Italeri Volvo VN780 and Moebius "Smoothie" Finally, replacement decals have been found!

[Petetrucker07]

I'm gonna start a new project to take a break from my little pete build. I'm gonna build these two pretty much box stock, at least that's the plan. They will be painted to match. I'm gonna to some sort of aero skirting. Any tips or heads up on either of these would be appreciated.

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2015 by Petetrucker07

[Dirt Demon]

Hey Clayton.... The Volvo is a nice kit but no steerable axle.... Checkout how I did mine on my post of the one I built..... Or use JT's method.... That works well too if ya got some extra Italeri front axles kickin around. I'll be watching this one!

[slusher]

Subscribed, Clayton...

[Petetrucker07]

Hey Clayton.... The Volvo is a nice kit but no steerable axle.... Checkout how I did mine on my post of the one I built..... Or use JT's method.... That works well too if ya got some extra Italeri front axles kickin around. I'll be watching this one!

Thanks, I'll check out yours and JT'S builds. I would like to open the hood, but I'm not really feeling like fabricating a firewall.

Subscribed, Clayton...

Cool man. Hope this won't disappoint.

[fantacmet]

Well where is it? Shouldn't this be under glass by now?

[kilrathy10]

Hey, Man....This ought to be a cool setup....You'll be fine with this build....About the only thing I'd watch out for is that, for some reason, the rear of the chassis on every Volvo I've had seems to have an upwar cant....The back wheels will be off the the surface, if you don't compensate....Not too difficult to do, but you need to catch it before your rear axles dry in place.....However, if your trailer has a bit of weight to it at the nose, then it won't matter....Otherwise, it goes together pretty smoothly.....But don't let the curbside format fool you....It's still a pretty involved kit....

What colors are you thinking??

[KJ790]

Man, I feel like we are working on all of the same stuff! I started this Volvo about a month ago for a local trucking company, haven't had too much time to work on it though. Can't wait to see what you do with yours!

[Petetrucker07]

Hey, Man....This ought to be a cool setup....You'll be fine with this build....About the only thing I'd watch out for is that, for some reason, the rear of the chassis on every Volvo I've had seems to have an upwar cant....The back wheels will be off the the surface, if you don't compensate....Not too difficult to do, but you need to catch it before your rear axles dry in place.....However, if your trailer has a bit of weight to it at the nose, then it won't matter....Otherwise, it goes together pretty smoothly.....But don't let the curbside format fool you....It's still a pretty involved kit....

What colors are you thinking??

Thanks for the help JT. I found this already to.be an involved kit. The 5 piece hood kinda threw me a bit. I expected the cab to be in pieces, typical of Italeri. I'm thinkin blue like Western Distribution. I'm going to do a dry van with doors.

[Petetrucker07]

Man, I feel like we are working on all of the same stuff! I started this Volvo about a month ago for a local trucking company, haven't had too much time to work on it though. Can't wait to see what you do with yours!

Yours is lookin great so far. Like I said it's going to.be pretty much box stock. I might lower the front a little to close the gap between the tire and hood. I looked at JT's smoothie with the Volvo under it. I couldnt tell if it made trailer raked to the front or not. I know how I want the skirts to look, hopefully I can make it happen. Edited May 23, 2015 by Petetrucker07

[Petetrucker07]

Here's what I've got started so far. I cut the body panels off the sprue. I was going to assemble the cab, but looked at JT's build and it looked pretty easy to paint then assemble. The hood wasn't a big deal to partially put together. So far it's not a bad build lookin over the parts. I'm undecided on stacks. I may end up doing a set of straight stack replacements for the kit pieces.

I really like the chrome stickers. It has most of the chrome Volvo trim.

[cowboy rich]

I built one of these and really enjoyed it with the exception of no engine(going to use to my advantage next time) and the frame warp JT spoke of...I didn't catch it until to late.

Rich

[kilrathy10]

KJ, Volvo looks great.....Of course, I don't think I've ever seen one that looked bad, but the decals really set that one off.....

Clayton, you've got a great start.....I've always assembled the complete cab (along with the hood) and then painted....Reason being, is one thing I forgot to mention....It can be difficult to get the cab, hood and side skirts to match up.....On my recent build, I forgot to do this.....Resulting in quite an ordeal getting it all to look right....But it isn't like you won't be able to do it without any problems.....I did, eventually, get it all right....I just know it would have been easier, if I had assembled it all, first.....But, on the flip side....If you paint, THEN assemble, the interior will be easier to get together.....So.....It may be a win win.....

And, the only thing I would do with connecting the trailer to the Volvo, is add a spacer to lift the 5th wheel about 2mm to raise the trailer height a bit to make it look more in scale behind it.....AND....Grab some Italeri rims and tires for it.....I think they'll fit with minimal mods....Otherwise, the width of the trailer is, surprisingly, pretty good.....I guess it would scale out to be a 96", as opposed to a 102".....

The stack replacement, seems like a good idea, too.....

Edited May 23, 2015 by kilrathy10

[Petetrucker07]

Thanks for tip JT. I just scuff sanded to body panels, gonna get some primer on it here shortly. I'm gonna do the frame with the lowered front end, then set on a flat surface to dry. Hopefully the wheels won't be tryin to impersonate a lift axle.

[kilrathy10]

Can't wait, Dude....I'm curious to see how that drop is gonna work out.....

[Petetrucker07]

I got the suspension to sit right. It on took a lighter and creativity. I had to heat the frame to correct the warpage, if that's the right word. Now I'm gonna finish the frame assembly then prime and paint, hopefully today.

[Truck parts]

I will be following as you go on

[Petetrucker07]

I painted the frame as planned. It is Duplicolor Metal Specs silver. The wheels are just on there for now.

Next I'm going to prime and paint the cab. I'll then apply the decals then clear.

[Petetrucker07]

Here's the cab. It is not cleared yet. The interior still needs to be installed, window trim painted, decals applied, and a few other things. Here's a sneak peak at how it's gonna look.

[Petetrucker07]

Here's a pic you can see the metallic in the silver on the frame.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Petetrucker07

[gatorincebu]

Cool looking build. I like the color!

Be Well

Gator

[Petetrucker07]

The big decals are applied.

[kilrathy10]

Ah, you're going for broke on this one.....I thought they would be a little busy, but they don't look half bad.....I can see this bad boy is gonna look NICE....

I think Moebius is going to boost Italeri sales of this truck just because of that smooth side trailer....I was really surprised at how good it looked behind mine.....

Edited May 24, 2015 by kilrathy10

[fantacmet]

I wouldn't mind doing one of these in red with Knight transport decals. I see their trucks ALL the time up here. Of course they run the prostars too......... Something for the future perhaps?

[Petetrucker07]

Thanks man. This was my first time applying large decals. There are a few bad spots, but not terrible. The rate I'm goin, I might have the truck done this weekend and start on the trailer. I'm gonna clear the cab and skirts tomorrow, get the interior put in and some detail painting, that's it.

Here's the interior that can be put on the floor. It's nothing fancy, black floor and grey everything else. The dash decals will get applied too.

[kilrathy10]

That's biggest part of this kit's charm....

It just looks good....So good, that once you get it together, you either really don't care that it's a curbside as much , or you go into a fit of rage that they didn't put an engine in it....... We're paying pert near $70 for a curbside, for crying out loud....

And I know what you mean.....I have a red Volvo that I just took down off the shelf that would be awesome with Knight Trucking decals and a Smoothie.....We have a Knight dispatch in Katy....Right up the road a bit from me.....Those are some pretty nice trucks....One day I'll stop and get some shots of the place.....

Edited May 24, 2015 by kilrathy10