SpreadAxle

Of all my builds, this was my favorite, and I hated the idea of a crummy paint job, so I stripped it down this morning. The Polly S Easy Lift Off didn't chew up my plastic this time like it osmetimes did in the past. The parts have been prepped and primed. I will be airbrushing Testors Gloss Black as the color. I'm throwing away the Duplicolor Black. It doesn't have the nice spray I've come to expect from the Duplicolors I used before. Even with my mix up, it just didn't seem to lay right, and I'm finding that the test parts I sprayed are looking much better with the Testors Black. Hence the change. Oh well, the original color was Testors Classic Black anyway, but I couldn't find any, so this was the closest thing. Thank you all so much. I take pride in my work, although it couldn't compete with the builds I've seen here, and I hated knowing it wouldn't turn out.

Due to the silly mistake I made when painting the cab, hood and fenders, I will be stripping and repainting the body parts. Even the parts that look ok might show cracking later, as I've been informed, so I'm redoing it. I will be going with a striping pattern that is the same color as the frame. It was one of the 2 ideas I had for a paintjob on this rebuild. I want to do it right, and at least I didn't go too far, but better safe than sorry. Thanks 4 the encouragement and kind words everyone.

This looks like an interesting companion for the pete. cool idea so far.

Any luck :?:

Oh he does offer something like it, but this had the big 86" Studio sleeper.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...W:IT&ih=019 I didn't know this conversion kit existed, but here it is.

I totally agree with you Anthony. I honestly never heard of the soapy water trick. I have heard that Jbot decals seem to be more delicate than most, and with me having 2 sets myself, I don't want to ruin them. They are too nice.

Oops. :oops: The engine is intake side down. You made an excellent point concerning heat, but then I remembered, the intake side of the engine was the bottom when installed this way. I looked at the pic in my post in 1:1 reference, and realized I said that wrong. Thinking about it, I wonder why the exhaust side would be facing the bottom of the body. hmmm.

Pretty good for just going off of what's in your head. This will be a nice vintage fire truck when finished.

thanks for sharing that tip Anthony. I'll remember that one.

I've installed the fenders and the bumper. The radiator cap I added is a spare Autocar fuel tank cap. I'm excited to see that it's come this far. I'm happy with how it's turning out. I don't forsee mounting the cab and hood tonight. However, I can work on some more lines now. Although it may be a bit troublesome with the fenders in place, I won't have to worry about not being able to place them due to details that have been added. Thanks to all of you for all the encouragement. That, and the model itself has kept me going these last two weeks thru my ordeal with my KW. I should have the cylinder head back anytime now. Then I can go back to work.

I know in another post Tim mentions some extra precautions to take, but I can't remember what he said. I know he warned of them being very delicate.

Thanks Jim. I've always loved the look of an Autocar.

See, that's the primers I've used in the past. Under all my paints. It's just weird how this paintjob gave me all this trouble.

I did some minor body work so far today. the decal you see on the fuel tank is the center portion of the bumper decal. You can see where I cut it from the sheet. I have 3 of these sheets, so I thought I would add some extra graphics. The painjob is not complete. I forgot about Duplicolor automotive being a laquer, and you don't spray that over testors enamel primer. :oops: The hood top has cracks in the paint, but it's shiny. The sides have that textured, not shiny look. Silly me, huh. I have spare Autocar hoods, so I will try it again. I can't believe I did that. Oh well. I guess I got too excited and grabbed the wrong primer. :roll: The hood seems to be the only part giving me trouble on this paintjob. At least we can see what it will look like. When finished.

I forgot to ask, what color did you use to simulate the oxblood red. I'm trying to compile a list of interior colors and their appropriate model paint matches. Looks like you picked a close match here.

Testors are my favorite paints. I should've stuck with them. I still can't believe I had this brain fart. I should've known Duplicolor was a laquer. Oh well, I do have spares. I guess I just got excited to see this truck coming back together. I built it 10 years ago, and after moving a few times, I figured it was time to restore it.

I am a fan of the Winslow stripes. I always have been. I wanted a set for my last truck, but I'm very picky about who paints my truck, so it never got them. I have a set of 2 tone blue and silver Winslow stripes waiting for me to pick out a kit for them. I love JBOT's work, but I'm concerned about the delicateness of the stripes. I know Tim had an additional hint or two with these. Very nice job though.

Dutch seems right. I should've asked my girlfriend first, because she's German. She could've eliminated that one for me.

The 379 question has always been a head scratcher for me. Why not make that kit??? And the later versions of the W900 Kenworth have also been ignored unless you go to smaller scales for either one. As to the trailer, I would go to www.truckpaper.com and do a search on dump trailers. You can search their website by state. I found a Michigan train to download for reference on this project. I'm not sure what you can legally carry with that trailer there. One has to take into account the bridge law, which is a very confusing regulation on how much weight you can carry in reference to the distance in feet between your kingpin and your trailer's rear axle. Tri axle trailers that are shorter in length aren't even allowed 80,000# if I remember right, but I would check on that one. That's according to some dump drivers thatI've talked to. I'm not sure about that 5 axle, and Michigan's weight limits are different, so you may very well be allowed 100,000#

Wow, I'm glad I got a response so quick. I feel silly, but the knowledge was worth it. :oops: I honestly never knew it was a laquer, but I know now. :oops: Thanks for your help and honesty. It was worth it. I should've known something as basic as not mixing paint types. I knew I screwed up somewhere. I should've used their primer too. By the way, thanks also for warning me that the cracks might not show up for awhile.

Almost a carbon copy. What country is this brochure from? Looks Swedish or German or something.

Jim the pix are there. If you're getting just a box with an x in the left corner. sign out and try again. That happened to me last night, only with my posts though. Strange

I'm using Duplicolor Brilliant Black on an Autocar truck I'm rebuilding. See Autocar rebuild in model trucks section. On certain parts, no matter how much prep work I do, I run into problems. the only parts cooperating are the cab and bumper. I stripped/primed/sanded(you know the drill) everything. However, the hood top section keeps getting these spiderweb cracks, like a windsheild that's been hit, and on the fenders, the paint runs away from the edges. The hood is the butterfly style as truckers refer to it. Where you open it upwards from each side. It's 3 separate pieces. I have a spare hood top, but I want to avoid using it. At least there aren't too many rivets to worry about sanding off. This is what I did so far, so you get the picture. I stripped it with POLLY S ELO(easy lift off). Unfortunately, that does leave the cracking effect in the plastic itself. I sanded it smooth, and then applied Testors Primer. In the past, I've Duplicolor over Testors primer, hardware store/walmart primer and never had a problem. Or is it the Black. Any comments, even if I totally screwed up, feel free. This is the only thing holding up the final product. Thanks