SpreadAxle

This a neat little project.

Remember this one? I had planned on making it a Michigan train, so here is the pup in progress. It's beginning to look more like a trailer now. I still have to finish plumbing the brake lines, and the hydraulic line and safety chains. The "dolly" is slightly modified from the kit instructions with more bracing on the tongue. Also, the dump box and frame have been shortened. Sorry about the blurry pix, I'm still trying to learn my new camera. Here is the chassis: If you look at the body closely, you will see small hooks above the rub rail. These are photo-etch brass rope hooks by KFS. They are available from Spualding's(Item #KFS78). I plan to tarp the trailers, so I thought these would be appropriate. The small ladder sections you see are made from pieces of the cut down rubrail. Well I hope you enjoyed them. I'm thinking I will have to modify the lead trailer, because from what I've seen on the real Fruehauf Michigan trains, the tailgate on the lead trailer has a noticeable slant towards the front as opposed to the nearly vertical tailgate in the kit.

I would get the Revell kit myself. I've heard there were a few disappointments with this kit also, but I would get it over the AMT kit.

Wow Scott. That looks like it took some serious concentration. Nice job.

Sounds like a cool list of parts. What is this DINA hood you mentioned? Is it an extended hood?

Excellent work Matt! I can't wait to see what you come up with the next.

This looks sharp so far.

5/16" 3/8" 1/2" These are the common thicknesses for links on transport chain. Length is about 2-4".

This thing is WICKED!!!!! Did you really make the binders?? How did you make those? Could you give some pointers? Incredible work here.

Here are links for the 1977 and 1982 Mack Cruiseliner brochures. I hope they help with your builds. The square grille in the 1982 brochure can be obtained from AITM. They also have a 275"wb cruiseliner frame which has metal rods embedded into resin of the frame rails 4 support. 1977 brochure: http://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thsca...uiseliner_1977/ 1982 brochure: http://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thsca...uiseliner_1982/

Thanks, I'll take a look.

These look pretty good.

I would like to find a small Briggs and Stratton motor in 1/25 scale. The old reefers had these on the nose of the trailer near the roof, and they spun a big fan inside the trailer, that circulated the cold air from bloacks of ice placed in the trailer to "refrigerate" the load. That might be an idea for you, too. All depends on what you're looking to model.

I'm glad I could help. Generally speaking, remember also, that depending on where the truck operated, trailers were longer, or shorter. As a rule, from Iowa(especially Iowa from what the old-timers have said) on east, states were VERY fussy about trailer, and overall length. The western states allowed longer trailers. The Lindberg trailer is 36'. Trailers in the 1950's as far as tandem axles go ranged from 27/28 to 35', from what I've seen and read. 32' was a very common length at the time. Having gone to antique truck shows, the heights I recall seening on old van trailers were as short as 11'. I remember an 11'1" trailer at one show. What I'm not sure about is width. I know that the old AMT trailers represent 96" widths, but I don't know what the widths were in the '50s. Some trailers had 2 kingpins, one in front of the other. This was so that the tractor could hook up to the rear kingpin, which would shorten the length of the entire unit. I hope this helps. And remember, there's a good excuse to visit Dave's site. LOL

As far as box trailers go, the Lindberg/Hawk/IMC/Testors trailers are a great starting point, but cut the length by about 4 scale feet or so. There were some van trailers that were built in such a way that they resembled this kit very closely. Trailers were pretty simple looking back then. Also, height should be 11-12'(roughly), maybe 12'6" at the most. I don't think the 13'6" vans appeared 'til the 1960's. As far as round noses, I'm toying with the idea of taking one of the sides from an incomplete AMT Fruehauf van I won on ebay and bending it to the round shape. I have to figure the best way to do it so it holds shape afterwards. It will be a challenge, but I think if have the floor and roof ready and build braces inside that might help. One more idea I saw was on AITM's website. Click on Dave's Trucks. Look for the Roadway truck, which is an H model Mack, he made the trailer himself, but it appears to be constructed from 2 of the van bodies from the AMT Ford Louisville Short Hauler. Another thing to try is Evergreen has sheets that are supposed to represent the sides of the old railroad passenger car bodies(no windows cut in or anything, just that type of horizontally ribbed metal). It might be worth looking into. Same with the flatbeds by Lindberg/Hawk/IMC/Testors . Even some flatbeds back then, Fruehauf for sure, had the round nose. Fruehauf made a round nose, 32' tandem axle flat with a round trailer mounted header board(headache rack). Probably one of the best picture colections on Hank's Truck pix to look at for ideas is the Fred Gruin, Jr Collection. Plenty of pix from the mid 50's showing good views at different angles of trucks and trailers back then. I hope I was at least some help to you, and good luck.

Awesome!!

Stunning!!!!!!!

Oh you dodged a bullet alright. I never knew Matlack was unionized, though. I was shocked when Matlack closed their doors, I didn't even know they were in trouble.

I love the Mack. Both of you did a nice job. I wish I knew where I could get some Matlack decals. They had a terminal on Neville Island(just north of Pittsburgh) and when I was a teenager I used to cruise by there and check out their trucks. This truck brings back some good memories 4 me. Thanks for sharing.

Tim, very well done. The paintjob is unique, and really simple. I like it.

There was a resin cab available for it. It looked like a decent casting, but I dn't know who sold it, and you know it will be one of those high dollar ebay buys.

The place that leases the trailers to our contractors sells Road Gear headache racks. You've got the look of this right. Nice job Kurt

You can take Italeri's 48' American Reefer and stretch it. I hear it's not the most accurate kit, but it would make for a more modern trailer.

INCREDIBLE!!!!!! You did a great job on the decals also. I wish the North American decals I have would have included the I.C.C. info. Nice job. Very nice. Definately inspiring.

Outstanding!!!!