Mack RW rebuild

Hello Railfan 233!

Thanks for your comment, now I'm west bound too, going to Germany for a business trip...

Anyhow, before I move on, I have an update for you. My next short-term goal would be painting the frame - in order to do that I have to tackle all of the mounts that attach to the frame. So I moved on to build the battery boxes. Here, let me show you the photo first:

In the the top portion of the photo you can see the old battery box pulled from the Italeri kit. It has the new style air tank molded, and it's funny shape is caused by the kit's steering gearbox, incorrectly mounted there. So I went on to build new battery boxes out of 1mm styrene sheet with the intention to use the kit's covers. You can see them in the photo on the left. On the right there are the battery box mounts which are, at the same time, cab mounts.

In the bottom of the photo there are the tranny mounts - on the left the frame mounted parts, on the right the tranny mounted parts, and they are a little science-fiction, as I had massive problems finding apropriate photos on the Web.

Still left to do are the fuel tank mounts, and they will probably be next on the bench.

In the meantime the work on the battery boxes prompted me to take a closer look at the hood, and especially the fenders - Italeri's hood has cutouts in the rear of the fenders, which weren't there, at least on the early Superliners, so I went on to fill them. I also installed the vertical plates in the insides of the fenders. Now the hood looks like this:

Hope you like it, thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Glad to see you're still working on this gorgeous beast.  To my eye the Tranny mounts look spot on, don't forget the polyurethane doughnuts!  Keep up the great work.

                                                                                  Pat.

Onward and upward Pawel , please post an o/a shot of your model .I would like to see the collective progress.

Pat - thanks a lot for your comment. Of course the representation of the heavy rubber is getting on the mounts. Do you happen to have any photos of that detail (tranny mounts or anything connected to the Superliner)? That would help me a lot.

Steve - thanks for your comment! I posted a shot of things I got so far a few weeks ago, and, unfortunately I didn't come much further since... I'll post the next collective shot as soon as I outfit the frame for painting, let's see when this is going to be!

Thanks for staying with me on this one, and have a nice day

Paweł

Sorry, I don't have pics of the tranny mounts but the doughnuts will have a bulged out appearance.  If the truck has quite a few miles on it the rubber or polyurethane will actually show cracking around the edges.  The doughnuts are two pieces comprising top and bottom with a smaller raised portion that goes into the hole in the mount itself much like car or pickup truck body mounts but you can't see that part.  There is a large washer on each doughnut half with about a 1 inch diameter bolt that goes through the ear on the tranny, upper doughnut, tranny mount and then the lower doughnut with a large nut on the bottom.

                                                                    Pat.   

Pat - that was a nice one, without you I'd probably miss the lower donut! Thanks a lot!

My request - if anybody has ANY photo of the Superliner it would be a great help for me to see it. Thanks in advance for your help and have a nice day

Paweł

OK, truckin' on!

First this shot, I hope Steve will like it:

This week I worked some on the front and rear suspensions, and I also built a few bits to outfit the rame. On the rear suspension I glued on the brakes and I even made something like brake drums - I cut up two Revell Porsche rims and got nice four pieces of just the right size tubing. It turns out they were transparent under the chrome!

I also finally glued on the front suspension. Here's what it looks like now:

I'd like to point out the front spring hangers, the tranny mounts, the frame stiffener I fabricated and also the shocks - hand turned by me from a thick piece of sprue. There is also the front motor mount, finally installed.

I also built those:

Those are the fuel tank attachments, made by bending a heated piece of styrene strip, just like the frame stiffener.

Keep on truckin' and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

Movin' on with the frame - I finished the frame stiffener and built yet another crossmember - the rear cab support. Here's what they look like:

And the rear cab support dry-fitted in the frame:

I also started building the radiator. A picture of an early Superliner radiator is not easy to find on the internet, but I did it. Now off to build it. I sandwitched a 1mm styrene sheet between two layers of fine copper mesh to get the radiator core, then I sided it with more styrene sheet and used the fan shroud hacked out of the kit's radiator. Note that for a Cummins or 6-cylinder Mack-engined Superliner the radiator has to be "bare", I mean it is supposed to have no aftercooler and no air conditioning condenser. Here's a picture with the kit radiator (Freightliner, with condenser) and my radiator:

An the mentioned fan shroud:

I also cleaned up a tool box (one of two), that will be frame-mounted just behind the fuel tanks:

Thanks for reading, have a nice day

Paweł

Awright, movin on!

