BigBad

But they don't... One thing's for sure though, if somebody get's to it, it is possible to do something pretty awesome. Imagine the detail that CAN be added! Good news for those of us who don't have any of the originals. I built this kit when it first came out 30 some years ago! And good news in general, the manufacturers are sensitive to the market...

No, they do not open... When you think that AMT could do it 40 years ago... It looks a bit lame. BUT, it goes together pretty nicely though, it is sturdy too. But the details are lacking, especially in the suspension dpt. for sure. Can't wait to see if Moebius is coming out with a trailer. That would be... Soothing! But, for the time being, the closest available kit you get to a modern trailer is the 48' Italeri. Its up to us to make'em better I guess.

Pretty classy truck you have there Chris! Can't go wrong with black on red. The stripes makes it really stand out, good color choice. The front wheels are not from that kit, now, are they? Did you shorten the front axle for it to fit properly? That kit is a beast! no locators on the cab anywhere for any equipment and that sleeper cab half... When you don't know where you are heading with this kit, it gives you a hard time! But you ended up with something pretty darn decent! Like Floyd "Butchey" just wrote, A black trailer with similar stripe would be killer behind your Freightshaker!

Thanks Scott! For the height of the box on top of the truck's 5th wheel, it should be around scale 13'3" to 13'6" as it stands. Thanks for the tips, those will be useful. I already cut everything for the right fit. I was wondering what to do for those doors. Some custom made with plastruct would look mighty good. I might be using the kit's rear end and putty it up a little so the seams don't show too much though. The doors won't be functional, the inside of that box is pretty awful with all the gusseting and added tabs to compensate for the new sections. Who?, ME that's who! Haha, Kostas, thanks for looking and the encouragement buddy, I will have good pictures to show next week end. My girlfriend has the digital camera... ;o) Alright? Stay tuned guys!

Well, I got myself two Italeri cargo trailer to make one... Just like they say in the instruction to fix the innacuracies. So you already know these kits might look good with a 1:25 scale tractor, but looks simply stupid with it's own scale truck, especially if the tractor has an aero fairing. So... I got to cutting up trailer sides, make plans to cut these straight, 'cause you 're going to spend a lot of time sanding and puttying it up afterwards. First, to have a good looking van height, you need 5 more "ribs" on the van sides than there already are. So 24 instead of 19. I first glued the 2 halves of the van sides together, then once solid enough, chose at what height I would cut. I chose to cut just under a rib, so the knife blade would be guided by its groove. On the other side, I used a steel straight edge that I clamped on the panel to guide the knife on the other side. Get that real straight before cutting... Proceed to cutting with a nice sturdy knife handle and blade because that panel is THICK (.080)! I got tired after a while then looked at my tools for something better. I have Dentist hygenic tools (pics), If you pull one of those right on the straight edge it works even better than the knife. So be patient! I unfortunately made a mistake in counting my ribs (DUH!) and wound up one short... You know, over 10, it gets difficult! Ok, fine, I added a .125 x.040 (2 strips thick to match panel thickness) strip of evergreen to replace the missing section, and it worked great. Use strips of evergreen in the back of the panels to have tabs to glue this panel to the other one. So it takes my saturday afternoon to cut these upand glue together 1 side panel, looking pretty good, if I do say so myself! So I go on gluing the other side, halfway thru I spill the Tamiya liquid glue all over the work area! Of course that includes the panel I'm working on! This thing is harsh! I washed of a good amount but some of it etched the plastic panel quite a bit... But still... So I was quite disappointed. So my precious girlfriend asked me if I could sand this out... Hmmm, I have all kinds of sanding sticks, many grades of sand paper and Revell fine grit sanding pads. I used the sticks to clean out the edges of the ribs, and the pads for the small flat portions between the ribs. I lost some rivet detail, but got the surfaces to an acceptable level to paint over. I'll have to use some putty to hide the cut lines on the front wall, the rear doors and the roof, so I'll prbably put a coat on the rougher surfaces at the same time. I have mocked up the box and I am happy to report that it has the right look with the truck that will "pull" it. What I have in mind for that trailer is that it will have 3 axles, probably moveable, don't know yet, It will probably install the reefer unit from the Far-West Trucking trailer. I might fill the smaller holes in the wheels to have 2 hole bud wheels, or just leave them as is and paint them allclad chrome. One thing's for sure, the hubs are going to be cut substantially to get the right look. I will need a fuel tank for the reefer unit, I am probably going to install the wires and brake hoses too to make things interesting. I will post some pictures when it starts to be interesting to look at. For now, there ain't much! I'll have picture up when it gets interesting!

