SpreadAxle

I just had to look at these again. Simply outstanding!

Here is a link to a Royale II brochure: http://public.fotki.com/TruckBrochures/trucks-d/diamond-reo-royale-ii/

It would be a pain to remember to hit the switch and lift the axles on corners. That is one sweet truck, though.

You really are going all out on this one. Nice work so far.

Sounds like the 1/25 scale AMT Autocar Dump Truck kit.

Nice job Jim

That is definately one to be proud of.

The same valuable source answered a few questions for me after he posted the above list. AutoCar dropped the White color around 1968/69 The best match for the Mack Red is the Testers Boyd Red or the Testers little bottles of Dark Red.(this is in reference to the Super Tip Turbine. E6-300/315/350 engines that were red in the early 1980s. See the 1980 Mack F700 brochure I referenced earlier) The Ford FE based engines were Black after late 1960 up to mid 1965 when the went to Ford Blue. After 1982 they went to Ford Corporate Grey. Allis Chalmers Road engines are Plum Crazy Purple. The later Macks went from Grey to Medium Grey/ Blue when the engines (6 or V8) were ordered intercoolered.

I copied the list that started this thread to another forum. A member there who is always a Very good source of info(he collects and scraps trucks) offered this little list. AutoCar engines'.... White Diamond Reo.......... Boyd Red is close match GM Turbine is Red AC Mack is................ Medium Grey Detriot 16V/71.........Alpine Green Model Master Acryl RLM 25 is a close match Mack Super Tip Turbine is Red Chevy up to 1950 Medium Grey, late 1950 up to 1963 six cylinder engines Chevy/GMC corperate Blue, Chevy V 8's are chevy orange, GMC V6 and V8 Alpine Green for 6 and red for v8 Ford 331 Flathead truck engine... Dark Spruce Green. OHV 1954 to 1961 Red Boyd Red.... ............. Testers #52709 Enamel only Testers Acryl RLM 25 " #4774 Acrylic only Ford/GM blue " #4661 Acrylic /#2726 Enamel Chevy orange " #4629 Acrylic /#2731 Enamel AC Mack Grey " #4757 Acrylic/#1725 Enamel I'm not sure when Autocar painted their engines white, but i think it was b4 the 1970s. I'm still gathering info where I can.

For a little more confusion, Mack had some other engine colors, too. During the 1980's, there were red, and light blue engines as well. From the 1980 F700 brochure: http://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thscale/truck_brochures/mack/mack_interstater_1980/mack20h_jpg.html From the 1982 Mack Cruiseliner brochure. This engine appears to be a light blue. http://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thscale/truck_brochures/mack/mack_cruiseliner_1982/82cruiseliner12.html Same with the 1987 Mack R brochure http://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thscale/truck_brochures/mack/mack_r-series_1987/6.html

The way Jim described it is accurate. The 4270 kit has the V-903 Cummins engine. The 4300 kit has the V-800 engine. The only V903 I ever saw in person was black(or it might have been the very dark gray mentioned earlier. I would say black for the one I saw). It was sitting on a stand in school.

Tim that's a really cool page on your site. Great detail shots.

Welcome aboard

The turquoise colored piece appears to be an air cleaner. The green part looks like it could be a power divider/differential off of a front drive axle. Or at least 1/2 of one. the purple part has the look of a battery box cover or even a fuel tank with a step cut into it. The brown part is either a starter or an oil filter. Not sure about the others. I hope I'm at least close. Looks like random parts used to get shapes on a much larger model. I read somewhere that model truck parts were added in studio to the model of one of the large spaceships from Star Wars just for random shapes on the exterior.

