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Cornbinder

Hood-to-Cab Fitment

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It seems like every truck model with a tilt hood has something off about the fit of the hood to the cab. It seems like if you build by the instructions they never line up the way they should.
 
Here's one area where you will want to ignore the instructions. The instruction sheet usually has you install the cab, then the hood. If you do it that way, chances are good you'll never have an even fit between the hood and cab at the cowl. Hood-to-cab fit is always iffy in general when a tilting hood is concerned, and on those old AMT truck tractor kits in particular. That's not to say that other manufacturers kits are any better, but the AMT kits seem particularly iffy. You can fight the hood fit all day and still not get it looking good, but it's easier to install the hood first, and then tailor the position of the cab to suit, rather than vice-versa.
 
The first thing you want to do is to install the hood hinges to the back of the grille- make sure you get them as close to straight, level, and even as you can. On the chassis, the openings for the hinge pins can be opened up slightly. That will give you a bit more "wiggle room" so that you can fine tune the hood position. 
 
Tape cab to the hood, making sure the rear of the hood fits tight and flush against the cowl of the cab. On a kit like the White Road Boss, where the hood isn't meant to fit against the cowl, this can be trickier, but still workable. Gently close the temporarily unified hood/cab to get a feel for any modifications you will need to do to the cab's mounting points. 
 
Now, onto the cab mounts themselves. You may have to remove material from the top of each of the front cab mounts. You may also want to move the rear cab mount/crossmember a couple millimeters forward of it's intended position. You can install it in the intended location, but know that you may need to bend the mounts forward and/or trim material from the top and possibly rear of them.
 
Here are a few photos explaining the process, on Tim Ahlborn's Fotki page- http://public.fotki.com/mackinac359/how-i-did-it/amt-white-western-s/
 
Tim's tutorial uses an AMT White Western Star, but the same basic techniques can be used on any kit. 
 
 
 
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Tape the two together before painting so that they fit as they should.  Then place the combined pieces on the frame to see where the attachment points are Chances are you will have to make some slight adjustments.  That is where some plastic pieces, some pins and glue will help.  If the hood is to tilt make sure everything is square and level when it sits on the frame.

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