In kit form

If you're not familiar with the line of vehicles that Athearn is producing these days, you're missing some great models. I've already shown a few that I've altered and even one almost identical to the one shown here in the Ford F850 boom truck. But as good as they are, I find the paint job from the factory a bit heavy. I know this because we now have the opportunity to get some of these models in kit form. They are reminiscent of the large scale plastic kits we all built as kids (and maybe still do!). The castings on this Ford are crisp and clean and there is no lacking of detail for the scale. One of the reasons I like them in kit form besides the fact that I no longer need to strip the model, is that it enables the modeler to paint sub assemblies before putting the model all together. For this particular truck, I built handrails and racks out of .025" styrene rod to make the truck a reinforcing rod delivery truck. Aside from that the truck is built according to instructions. I should add that Trip Aiken of Truck Stop Models sent me this kit and a set of instructions that he wanted me to proof read, add to and/or alter to make it an easy build. So I had a slight hand in the creation of this piece to the public albeit a very small hand. Everything is assembled using plastic solvent glues. I painted it with Testors Acrylic with surprising results. Acrylics are very touchy to spray with an airbrush. I had no problems here and I believe the results speak for themselves. I should add that there is a very thin coat of clear flat lacquer over everything here before installing the glass. I really must find a more suitable cable material.

End of year completions

2012 could have very well been a better year for many. I know it could in my instance but that hasn't deterred me from working at the bench. As I've said before, this hobby has become great therapy in fact.

 
First one I'd like to talk about is a venture into kit bashing I never thought I'd be doing only a few years ago. My limited knowledge of the real truck here had me a bit confused as to what exactly I was building but after a lot of research and the picking of others brains, I came up with the Kenworth 848 in a western logger. The base model is the Athearn Kenworth that one can see in this photo below has been pretty extensively dissected. Gone are the fenders, steps and hood sides. In starting to reassemble a truck from this I used square tube styrene to create new fenders and covered them in the excellent Plano brass diamond plate. A new grille was created using styrene and aluminum corrugated roofing.

 

I chose to fit this rig on the Model Power Kenworth chassis because it had the correct wheelbase and an engine. The engine however was far too small for the scale and was replaced. You see the new Cat C12 in place with a new bumper and mirror standards added. This engine is a bit new for this truck but my discussion with others familiar with this truck tell me they were tremendously underpowered from the factory and many had engines swapped out for more powerful one's. The air cleaners here just don't work for me even though prototypical on several I've seen.

 

Loosely fitted here are the cab protector and log bunks that are from a resin kit by Dennis Aust Models. Dennis has suspended production for a while and a huge void exists in the scale right now. We hope he starts up again soon. Also seen are the new air cleaners, mirrors,  a few steps and grab bars and a coat of paint on the cab.  I always do a dark primer on everything these days that has a lot to do with my finishing/weathering techniques.

It's at this point that I do what is necessary for a finished model to appear. Headlamps are a styrene dowel drilled out painted chrome and filled with Sobo clear craft glue. The cab protector and log bunks are fastened and a finish coat of paint goes on. In this case Floquil UP armor yellow Rail color, a perfect match by the way for the old Cat yellow. Notice the fuel tank made of sheet brass is between the cab and it's protector as in the original.

 

Of course this kind of truck is useless without a trailer and Dennis' kit provides the makings of one. Tires and wheels on the truck are Roco off road on Promotex 6 spoke rims. A few washes  and a shot with some artists chalks ready this piece for photos. So here are a few.

  

Number two of this post was a fun, quick build as are most of these Sylvan pieces for me. So just a few quick shots of this 1960 White 4000 in an oil field boom truck.

 Everyone have a safe and Happy New Year please and let your loved ones know you care.

Spurts

  
   It seems like I accomplish models in spurts. Several get done in a short period of time and then long periods of drought between. Well here's hoping this is the start of a spurt. I've been working out of state with my youngest son all summer. The will be a hiatus for a few short months and then I'm back down to work in Penna. again for a much shorter time. Hopefully, it will be back to Maine for good when I'm finished down there sometime in the early spring. Suffice it to say, I get no modeling done down there.
   So here's a piece just finished in my first three days back at the bench. No not continuously for three days. The '37 Chevy from Sylvan has been a favorite of mine and I've built quite a few now. This is the second wrecker I've done with the '37 and I changed the look a bit with this one by adding the fendered bed. The boom is also scratch built and I placed the Jordan wheels on it. The grille has been Bare Metal Foil-ed and the paints are Floquil Rail colors. A very light coat of clear flat lacquer dulled it up and a few washes were done. A very light dusting with artists chalks finish it.
    Short but sweet this time, thanks for looking.

