Leaderboard

Finished this one up yesterday. Well, almost, needs horns and a couple of other things. Stretched frame, scratch built headache rack, mtb swan dual stacks, and ford pickup cab lights. I actually managed to use the kit mirrors. I always have trouble with them and end up building new ones.

Yikes!!! It's been almost 4 months since the last update..... Have not had much time in the hobby room due mostly to work, going into a slower part of the year so hopefully more free time... It's a roller! Finally got it up on all fours...scratch built rubber air line and frame fitting (Right front). The entanglement of wires and etc. on the Left front of the engine is what will be going into the cab to represent electrical, tach drive and air lines. Kind of hard to see, scratch built rubber power steering lines between power steering pump and steering ram cylinder Scratch built a shifter cable between transmission and what will end up in the cab area...kind of hard to see...its on what is the bottom side of the transmission and towards the rear in the picture. Up next is installing the PTO pump and shaft and wiring and installing the battery box.

The cab and engine are from Jamie. The fenders, rear bumper, breathers and swan are from Casey, here at MTB. The trailer was by Gary Wallace and have been told that they are very rare.

I finally finished it...for now... I may go back and touch up a few thing. I built this truck for an online contest over at The Unfinished Big Rig Model Truck Club on Facebook. I didn't fair as well in the voting as I hoped it would. Maybe I'll do better next time. Regardless, it was a great learning experience. The concept was to create a resto-mod COE Freightliner. I started with a fresh AMT COE Freightliner Kit. All other lifted parts were salvaged from the parts box. Chassis: Frame stretch using the rails from an AMT Peterbilt. Air ride suspension from an Italeri FLD 120 Engine: Cummins engine from an Italeri FLD 120 modified into an N14 (new heads, valve covers, fuel pump, etc.). Air to air setup was added to the radiator. Plumbing and hoses were built from the parts box and misc. wire. Clamps chrome sticker. Cab: Scratch built visor. Snap Pete mirrors. Rear fenders: Scratch built. Fifth wheel: ROG Peterbilt. Deck plates and rear light panel: scratch built from styrene Cab Steps: Scratch built. Fuel tanks: Stretched using like tanks from parts box. Air cleaners: ROG Peterbilt. Scratch built piping and parts box plumbing. Stack tops: Tubing wrapped in chrome sticker. Air Lines: Earl Miller. Wheels and tires: Mobius.

Mirrors, door handles, and other such getting taken care of.

Added the fuel tanks and some AITM tool boxes. Not sure if I'll use the Mercury sleeper or make a headache rack.

Chassis is more or less dialed in. And so's the interior.

Reshuffling things a little. The chassis wasn't working out the way I wanted, and I borrowed parts from the V12 for another Autocar project. So I'm going a bit more basic with a Cummins. Chassis came from a White Road Boss, and it'll have some old AITM one piece wheels and tires.

Stevens International reissue of the AMT kit. It was updated to 1982 spec by removing the "Gear and Lightning Bolt" medallion, widening the fender lips, and moving the door lock cylinders. The Cummins 6BT, Allison 6 speed auto, and air to air intercooler are from Iceman Collections , and the sleeper came from Too Many Projects . Wheels and tires are Moebius and the rear air suspension uses modified GMC General doodads. Paint is Colorshot Kale. It was supposed to be a matte finish but it came out a bit glossier that I would have preferred.

Well, after a long absence, this one is back on the bench. The cab and hood have been painted in Chrysler Forest Green Pearl. And now it finally has a face...

Basically made up of spare parts from four different incomplete AMT kits merged into one finished model. Paint is Krylon Matte Soft Lilac and the door graphics are home printed.

Assembled and in primer.

It was much easier and quicker to use the PE part above than cutting out the grill detail on this cab. This experience will certainly make me think twice before trying to do a whole radiator. The third window is added to a short cab. PE window gaskets applied. Using a sanding sheet taped to a flat surface greatly improved the problematic cab seam.

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

Pictorial "how to" posted with permission of Mike Roux.

AMT tractor kit backdated with quad headlights, grille mounted parking lights, and a little shuffling of lamps and such. To represent the 15,000# front axle option, I modified some Mack cast six spokes. I also used Mack six spokes on the back. Front tires are Firestone floats from an AMT Autocar. Paint is the same Rust-Oleum Satin Moss Green left from the Dodge garbage truck, and the door logos are from a Gopher Racing sheet.

Rear lamps ✔️ License plate ✔️ Mud flaps ✔️ Well, one end of the truck is in the bag.

Making progress, wheelset together, brakes finished, mud flap built, adding a tool box. Finish work then paint.