Lots of work, not much to show.

The rear suspension complete and repainted:

The grille painted with Alclad 2 Chrome. Nice, but will it go together with the kit bumper?

And the doggie:

The hood in primer:

And I also moved on with the cab:

That'd be it for now, have a nice day

Paweł

'bout time Pawel , are we in the home stretch?

Now that's a negative, Steve, sorry - I still need some time on this, but it's progressing, slowly but steadily. I'm afraid the colour scheme, although simple (some stripes) can cause problems if it goes wrong. Anyhow, thanks for staying with me, and have a nice day

Paweł

Looking exelent Pawel.  I can see that bulldog flying down the highway now.

 Keep on truckin' You'r almost at the end of the run

Very nice work, Pawel.  Shows real dedication!

On the parts you are calling tranny mounts, I have always called them rear engine mounts, as they are attached to the bell housing, which is mounted to the engine.  On all the trucks I have owned or worked on, the transmission can be removed from the truck with the engine still installed.  On most Fuller transmissions there is a rear transmission support which is a transverse leaf spring attached on top near the rear.  Don't know how Mack did it on the R model, the only Mack I had was a 51 LJT with a Spicer 4 X 3.

Hello John!

Thanks a lot for your comment and your kind words. Those mounts, from what I heard, are characteristical for Macks, because they aren't bolted to their usual location on the flywheel housing, but they are on the bellhousing, so more to the rear (now we might argue if the bellhousing is already the transmission, or not yet ). I didn't notice any other mounts on the power pack, but to say the truth I don't have good reference of this area.

At this point I'd like to ask my fellow modellers for help - if you have any reference concerning the early Superliner, I'd like to see it in this thread - thanks a lot in advance!

Thanks again for all comments, have a nice day

Paweł

Hello everybody!

I've got another update - one of those "lots of work, not so much to show".

I've been working on the frame - I put on the cab mounts. There are three of them, two on the front, those double as battery box mounts, and one on the rear - on later trucks this was replace by an airbag for ride comfort, in my truck it's rigid. I also installed the frame stiffener. Here's what the frame looks like now:

I also worked on the battery boxes themselves. I had to convert their covers to match the photos of the early Superliners - their battery box covers were pretty "smooth", without some of the corrugations found on later models. I had to "dechrome" those parts and I'll put some alclad 2 chrome on them later. There are also air tanks under the battery boxes - I reuse tanks thet were kit supplied, after sanding off the mounts and shortening them 5mm. Curiously, there were two air tanks on the driver's side and only one on the curbside. Here's wwhat I have so far:

I also took care of the details that will be mounted on the roof - the bullet lights, air horns etc. By the way, there are two snorkel-like objects mounted on the roof between the three bullet-lights in the middle of the roof. Can anybody tell me what those are? Anyhow I dechromed all those parts with brake fluid, now I have to fill the seams, sinkholes and ejector pin marks, and "alclad" them back. I also tried to clean one of the lenses and paint it with Tamiya clear orange, the results are encouraging. The lens looks a lot better than covered in my lame orange attempt from before over 15 years. Currently the stuff looks like this:

Hope you like it, thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

By the way, there are two snorkel-like objects mounted on the roof between the three bullet-lights in the middle of the roof. Can anybody tell me what those are?

The two items pictured at the top of your last photograph are air horns. Used to warn of 20 tons of rolling thunder on the way! Also as a kids we would motion with our arm to get the truckers to bast the air horn on the way by, probably a Alberta redneck thing.

Just read the entire thread, very impressive work going on here Pawel!

