Oldmopars Posted January 10, 2019 Posted January 10, 2019 So, this will be my build thread for the B.R.B.O. I am starting with a pile of someone eases problems. I got these kits in a deal from a forum member here. Very happy with the stuff I got and in it was these 3 built up kits. All have some bit of damage, all 3 need to be rebuilt, and lucky for me the Cat D8H was never painted, the cab/body of the F2674 was never painted and the trailer was painted, but done well. The D8H will not be completely disassembled, I am afraid I will break too many parts. So, I plan to do as little disassembly as possible. I will remove the engine to paint and detail it. Then I will paint and detail the rest. Lucky for me, these things came from the factory all one color, so there is no need to break it apart. The trailer will go for a dunk in the pond, get stripped and redone. I will pull most parts off, but leave the main deck together for painting. The truck (F2674) is going to require a lot more work. Just getting this thing apart is going to be a challenge. It is a mild glue bomb. Nothing that will require too much work to fix, but still a chore to get it to a point that I can start the rebuild. Also the frame has been broken and will need to be fixed. With it being in pretty good shape and as hard to find as these things are I feel it is worth it to invest the time in a proper rebuild. I think all the parts are there, we soon shall see.
Chariots of Fire Posted January 11, 2019 Posted January 11, 2019 Love these kinds of rebuilds! It is as much fun as building a brand new one; Sometimes more fun when you can resurrect a piece of junk into something great!
Oldmopars Posted January 17, 2019 Author Posted January 17, 2019 So, I have come up with a theme for this build. Last year right after we moved into our new house, a wild fire came through and burned 75% of our 15 acres, however due to the awesome fire crews our house and about 50 other houses were saved and only 2 structures were damaged. They used dozers to create fire line and divert the fire away from our houses. So, they are heroes in my book. The main crew had to move on before I could get back into my house, but the mop up crews came through after and I was able to thank them. So, I am going to build this as a tribute to the fire crews that saved our houses. They worked really hard and deserve to be recognized. https://kimatv.com/news/local/conrad-fire-in-selah-reaches-4000-acres-monday
Oldmopars Posted January 19, 2019 Author Posted January 19, 2019 Well, I have been doing some more research on my Fire Fighting theme. I want it to look like a Fire Fighting Dozer truck and trailer combo, but was not sure about the color. Forest service green did not seem right, but I was not too sure there were any red dozers. I did some looking and found several examples of where the truck, trailer and dozer are all red. So, that is the direction that I plan to go. I love the first picture and wish I had a Transtar II to do, but my F2674 will do.
gotnitro? Posted January 20, 2019 Posted January 20, 2019 Looking forward to your restoration The fire service theme looks fantastic too
tbill Posted January 20, 2019 Posted January 20, 2019 I really like the theme you’ve got going on this.
Jim B Posted January 20, 2019 Posted January 20, 2019 Doing a fire rig will be great. I really like the LACoFD Transtar II. What department is the S-Series from?
Rusty92 Posted January 26, 2019 Posted January 26, 2019 If you need any bulldozer parts, you can PM me. I have a parts one.
Oldmopars Posted January 27, 2019 Author Posted January 27, 2019 On 1/20/2019 at 12:44 PM, Jim B said: Doing a fire rig will be great. I really like the LACoFD Transtar II. What department is the S-Series from? I am not sure what department the S if from, just a picture I got from Google. But it let me know that a S could have been used for this purpose.
DRIPTROIT 71 Posted February 2, 2019 Posted February 2, 2019 These old Ertl kits build nice! Looking forward to seeing more! Welcome to the Build Off!
Sam I Am Posted February 4, 2019 Posted February 4, 2019 I have a couple old Internationals in the stash and really like the looks of the ones in the galleries. The fire rig is a great tribute.
