Friday, January 27, 2017

Moving Forward.




 I approach this weekend with disappointment at the fact that I will not be attending the Train show in Springfield, Mass. that started today. I enjoy viewing all of the efforts made by those members of the 1/87 Vehicle Club that have decided to display there and wish this year was not the exception. But more, I will miss seeing the modelers themselves, many of whom have become my good friends. My hope and prayers go out that all have a safe and enjoyable time.

Among them is a man I have mentioned here before that offers modelers a wonderful selection of resin cast model kits by the name of Don Mills. For several years now Don has listed on his web site a Kenworth Narrownose tractor that has been labeled "coming soon". Well soon has come to pass and he did not disappoint in this kit. My good friend Joe Enriquez has been showing me his efforts to turn this model into a class act for quite some time now and I applaud his work that contributed to the Don Mills kit.





I made some changes to the kit that are not readily apparent but bear mentioning here. Because of the crispness and quality of Ratcliffe Model castings, I decided to utilize his suspensions front and rear as well as the wheels. The wheels and tires are also slightly larger than the ones that come with the kit. Added aslo are quarter fenders and mudflaps in cast metal from Alloy Forms. In the photo below you will notice a photo etched crossover deck that comes from the very impressive collection of photo etched details of Pitstop87. A visor has been fashioned from sheet brass.




Lastly is a photo etched heat shield on the muffler from Masterbilt models. A big thanks to Bob Johnson for it. It has been mentioned some time ago by another modeler that builds bright shiny models that I, and those like me that weather our models, are doing so to cover mistakes and flaws. In other words that we don't do meticulously clean vehicles because we can't.  For him I offer up the last photo here to show the results of my airbrush talents before weathering.  I weather simply to provide what I believe validates them and when photographed in a scale setting gives a sense of reality. 






Another model worked on recently has been the Wiking Peterbilt. This particular model came in a wrecker configuration But I always thought needed a good wrecker unit than the one it comes with. So I decided to utilize the fantastic Holmes unit that comes with several of the Athearn trucks. It was a simple matter really of cutting the molded fixtures from the Wiking bed, applying a photo etched diamond plate deck and mounting the Holmes. I re-cabled the Holmes unit to be more prototypical, put Dennis Aust wheels on it and added stainless mirrors to the rig. The headlights were change from the quad units to single lens and the rear of the Athearn bed was fitted.








Do have a good remainder to this winter, thanks for looking!




7 comments:

blue87fj60 said...

I miss you old friend.
I so hoped to see you at Springfield.
Time heals all wounds my brother. And when the time is right for you, we will pick up from where we left off.
Your shelves still hang in my house and i am reminded of you daily.
You are one of my favorite modelers in the world.

Love what you did to the Kenworth 825!
I grabbed 3 kits from Don at the show myself. They came out great. Gonna do two up real soon after i finish the Mack FL700's i started two years ago.

You should be able to see my new email address.
Hit me up anytime my friend.

Unknown said...

Anybody that accuses you of weathering to cover up flaws is a hater. One would have to look past all of the excellent highly detailed work you do to find a flaw. That person also doesnt realize that one off hand built/assembled/modified pieces often are not 100% perfect. Thats part of what makes them custom.

Lets see if your detractor gets a request for 1000 of anything.

Keep up the good work.

Lloyd M

Marcus said...

Beautiful work.

John Scull said...

Like you I was unable to attend Springfield this year. I remember meeting you at the show a few years ago, when your loving wife kicked you in the rear an said go. I hope to see you again soon, and I fondly remember meeting and talking with you. I am always amazed by your artistry and skill. When I look at the pictures of your work, they bring back memories of seeing the real vehicles or some like them in old barn and old garages that only can be found in the north eastern areas of the country. I sit and stare at your pictures and can smell old wood mixed with the stale smells of grease and oil and fuels. That magical scent of old barns and such with vehicles hiding forgotten for many years. I am so glad your building again and sharing your ability with us all.

Anonymous said...

Great work as always Chester!! Glad to see you back. Your top-level artistic realism has been a big inspiration to me in my 1/87 scale modeling adventure. It motivated me to step up to the next level of realism by adding weathering to my models. Keep up the good work and continue sharing your great builds with all of us!! Take care and cheers!!

Anonymous said...

Glad to have you back although I don't know the details of your absence but am aware you've had some personal tragedies in the past. As a close follower and "student" of your blogs I searched through forums you've been known to post on with no contact so thought you might have left the hobby.

Fortunately for all of us that apparently wasn't the case. Welcome back!

Andrew Roberts said...

I am just discovering your work for the first time, thanks to Ted Culotta. You had a great gift. Thank you for sharing it.