Rockford

I found a piece of thick sprue and put in the chuck of my "lathe" (drill). Using a hand file I turned four spring brake chambers. I also fabbed a quick release valve from a piece of square rod and drilled it for the hoses (it's impossible to make these things to scale, a QR valve is only a little thing). This can then take the hoses to the brake chambers and the feed from the air reservoir. The valve would normally be mounted on the axle so I let the wire hoses position it for me.

Another main let down on these "snappers" is the chassis rails. They're just moulded square when we all know pressed steel chassis rails are a 'C' section. To remedy this I cut 3mm strips of plastic from stock card and laid it on the top and bottom of the main chassis rails. I filled the edges and sanded a round profile on the edges to mimic the pressed 'C' section. I'd already added a couple of fillets to the end of the centre crossmember.

It has to be said that if the hi- po days of the late 60 's were still in operation in the days of the disco Nova it would be seen as an iconic design, sadly the gas crisis relegated it to being an underdog. Without doubt it is one of GM 's best ever body styles.

Beautiful Bubbletop!

It's not the most luxurious of garages but it's dry. We've had nothing but rain for weeks, wave after wave of rain coming in off the Atlantic. Any vinyl roofs in the offing ?

Stunning!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes adding detail to these snappers (although I've never done a Volvo). You're doing a grand job!

I'm possibly going to turn the rears into white two hole discs and just tidy the tyres up. I desperately want to find something that looks like hubs in the rear wheels. I know the wheels and tyres are one of the main let downs on these kits but I don't see any alternative. The AMT1/32 pieces were better but they're unobtainable now. I'll have to work with what I've got.

I am thick sometimes. I thought "This fellow is awfully good for someone who has never built a model car before!" Then I realised that you're building a model of the first car you owned! How stupid of me! It's looking great, that method you devised for the window frames is genius! Great to see the straight six going together too.

Tell you what mate, you've had some real setbacks on this kit but its come through looking great! Well done on those back light lenses and the chassis looks really tidy.

This is going to be a fascinating build, Disconovaman you know I'm going to be following this closely, my little baby X body is hiding from the British winter at the moment. All those promos were making me very envious!

The chassis has a closing type crossmember at the rear so I cut that out and made myself a more accurate rear crossmember to go further in. Then I had to start on the tandems. I made a profile of the differential out of plastic card which slotted into the axles and gave me something to work to. Then I used decreasing widths of sliced card to build a rounded upper casing. Once dry I used putty to shape them into the rear diff and the power divider. It's not up to workshop manual standard but from a distance it looks 'diffy'! Next, more chassis detail I think.

Second step, to remove the excessive amount of tread plate on the chassis [marked in red] which is there to obscure the missing detail on the chassis. This means I'll have to detail the axles etc...

First problem, the sideskirts include the quarterfenders yet they're miles away from the second axle because the chassis is the generic conventional version in these kits. I cut 10mm out of the chassis and things are much better. Looks like it was designed!

Here's the latest project, yet another 1/32 Snap-Tite job. This is probably the bridge between the old school of the Peterbilt 359, the KW 925 etc... and the modern class 8 aerodynamic tractor. It's got the Louisville cab [they were gorgeous trucks] but encased in spoilers and aerodynamic peripherals. Naturally, being a "snapper" it will need some help to be a proper model.

That is a model and a half! I could start it but I don't think I'd ever finish it. You're doing a grand job on it though. Just hope you maintain your momentum but I think your motivational keep you pushing on this one. Sorry to hear about your mum.

Those prices are unbelievable, I'd expect to have to double those prices then put a £ sign in front of them instead of dollars. The last kit shop I knew of here in the North West of England was in Preston and the AMT truck kits were £50.00 and 1/25 cars were £40.00 just way beyond "hobby" money for me, couldn't justify the expense. SO BUY THEM, BUY THEM ALL NOW! Mind you, I've got about 150 kits stashed all over the house to build one day. So I shouldn't complain, but you can never have all the kits you need. By the way, that shop had an inventory of £3,000,000 of kits and model railway stock. When the owner retired, no one would pay the price to take the business so it closed. Another model shop gone.

Two of those headlights are actually lit! How's that for realism?! ? This build is looking brilliant.

Looking good mate, sorry about your mishap. The piece from the cassette sounds good as it is spring steel I think, very strong. These cars always look best in two tone schemes I think, especially in pastel shades like you've chosen. Paint looks very good mate, I can't hope to paint in my garage at this time of year. I have this kit from about 15 years ago and hope to build it one day! I don't know if the opening doors are a blessing or a curse.

That looks brilliant!

Last thing I ever expected to see on here was an ATKINSON. What a great motor you've built. I used to work on two Borderers for Cavendish Transport in Liverpool, tanker company. Wish I'd took photos. That looks real, the diorama is a masterpiece too!

Looks great! Something tells me you like Star Trek??

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.