Diamonds In My Eyes

[Cornbinder]

Not one, not two, not THREE.... but FOUR... count 'em... FOUR Diamond Reos!

I'll start with the glue bombs.

I got these as part of a trade some time ago. I think. The green one will be rebuilt, but the twist is I sort of want to maintain some of the existing patina. The black one is interesting- it has the sleeper from an IH Eagle, and the original builder stretched the frame about 1-1/2", and also added what appear to be the wheels from an AMT Kenworth. Not sure what will happen with this one. But more of these two later.

This started with a fresh, new kit. Well, it was a fresh, new kit about a year ago- I bought it for parts. But there's still enough left to make something of it... I'm going with an old GATR racer. So far, the frame has been cut down, the rear suspension was substituted from a White Freightliner Dual Drive, and the cab mounts were cut down. I'm going for something along the lines of this...

Of course, I intend to add my own touches and features from other GATR racers I've seen. I'm not replicating any particular truck for this one.

Last up...

This will be a forward-set Raider, using an old AITM hood casting. So far it is mostly out-of box, aside from the addition of tires and rear wheels from the same incomplete Dual Drive that coughed up it's rear axles and suspension for the race truck, and Goodyear tires from that same kit. I used some thumb tacks for front Baby Moon caps. Paint is Chrysler Intense blue pearl. This will be a "restored" day cab owner/operator type tractor. 

More to come... 

[Cornbinder]

Did a little work on the Raider hood. More specifically, the grille. This older casting had the insert and surround done as one piece. As I understand, the castings you get from AITM now have the surround molded to the hood, and the insert is separate. That's a better way to do it anyway- on the 1:1 Raider, the insert is fixed to the radiator supports and stays upright, while the surround tilts with the hood. In any case, the casting of this one was rough- air pockets inside the grille bars had caused many of them to break off and disappear. So I carefully cut the insert from the surround. After that was done, the surround was glued onto the hood, and I did a little sanding to blend it all in. The insert will be replaced with a new one made from plastic strip. 

That done, I turned my attention to the nameplate. It had an incorrect curve to it (likely a warp), and the logo is a little distorted. So the resin nameplate was cut free. Then, the nameplate from the kit grille was removed. A little trim and fit, and I had this...

DISCLAIMER- Please note that I'm working with a casting from the early to mid '80's here. The products AITM casts now are of much improved quality. Don't base your opinion of their entire product line by this particular 30-year-old casting! Modern AITM stuff is top-shelf stuff. 

[Cornbinder]

I might go with a similar stripe pattern to the white one on this. I'm not going to do the "fadeaway rainbow" things you see on Raiders quite frequently- they just ruin the look of the truck for me. Might just go with solid blue, too. 

[Cornbinder]

Today's update...

The chassis for the Raider is now "powered", I stuck with the kit engine and trans. I did use some chrome rocker covers just to jazz things up a tad. 

I also paid a little attention to the GATR truck.

A roll bar was made from round rod, and the fuel tank was moved behind the cab. The fifth wheel was solid-mounted to the frame. I couldn't find the spacers for the front spindles, but I had some backing plates and drums from a WF DD, so I used those. I also made a stand pipe from aluminum tubing- straps and hardware will come later. 

[AutocarJones]

Nice builds. The GATR truck is interesting. I saw some of these being built on another forum. The forward axle raider is shaping up nicely.

[Cornbinder]

From (very, very late) last night...

U-bolts were made for the stand pipe, using coated wire, with drilled hex rods for the nuts. Thin styrene strips were used as brackets for the u-bolts to mount into.

I threw together the turbo side of the engine, so that I could mock things up and fit the exhaust. It went through a couple of incarnations, but here we have the final result. 

TONIGHT... I cut a thin strip of pinstripe masking tape and wrapped it around the rim of the steering wheel, and added a pad over the hood, made with styrene sheet and a hole punch. Yes, it was every bit as tedious as you think it was.  It looks like hell, but so did "wrapped" 1:1 race car wheels, so at least you can say it's true to life, if not 100% accurate!

