Leaderboard

Modelled after a real wrecker used by a local towing company. Real wrecker weighs 103,000-pound necessitating 5 axles and special permits to operate in most states. Boom rotates 360 degrees and is poseable. It has a scale 8 feet of travel on the frame. Model is almost completely scratch-built using styrene plastic sheets and structural shapes.

Built almost entirely with left over parts from other kits. Holmes 750 style wrecker unit entirely scratch-built.

To connect the charge air cooler to the turbo and engine block, I used rubber air to air connectors from Moluminum along with Plastruct elbows and aluminum tubing, cut to fit and painted with Molotow chrome. The rubber air connectors came in blue and orange, and though that’s common in real life, (orange on the hot side, blue on the cool side) I opted to paint them rubber black to better match the overall look. You can find black silicone connectors on 1:1 trucks as well.I also added the chrome rings around the connectors by using brass zip ties from CTM, painted chrome. That was one of the most tedious things I’ve done on this build, but the only option that seemed to work. Painting the recesses chrome was a failure, so CTM to the rescue. For the exhaust exiting the turbo, I needed a flex tube, just like the real thing, in order to make the awkward curvature needed to fit between the engine block and frame. Once I had the plastic tubing bent to fit, I wrapped it in wire, and added putty between to get the look. Painted in aluminum, it works well. I finished with adding the tubing clamps where the connections are with chrome bands made from strips of furnace tape.

This was built from an old Mark Savage cab. It has an M11 Cummins from Gary Wallace.

Here's some pics of my new 1926 Mack Stake truck. Built box stock with custom built racks and some mild oil and dirt staining which is hard to see in the pictures. This was the log truck version, but I wasn't crazy about the load so I decided to change the bed. I did find certain things that I didn't like in this kit, like poor locater marks and some fitment issues but nothing insurmountable. All in all, I think it looks like a nice model of an historic truck. Sorry about the small pics; for some reason the pictures won't transfer correctly from the camera to the computer.

Took a year to complete and my fleet is growing.

Last build of the year.

Just a box stock rendition of the Atlantis reissue, finished with Tamiya paints and Monroe weathering powder. This is the first one I've built out of the box, and now I've started a second. 🤣 Now I need to go through my back issues of Model Cars Magazine and find the series from the 2007 NNL.