There are other visual cues as well. Whether or not they had spoke wheels helped narrow it down. As a general rule, western trucks had disc wheels. Spoke wheels were more of an east coast thing. You tended to only see spoke wheels out west if an east coast truck was driven out there. It seems like aluminum wheels(well, aluminum anything really) were more common on western trucks in the early years. An observation I've made also from studying old pix is that east coast trucks were darker colors, with red and green being especially popular among fleets and owner operators alike. While lighter colors seemed to be the norm with western trucks. It wasn't a guaranteed thing, just something I noticed. Double trailers weren't common if they were allowed at all in eastern states until later years. When they did find their way east, they were usually only vans. Out west is where you saw, and still see, double flats/tanks/dumps/livestock vans/etc. With the exception of the turnpike doubles( 2 48/53 ft trailers) on I 90 in IN/OH/NY/MA where I've seen double flats, I only ever seen vans as doubles east of the Rockies. Straight trucks pulling trailers were and still are much more of a western, than eastern thing. Trucks carrying snow chains is more of a western thing. In the east, we generally don't chain up in the winter. Maybe in Northern NY, and the New England area north of Mass., where the weather is probably tougher in the winter(not sure as I rarely ventured north of I 90 in my career, at least in New England). Generally, though, if you see a truck in the east with snow chains on, it's a snowplow. Out west, even if you never use them, you better carry them or else. That's something the DOT man starts looking for in the fall, and it's an expensive fine of you don't have them with you. Another thing, not counting Michigan, western trucks and trailers can be found with more axles. Lots of 4 axle tractors and 3 axle trailers out that way. I've seen 8 and 9 axle rigs out there as well. The 11 Western states always had higher weight limits. Even 5 axle rigs can legally haul more weight(off, and I stress OFF the Interstate system). At least I could when I had my spread axle flatbed. Back when the weight limit was 73,280# gross, the 11 western states allowed 80,000#. When that became the national standard, states like Illinois retained the 73,280 limit on secondary roads to discourage heavy truck traffic in certain areas. Namely on the stretch of State/US highway that parallels the Interstate near the weigh station. Speaking of multiple trailers, with the exception of the OH/IN turnpikes, you will not see triples in the eastern states. Also, as their name implies, Rocky Mountain doubles can only be found out west. That is the 48/53 ft trailer pulling a 27-35 ft trailer. Up until probably the 1970s(please correct me if I screw this up) East Coast and West Coast trucks could be distinguished simply by manufacturer. You didn't have the dealership networks like you do now, although by the early 60s that began to change. Mack and International had Western divisions that built trucks for Western operators(aluminum frames, chassis designed for more powerful engines,etc). While many eastern names were popular out west like Autocar, KW and Pete didn't start opening dealerships in the eastern states until the late 60s I think(correct me if wrong). Western Star seemed to stay true to its name for many years until the late 70s. It seemed to be the case with trailers as well. Fruehauf seemed to be the choice of Eastern carriers. Utility and Aero were more common out west. Western flatbedders will use rope to tie down tarps. In the East, we use bungee straps. From what I see in pix, and even on the road 2day in my travels, if you saw a truck with more than 2 fuel tanks, it was likely a western truck. Someone made a note about dump trucks earlier. I notice Eastern dump trucks often have taller bodies. And the tri-axle isn't something I see out west. It's usually the transfer dump, or I'll occasionally see the axle that drops down behind the truck on a long arm. Oh, and you almost never see cow-catchers/grille guards on Eastern trucks. That's a Western thing. Minnesota and the Dakotas seem to be as far East as you'll find those on American trucks. That was fun. I can't think of any more right now, though.

Amazing

Cool Doug. Now I know how you made the load. Glad to hear she's better.

Nice work.

Nice job on converting the headlights and getting their height right. This will be a cool truck.

Thanks for adding these, Tim.

Very nice work so far.

Bummer. I was hoping to try one of these. Well, if you ever do try again, I will snatch one up.

Cool. I like the fenders you built for it. I believe in one of the pix is a Revell AG Black Widow kit. That was my first Revell AG kit. Seeing the bix brought back a good memory.

Nice work.

I think you're right. I read that thread as well.