Chassis still needs side bars and a rear bumper, and it will likely get some weathering. Seems like most GATR trucks used 10-bolt disc wheels, either aluminum or steel... very few had spokes. I kept the kit's spokes (and Uniroyal tires) just because I liked them.

Interior's pretty sparse, as it should be. The steering wheel looks way better painted. The seat was stolen from a '90's Winston Cup T-Bird.

Now if you'll pardon me, that green glue bomb keeps trying to elbow it's way back onto the work bench...

 

 

 

[Casey]

Both are looking great!  A few questions if you don't mind...

Do you paint with an airbrush or a rattle can?  On the GATR racer,  What did you make the exhaust pipes from?  And the stack clamps? 

 

--Casey

[Cornbinder]

So far, the Raider and GATR truck are rattle can.For the exhaust, it is round plastic rod, with an aluminum tube for the pipe. The clamps were just made from coated wire, bent around the aluminum tube, and attached with some flat plastic strip to the rollbar.

[Cornbinder]

Also- progress on two of them for today. 

The GATR is speeding right along... fitting enough, I suppose. 

The hood was cut down, and the grille and hinges were modified to match. I also cut away most of the fenders, and added a strip along the center of the hood. It sort of reminded me of an old Dodge Power Wagon at this stage. 

A few hours later, I had not only paint-detailed the grille, and added some support struts for the fenders, but I'd thrown a quick coat of Farmall red on the hood and cab. I wasn intentionally less-than-careful with the paint, I wanted it to look like a quick, outdoor spray bomb... so that's basically how I did it. 

The green glue bomb also saw some action.

I took this pic with the flash just to show how splotchy that paint is! I did sand down the roof and add a little rust-colored primer. More rust effects will be added on the existing paint job. I added some new door handles, lights, and horns, and detailed the windshield trim and cowl. I still need to do the mirrors and detail the vent window frames, but here's a basic idea. I'm even going to dull coat over most of the grime you see on it in the pic, just to get the full "forlorn" effect. 

And this pic is just for fun... I just had to try the beater cab on the GATR chassis! 

[Casey]

On ‎6‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 10:41 PM, Cornbinder said:

So far, the Raider and GATR truck are rattle can.For the exhaust, it is round plastic rod, with an aluminum tube for the pipe. The clamps were just made from coated wire, bent around the aluminum tube, and attached with some flat plastic strip to the rollbar.

Thanks.  I'll file that away for future use. 

 

[cunuk truckbuilder]

so far so good.i've always thought a gatr project would be cool.I went to a couple gatr races back in the day ,very entertaining to say the least

[Cornbinder]

And then, there were three... 

The race truck is complete. Pics to come in the Showroom section. 

[Cornbinder]

Took several large bites out of the Raider today.

I'll start with the interior, which was actually completed a while ago- I just never bothered taking a pic until today. 

The interior is box-stock, aside from the high-back bucket seats, which were taken from a GMC Astro. The gauge panel would be incorrect for a '75, which had square gauges, but I kept it anyway. One of these days I'd like to rework the gauge panel to do a proper mid '70's DR dash.

The chassis is more or less finished. Here you can see the Raider front bumper and grille insert installed. The 1:1 Raider's grille insert remained upright when the hood was titled, so I followed suit on the model. Since the original grille was so rough, I made a new "custom" grille using grooved Evergreen sheet. The Raider was only manufactured for about nine months in 1975, so I'm guessing a replacement grille would be a tad difficult to track down.  I see i do need to perform a few touch-ups here and there, but overall I'm pretty happy with the "roller". 

The hood and cab were painted earlier today, and I just couldn't resist a test fit to see how everything was looking. After that, I was motivated to work on the trim. The Diamond Reo logo from the kit grille was glued into the Raider grille surround. Two headlight bezels were cut from .030" plastic, with a hole punch used to make way for the headlight lenses. These, and the grille frame, were treated to some Ultra Bright BMF, along with the bumper. Again, I notice a few areas where touch up is needed, mostly with that foil on the grille! All in all, though, I'm fairly pleased with how the Raider is shaping up. 

[Cornbinder]

Raider is finished- aside from some silvering on the driver's side door decal it came out fairly well. Finished "Showroom" pics to come.