Up close

Unfortunately my Sony Cybershot died this last week. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Although financially I really wasn't prepared to shell out the money for the camera I wanted, I happened on one ebay auction that nobody seemed to be paying much attention to. What retails for just under $300 I picked up for $136, a Canon Powershot 300HS. I am truly impressed right out of the gate with it's ability to take very close macro shots. It does however have the unnerving drawback of a bad field of focus in macro but whose doesn't in a point and shoot camera? It also does very well in low light conditions. Something the Sony was entirely void of. Well my camera expertise is also sorely lacking so let me show you how well it really does do. The photo above is from a model you might remember from a few posts back. The Mack LJSW in a solid resin cab from Sheepscot that I did into a logger. It shows the detail of the logging bunks and something else you cannot see in any of the photos previously taken with the other camera, the diamond plate steps that I used to replace the resin ones. I urge you to click on the photos to see the enlarged photos for all the one's I'm showing here.




The photo of the Ford Model TT above is an example of what this camera can do under low light conditions. It is 7:30 pm on a very cloudy night in June and there is barely enough light to see where one was walking. And to add to the darkness, the model has been placed in the barn diorama which shields it from the light coming from the very small window in my office with the exception of what is coming through the even smaller windows of the diorama. Proof that the camera can see more than the naked eye. By the way, the Ford is something new, here's another photo of it.




I don't even know why I'm showing this one except that it does give a really fine example of how finely detailed Roco does things. The truck is a Kenworth C500DA oil field heavy hauler from Dennis Aust models that is put on the Roco chassis from a ten ton wrecker. The off road tires are from Roco too on Promotex rims that I altered to make them planetary.



Here's one last shot for this post that is again of the TT wrecker. The small tool box is made from brass shim stock and the inside is filled with VectorCut wrenches. Thanks for looking, enjoy. And give your kids a hug.

Back to stay

Yes, I think I'll keep doing this modeling thing. A few more recent pieces here. Starting with an old favorite, the '37 Chevy truck from Sylvan Scale. Pretty much box stock (no alterations done to the model.) except for using the Jordan 5 hole steel wheels. The covered livestock hauler in behind is a resin kit from the German outfit Kniga. I did lower the suspension a bit and used a two hole steel wheel on the trailer. I also covered the tarp that was already molded in the resin casting, with tissue. Just helped to make the seams at the glue joint less perceptible.

















Sometimes you run across a model that is just too much like a toy. Such is the case with the Imex International KB8 from 1947-49. It is a diecast piece with a very thick paint job and plastic headlights that are mounted on the bumper. To creat this piece, I shortened the wheelbase and corrected the windshield area. I then used some appropriate headlamps and mounted them up on the fender where they belong. The wrecker unit is scratch built and sits on diamond plate. The wheels are from Athearn. After stripping all the paint off, I cleaned the casting and dipped it in Blacken-It. A chemical product that darkens most metals. This eliminates any coats of paint at all and provides a good tooth for anything that does get painted without priming.
















I do feel fortunate to have friends like Ralph Ratcliffe. Ralph is the renowned modeler responsible for countless numbers of masters for models brought to us by the likes of Sheepscot Scale and Don Mills Models as well as carrying his own line of great models now. I was the recipient of the Mack F700 cabover from Ralph because it had some defects and he could not sell it to Don Mills who markets the kit. With just the cab in hand I found a Promotex chassis suitable and put Ralph's wheels on it with his cab. The trailer is the Lonestar kit of the Trailmobile 40 ft. flatbed. A great kit for scale and prototypical accuracy but a bit of a bugger to assemble with all the fiddly little parts. Not impossible by any means but if you're just starting out in modeling, you might want to put this one on the shelf until you sharpen your skills a bit. The load is an old plastic kit from Preiser of a generic forage wagon chained down to the trailer .
















The last thing I want to show for this posting is the trailer I originally intended for the Mack F700. It is a 28' wedge from Rail Power offered in a plastic kit. Of course I can always change my mind again.




Well thanks again for looking and happy modeling.