I thought I saw it before. It looks great! Ray, if you have that photo etch kit, your KW is going to be a jewel! photo etch goes a long way for detailing. I just went on the site with this link. Have you seen the photo etch for the Italeri Peterbilt 378? Man! Got to get me one of those kits!

That is one nice grill! Where is that from?

That, and a choice of wheels, 10 hole chrome buds, or painted 2 holes... Spoke wheels?! Optional exhaust locations, back of cab or cab sides, When available, engine options. AMT used to do it on some trucks, such as the GMC Astro. Those would make my day. Since some kits are getting pretty expensive, make them worthwhile, put those options in! Ohhh and please, Revell and Italeri, please get rid of those ridiculous decoration panel decals. Those are such a waist! Replace those with OEM stripes, just like on the Pete 378 Long Hauler or the Freightliner FLC, those are pretty darn good. A couple color options for those decals would have been nice though. Sure hope Moebius are going to shake thing up a bit more again this time! Surprise us!

just about anything new would be welcome... How about that Big Mack Titan? That IS new and bold enough, no? (YES I said Big Mack, pun intended!). And a 3 axle Lowboy trailer. Then later, juste to be unusual, make some kind of late model big machine to put on this such as a loader, backhoe, bulldozer, whatever!

So Dave Metzner, after giving us that beautiful Lonestar earlier this year, can we expect some good news this month? When can we expect some insight? I'm not pushing here, mind you, I'm just getting a little excited from the things I've read about lately on some forums... Man, can't wait! Almost getting as excited as Robb Mariani from American Trucker!!

It is a cool truck, especially if it's got an "Alpine Green" engine in it!! Ranks up there with B series Mack and International Emeryville.

Wow, this is a nice clean build! Love the Winslowe stripes. Red on silver is always sharp. Neat day cab you have there! Good choice of conversions. Looks good together.

Hey Christian, je me demandais si quelqu'un te repondrait!! Ici c'etait anglophone a 99%, maintenant 98%. Enfin, j'aime bien la conversion que tu as faite avec la cabine de ton W900. Qu'as-tu utilisé comme modele de base? Le AMT T600? C'est vraiment bien, beaucoup de travail la dessus! J'aime bien le moulage de la cabine de pilotage et du "sleeper" cab. C'est toi qui l'as fait? C'est convaincant. Belle replique! This is a nice conversion for a W900L! Good work! You made that cab yourself? Is it from the AMT T600? Great work. I like it.

Is there any way somebody could post this here? Obviously it is of great interest to most... Doh! Forgot about copyrights...

Hey, mister Diesel, is that Crackerbox a truck you drove?

That is a great job! Everything looks so real, great weathering! May I ask you what kind of hinge you're using for the cab door???

That's great! Why not do something you love doing and make some money out of it? Especially if the guy liked what he saw. Of course if you start counting the hours you are going to take to make it, you probably won't get the whole worth of your work, but you will have enjoyed building it. That's my 2 cents...

For your modern trailer, Italeri makes a 1:24 scale 48 foot trailer which, with some tweeking will look just right for a 1:25 scale truck. Have a look at the "at the show..." forum topic, the featured rig is a 1:25 scale Moebius Lonestar with a 1:24 scale Italeri "american cargo" trailer with a reefer unit. I think they look pretty good together.

You might want to look at the AMT Kenworth T600. It has the sleeper cab you want. Maybe even the cab for that matter.

The Italeri trailer behind this truck actually looks pretty good, the height seems more in line with 1:25 scale than 1:24th...

I like anything that is driven by a 2 stroke Detroit for starters, they sounded nasty, the more the cylinders, the better! As for classic looking trucks, I'd have to say Kenworth W900L Peterbilt 379 Peterbilt 389 Kenworth W900A GMC Astro, wide grill Peterbilt 362 Mack B Mack R Mack Superliner Mack Cruiseliner As for the aero trucks, I likesome of them even though they're not unanimously liked such as: International Prostar Freightliner FLD Peterbilt 387 Kenworth T660 My question now, why does it seem like so many people are into Caterpillar engines? There seem to be so many Cummins around, they look like they are more popular. I don't drive and don't know people who do so I'm in the dark somewhat.

Well, it got ME excited! Anything tractor trailer related will be excellent news... I say ALRIGHT MOEBIUS!

Good choice of colors! Love the stripes. Makes it look like a Laidlaw truck somewhat. Like it a lot. How are the decals reacting installing them on the body? They look pretty neatly done. I just got some similar one from modeltruckin' myself. Do you have to coat them with clearcoat too? Which one?

Another nice replica! Gotta get used to the color combo, but it looks like the real thing, that's what counts. Looks good!

These trailers are for the 1:14 scale Tamiya trucks aren't they? All aluminum build, impressive! Really nice.