So, this is a project I've been considering for a while. Just recently, I decided to take a shot at it. 1975 Diamond Reo Rouge. Only about 50 were ever built, during a time when Diamond Reo was in trouble and about to change ownership. It is unknown if any survive today. I'm scratch building one in 1:25 scale, using a scaled down set of body builders drawings purchased from Joe Whitman at T-Line Trucks. The basic cab is cut from .020" Evergreen sheet. I've also made extensive use of my new Tamiya panel scriber. Can't recommend that particular tool enough, and I don't know why I never got one until now. Here's the basic cab shell, shown with the line drawings being used as patterns. Here's a slightly clearer shot of the scaled drawings used as patterns. Again using the scale drawings as templates, and with a steel straight edge and the Tamiya panel scriber, the window openings were scored, then cut out. The door lines were done in the same manner, less the "then cut out" part. The begining of the rockers and fenders. It was at this point I started to realize that the Rouge is a decent size truck. Here's a quick size-up with a Ford C Series. Size wise the Rouge is about in between the C Series and something like a Peterbilt 352. Again I broke out the drawing, ruler, and scriber to create the grille panel. A standard hole punch was used to make the headlamp openings. They'll be enlarged and tweaked for correct position of the bezels, which I'm probably gonna swipe from my stash of spare C Series parts. Here is the grille being pieced together from various plastic strip. And here it is in primer with the Diamond Reo logo in place. If you'll excuse me, after making the outline for the Diamond Reo emblem on the grille, I need to lay down for a couple hours until my eyes uncross.

Atlantis Toy and Hobby kit built out of the box and heavily weathered. Since the last one I built had the roof, windshield, lights, and tall stakes, I chose to do the open cab version this time.

Here we have the cab and hood started. First, the firewall needed some corrections, most importantly the intake port needs to be the same on both sides. I’m not sure why Italeri goofed that up, but the opening on the vehicle’s right side, left facing the firewall, needs to be lowered and modified to match the other side. While I was at it, I removed the shallow example of a windshield washer reservoir with the intent of rebuilding a more realistic version to attach to the firewall. I eventually decided to make one that mounted to the radiator housing instead, as seen in an earlier post. Then, I cut out and created the pocket for the windshield wiper motor. I added an Ultraroof from Models by Dave, and it has the visor mounting brackets built-in. I broke a couple of them, but made the repairs. They are delicate. A lot of filler to smooth things out. I’ll also need to add rivet detail to replace some of it that was removed during the bodywork process along with some that wasn’t there to begin with. The 379-127 hood is a Bill Drennen casting, purchased from P&P resin years ago. It’s a bit hard to find nowadays, but contact Jamie at Moluminum, he has the molds. I added inner fender detail, along with a good deal of clean-up and filler to get everything as perfect as I can. I’ll also be adding proper rivet detail to the hood shortly, just like the cab. It’ll still need more filler, sanding and a final coat or two (or three) of primer and filler/sanding in between, before rivets are added and a final coat of primer before paint. Preparation can be frustrating, and it is 90% or more of the finishing process, but it’s a necessary evil. I added an improved center hood trim piece from styrene strip/shapes, and that’ll get some rivet detail as well. To better fit those bigger front tires, I added fender flares from re-worked Italeri 378 fender trim with styrene strip/quarter round. The “J” hood hinges are from GW trucks. For the cab floor, I decided to experiment with balsa wood strips and laying the “hardwood flooring” similar to the real thing. Sanded and stained, I like the results, and it’ll just need another coat of floor wax. Probably won’t be able to see the cab floor very well on the completed build, but it’s cool. Certainly easier to lay this type of flooring than in real life! I hope you’re still enjoying the build. More to come…

Making some progress on the trailer. Using a new height gage to get all the axles set correctly so I don’t have one wheel hanging in the air when I finish.

Basic kitbash of the Dodge L700 and Ford C900 Garwood, lovingly tossed together and weathered. There's a very brief build chronicle in the workbench section.

Looks great so far On the fuel tank you'll see three fittings close to the frame on top of the tank that is where the fuel pickup and returns would have gone the larger circle out towards the outside of the tank was just the fuel sending units for the gas gauge and would have had two wires connected to ita ground wire under one of the out circle retaining bolts and a signal wire to the center of the sending units. I didn't get into all the air lines and wiring as you have .but as I spent the last five years of my career as a heavy equipment mechanic I did try to connect as many hydraulic lines as I could . The kit has almost enough hydraulic line to do everything except the over head line front to rear which I did with craft wire ( If l had it to do again I'd have used solder for those instead. I also drilled the tailgate latches and used craft wire to hide them so the tail gate could be opened. I also added the winch cable and snatch block as shown on old purple As you can see I weathered this one up as a fifty year old heavily used unit ( maybe a bit over done) and will be suspended towing it with my already completed AMT Pete tow truck.