing them.

I love the look of this this truck, very muscular! You did a great job on it, one of the plain Jane workaday trucks that men spent their working lives in but never got any recognition. Just excellent!

Nice looking rig. No engine? No great problem, you shouldn't see it very often anyway!

You must be so proud of that build. It's impeccable. Fantastic choice of colours and the KW paint scheme looks spot on. The AMT W925 is one of my all time favourite kits, it was my first proper truck kit and was quite exotic over in England in the 70s. You have to remember there was no internet then, so I didn't really know what it was, I just knew it was a beautiful truck. The daycab is a great choice too. I smiled when I opened this thread!

Nice colours you've chosen, interior looks especially tidy! Good stance too. Very nicely done.

Great looking build, don't envy you those decals but should finish it well. I see this is a Revell kit but it's very different to the Revell Firebird kit I'm familiar with. They obviously have different origins. This is the only Revell one I know:-

Interior looks great in that colour, the dash looks really clean, and the underfloor looks so tidy! Great kit.

This is going to be some build, that engine looks fantastic. One of the most exciting parts of a build for me is the engine. I found a pack of diodes from Radio Shack serve well as in line fuel filters, they even come with the fuel line attached!

I know how you feel, what I used to do freehand without glasses I now have to use two pair of glasses, a magnifying glass, and jam my hand against the bench to keep it still. It is so frustrating! Your builds look fantastic though. Tamiya do make a good product don't they?

It's a beautiful big red slab of steel! Very nicely done. I've never seen that trim on the front fender with the Bonneville script before.

Well you're doing something right mate because your paint jobs are excellent. Unfortunately I live in a flat so I can't employ the "kitchen door" method. I have to say Halfords paint is excellent stuff to work with, very forgiving and a durable finish, though lately I've been buying Hycote from The Range because it's where we go for our exercise. I believe they're the same product inside. I've had some good finishes from the too.

Very tidy! Do love a Tri-Chevy and that's a nice job.

Looks brilliant, interior is excellent! Well done. You must have built about 30 cars in the last few months.

I love these 60s behemoths, especially Ponchos. That's a beautiful car and you're making your usual great job of it! Vinyl roof looks great and suits the car so well. I'm just wondering where you're painting because here in Liverpool it's too cold and damp to do anything. I tried painting something in the garage the other week and the condensation on it was unbelievable! Your paint jobs are stil coming out great.

Did some work on the trailer today. Built the wheels up. Decided to just add the white line on the edge of the wheel rims. Painted the mudflaps too. Need to accommodate the rake in the chassis from the fifth wheel. Do I lower the front axle or raise the back axle? I'll have a think. I'm aware of the irony that the trailer has bigger hubs than the drive axles of the tractor!!! Such is SnapTite life.

Great minds think alike! It looks just right really. Worked out well.

I'd be interested to see a picture of that

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. I managed to get paint on it yesterday, I shot the primer and I couldn't believe that when I went to pick it up it was soaking wet with condensation! As the solvents evaporated the surface temperature drops and the moisture in the air condensed onto it. I thought it was warm and fairly dry, but obviously not. I dried it off and later got the colour on. It's not the best finish but as I said earlier in the thread these units never got the best of finishes, as long as they were all one colour they were doing well. I'm leaning toward white rims for the wheels, leaving the hubs and spokes blue, but I wonder what just white on the very edge of the rim would look like. I think it's obvious that I should try the minimum first. Painted the box in red oxide primer. Looking at making some ACL decals for it.

Did a bit more on the trailer before it goes for paint. Shaped a trailer relay valve from the old carburettor I found. Drilled holes to fit pigtails in the brake chambers and the valve. Also did the same for the signal and emergency lines to the valve. I know it will all end up painted chassis colour but that's what happened with our trailers, we didn't mask the pipework it all got blasted with colour! I also realized the top of the axles are hollow so I fitted some plastic strip over the hole, that's the white piece in the photos.