Keep on truckin'

Jason

SuppressionFire

The two items pictured at the top of your last photograph are air horns. Used to warn of 20 tons of rolling thunder on the way! Also as a kids we would motion with our arm to get the truckers to bast the air horn on the way by, probably a Alberta redneck thing.

Jason

Nope! Not just an Alberta thing.

I, along with other Chicago children, enjoyed hearing the truck horns and would motion to truckers in probably the same way.

Don't know why we knew how, but presume some tv show of the mid-1960s showed us how to prompt a response from truckers.

Pawel- more fantastic work! This rebuild of yours is a pleasure to watch and very educational.

Suppressionfire- if I may, I believe Pawel was asking about the air intake vents- the snorkel-like parts in the lower left of the picture, and on the truck they are located between the inner three running lights on top of the cab roof. The air horns would have been mounted inboard of the outermost running lights. And no, signaling truckers to blow their airhorn is not just an Alberta redneck thing

Gentleman - thanks a lot for your comments, didn't have such traffic here for quite a long time!

Jason - thanks a lot, but I didn't mean the air horns. But the thing with the arm signalling is international by now. I remember doing this myself here in Poland some twenty years ago. And thanks for your kind words.

Stage_Left - thanks a lot, glad to have you onboard!

You're right, I mean the details from the lower left portion of the last photo. I'm almost sure they have something to do with air.

Thanks again for your comments, have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel- yes, the snorkel-like objects are air intake vents. As you have noticed, they are among the several distinctive features of a Mack.

I think the vents are for cab ventilation, as I have seen them on the side cab Macks that have external engine air cleaners. 

Pawel, I found a photo of a Maxidyne ENDT 675 that has the mounts you describe, so I learn something.  I'm not sure I would like that method of mounting when it came time to work on the transmission or clutch!  You would have to support the engine while that work was going on,  Here is the photo, the mounts are black.  It is interesting that the bell housing has pads for the usual method of engine mounting.

Thanks a lot for the photo, John! If you have more on a Mack Superliner, please don't hesitate to post them here! A Cummins/Fuller powerpack would be most welcome I agree, removing the tranny could be a real pain, but then removing the motor ia a little easier, isn't it? On my model I also cut out the openings on the bellhousing for the mounts that weren't installed. Thanks a lot for your comment, have a nice day

Paweł

Truly stunning work man. It's really hard to come across images of engines so you guys that are planing on building this one, keep all his engine photos.

Keep up the grate work!!!

White_R34 - welcome to this thread, it's good to have such an avid scratchbuilder onboard! Thanks for your kind words. I have many problems getting reference, mainly because such a truck as I'm building can't be found nearer than 1000 kilometers from where I live. On the other hand, internet makes it possible, I found many great photos on web sites selling scrap metal and used truck parts. Good people help me all the time, too!

Thanks for your comment, have a nice day

Paweł

Need WIP's!

'Breaker breaker this convoy cannot roll without a rig!'

Looking forward to a update, understandable if you become busy n' such. Post when ya' can.

Jason

It's all because the bears are slowing me down!! Nah, actually I'm smoothing some parts for paint and struggling to rechrome some parts for the battery boxes, so lots of tedious work, but not much to show. But please stay tuned, I'll post an update as soon as I have something showable. Thanks for reading, have a nice weekend

Paweł

While snooping through a club member's extensive stash of kits I found this one, call me bananas but I thought you might like it:

Only in the land of Holly during the 80's Wood such a T.V. show be made!

I like it a lot, that's one classic Ken! Is it for sale? Thanks a lot, have a nice day

Paweł

I can ask, getting this guy to part with a kit is next to impossible!

His wife would liquidate his stash in a minute upon the unfortunate demise of his time among the living.

Lets just say that would be a modeler's dream estate sale:

Yet I can see a clause 'to be buried with my model kits'

I will see, if he parts with the truck consider it sent to Poland!

You can see at once, he's an interesting man! Has more kits than my LHS and I mean literally! May he live long and prosper I'll stay tuned, have a nice day

Paweł