AMT Titan 90

[Guest Markus355]

started this one this afternoon. Already stretched the frame about an inch and a quarter... about 2 foot 8 inches in scale.

used a old frame from a different titan (unpainted gluey mess my dads brother built as a kid) as the graft for the frame.

I do have one question though, Would these trucks have ever had their cabs "smoothed" i mean, no exposed rivets and such?

[freightshaker]

Looks like your off to a pretty good start. So is that international in the background!. As to the cabs being smoothed I couldn't tell you if they would have ever come factory like that but its your creation so go with your imagination.

[Guest Markus355]

i figured that would be a no from the factory, but would a custom or show rig have had that treatment? i think it would look really cool (as well as make polishing a heckuva lot easier)

[freightshaker]

Yea I'm sure there was or is a custom truck out there with no rivets on it. And you're right it would make it a heck of alot easier polishing. Good Luck and keep us posted on the pictures. You're doing great.

[Guest Markus355]

Thanks for the kind words. that settles it, cabs gettin smoothed tomorrow, frame is done being stretched and ready for primer. mights still need some minor blocking out, but i doubt it.

colour is going to be createx transparent sunrise yellow, over what base im not sure, ill do a few test panels to decide if im gonna go with a yellow or an orange or white

and i think the same candy red thats on the frame of the intl. will be used as a 2 tone treatment.

[freightshaker]

Sounds like its gonna be pretty sharp.. I think thats always my greatest challenge in a model is deciding what colors to use. I just got an old AMT Diamond Reo kit on Ebay.. And I want to do something different with it.. I think I'm going to make my attempt at stretching the frame.. I never did it before. what kind of putty do you use to smooth out where you spliced? is that just automotive spot putty?

[Semi Trailer Mechanic]

Off to a good start.

As far as the factory shaving the rivets. Back then probably not. These days however it's possible. The technology put into adhesive these days the sheet metal could be glued on. When I worked for SWIFT Trans. in the Columbus,Ohio trailer shop (major wreck shop) there was one bay set up for the truck body man for him to rebuild wrecked tractors. I'd help him out from time to time when he needed more than two hands to accomplish a task. That's where I learned of an adhesive called FUSER. It's a two part glue. The applicator is a huge battery opp'd gun that two tubes go in and mix. Kinda like a MEGA caulking gun on steriods. The type of adhesive depended on what was being glued. Fiber glass to metal,metal to metal, fiber to fiber and so on. Needless to say he'd let me use the FUSER ( fiber to fiber) to glue patches on translucent (fiberglass) roofs opposed to cutting out sheet metal backer strips used to prevent rivets from pulling thru the patch/roof.

Now the only way I could think for a truck body to not have rivets would be like this. The cab has been skinned (de skinned). As each panel (sheet metal) being installed That fusor would be applied, the panel put in place and tacked w/ a blind rivet (POP) as a means to hold the panel in place during the curing time of the fuser. After it's all said and done the rivets would have to be drilled out and the holes filled and smoothed. I'm sure there might be other methods to install sheet metal on a cab w/out riveting but that's the only way I can think of it being done.

It's your model modify it the way you want it to look.

Good Luck!!!

[Guest Markus355]

Sounds like its gonna be pretty sharp.. I think thats always my greatest challenge in a model is deciding what colors to use. I just got an old AMT Diamond Reo kit on Ebay.. And I want to do something different with it.. I think I'm going to make my attempt at stretching the frame.. I never did it before. what kind of putty do you use to smooth out where you spliced? is that just automotive spot putty?

that putty is just regular old tamiya grey putty. i marked where my cut was, cut the frame, glued a piece of .080 x .125 styrene in the chanell of the frame to help hold things in place while gluing, glued the insert to the piece of styrene, then glued the tail of the frame to the styre as well, then i glued the seams, then filled the seams. its my first attempt but it seems to have worked pretty well.

[freightshaker]

No doubt. thats a great tip, I'll have to keep that in mind with stretching that diamond.. where do you get your styrene? theres not one shop in my area that carries evergreen or plastuct or any kind of styrene. I will most likely have to order it on the internet but i hate doing that without seeing what im buying first. I guess just buy some assortments and have a guessing game with it and use what i can hah.

Edited October 5, 2010 by freightshaker

[Guest Markus355]

i buy evergreen at my lhs evergreeens is a great comapnay and i swear by thier products just figure out what size and shape you need and order away, you shan't be disapointed

[freightshaker]

Hey thanks so much. Ill have to get some and try it.

[The Modeling Hermit]

I do like the Astro/Titan trucks. I'll be watching this one with great interest.

[Guest Markus355]

quick update: Cab is smoothed of all seams and rivets, frame is smoothed and the stretch is finished, hope to have everything at the very least primed, if not painted this weekend. will update with pics soon.

[Guest Markus355]

frame, wheels, engine are all painted. cab has its Base coat down, need to wetsand a few blemishes out then hit it with the 2 tone and candy coats. will post pics later.