stitchdup Posted February 4, 2019 Posted February 4, 2019 Neat plan, the firetruck/cat will make a sweet rig
Oldmopars Posted February 7, 2019 Author Posted February 7, 2019 So, work has been moving ahead on these, however it is evidence of my ADHD, or schizophrenia. A little here, a little there. For the truck, I have shortened the frame, it was way too long. I took out 2.5in. Had to repair the frame from the damage it suffered being in storage. The front spindles were broken off and the wheels were glued on solid. I had to drill out one of the axles just to get the wheel off and make a new axle stub. I then had to drill out the king pins and make new ones so the wheels will steer. Everything on this truck has needed major clean up. I am not fond of glue bombs, but I can't buy one of these, so I have to fix it. The front wheels are way too wide for the tires in the kit. I too 1/8in out of them to narrow them up and make the tire fit correctly. For the dozer same thing has been happening. Its a glue bomb too. I had to make a new track link as it was missing one. I made the mold from a good one using the thermo plastic that you heat in water, then some epoxy resin from Ace Hardware. It turned out almost perfect, just a few air bubbles that will not matter, its a track and should look a little chipped up. I added the weight plates on the front, the kit only has an outline of it. I am also fixing the track rollers. The holes where the bearing go is way bigger than the shaft on the rollers so they just flop around in there. I have been drilling each roller out and inserting a 1/8in rod, the same size as the hole. I have also done some work on the drive gears. The edges are very sharp, but in real life they are never sharp, but very rounded and worn. So, I have taken all the sharp edges off. I will also be adding a ring of bolt heads and cutting the segment lines into them. Other than that, it has been a lot of cleaning up glue and flash and mold lines.
Chariots of Fire Posted February 7, 2019 Posted February 7, 2019 If you do the red color scheme for the IH and trailer, I might be able to come up with some LA County decals for the doors. I have the info. Give me a shout, Scott.
Oldmopars Posted February 7, 2019 Author Posted February 7, 2019 59 minutes ago, Chariots of Fire said: If you do the red color scheme for the IH and trailer, I might be able to come up with some LA County decals for the doors. I have the info. Give me a shout, Scott. That would be great, I will PM you
tbill Posted February 8, 2019 Posted February 8, 2019 From what I see so far, you have this well in hand. I am really looking forward to seeing this project evolve.
baloney Posted February 19, 2019 Posted February 19, 2019 (edited) it will be refreshing to see a d8 red instead of the usual yellow. Good call!! Edited February 19, 2019 by baloney
gotnitro? Posted February 19, 2019 Posted February 19, 2019 Thanks for taking the time to photograph your updates, I just picked up a d8 and it will need these improvements. Funny cause I purchased an IH 4270 from a fella in Canada selling a huge collection. I was inspired to use that to pull my scratchbuilt Roger's
Oldmopars Posted February 21, 2019 Author Posted February 21, 2019 So, in trying to keep up with the at least one update per month rule, I am adding this. I have been really bad this month about documenting things, but here goes. The engine was mostly assembled, I took apart what I could without breaking anything and cleaned it up, put it together and repainted what needed it. I finished the chassis shortening and had to make some new brakes cans as I lost one, then of course found it after I painted it. A lot of work on the fuel tanks, wheels, and other parts. The original builder saw no need to sand or scrape off any flash, sprue connections or mold lines. Spent a lot of time fixing that and then painting. I tried really hard to get the seats out of the interior, but they were going to break into a million parts if I kept at it, so I painted them in place. Also repainted the interior tub. As a fleet truck it would likely have been white, but due to the difficulty and lack of interior details, I went with basic black. I have several coats of primer on the cab. It was not too bad, but there was a spoiler/deflector on the roof and it left behind some holes and glue marks. These needed a lot of attention. Decal removal also left behind some roughness that needed sanding out. So, the truck in moving along. If the snow would stop I might be able to get the cab painted. The trailer is in the bag, literally. I broke it apart so I could fix many issue that the previous builder created. I will have to remove a ton of mold lines and fix fit issues before paint. I should have started with new kits, it would have been easier, however I did not have an extra $120-150 to go get new kits. Anyway, these needed rescue. As for the dozer. Not much done there other than getting another one. The one I have has quite a few broken parts or missing parts. I needed a way to recreate them without spending huge time or money. So, I was offered another full built kit for a trade of something I had. Now I have everything I need to copy any broken or missing parts for the first kit and still be able to build a second one down the road.
Deathgoblin Posted February 21, 2019 Posted February 21, 2019 Looking good so far! The tractor definitely looks better with the shortened frame.
gotnitro? Posted February 21, 2019 Posted February 21, 2019 Nice save Truck looks fantastic compared to how you received it
SpreadAxle Posted February 22, 2019 Posted February 22, 2019 That's a really cool idea for this build.
Chariots of Fire Posted February 25, 2019 Posted February 25, 2019 Will check in on a regular basis for this one. The dozer build is especially interesting with the adaptation to fire fighting.
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