Das Wettringer Modellbauforum

This is a mix of built & new kits

The Paystar i bought off of www.trademe.co.nz and one of the trailers i got off Ebay.UK



the other trailer (AMT T506 Gulf tanker) i again bought off of Trademe 2 years ago and it was still factory sealed!


It will be built as a day cab,single drive unit with 2 single axle 20ft trailers with a single axle dolly in the colours of US Truckstop company Pilot



So far i have stripped the cab & chassis of paint and shortened the chassis by 70mm
I will be using the single axle suspension from the AMT/ERTL Ford Short Hauler kit



In this picture you can see the section i have taken out of the chassis


I am thinking of using a set of wheels from the AMT American La France kits
What do you guys think ??

thank you Arnd,
i feel the same about the front wheels,not nice at all!

ok,some more progress made on this build

i have removed a total of 160mm (a little over 6 1/4in's) from the tanks and sanded off the "ribs" to give them a clean,smooth look(they scale out at approx' 24ft)

i added bracing strips inside the tanks along the joints and also added a strip inside one end to give more area to glue them back together

lots of filler and sanding to come ( )

chassis is progressing,just need to mount the fuel/air tanks and the battery box and add the IH air bag suspension

you can get an idea of how short the unit is going to be in the last pic' where i have put the cab next to the chassis(this is basically where the cab will mount)

i am placing a fuel tank each side just under the cab doors and then the air tanks & battery box either side just behind the fuel tanks

hope to push on with this & the mack dm and get them done soon (i want to build a brand new kit :heul

saw these decals on ebay a couple of weeks ago and thought about bidding on them for this project as these have the trailer stripes included & the ones i have don't


i got the ones i have out to have another look & to decide if i would bid


i keep all my decals in a photo' album or an A4 ring binder in clear pockets (depending on their size) to protect them from light & damp




to my horror as i went to take them out of the album they were stuck to the plastic >


once i managed to get them out things got worse > :-X >

the decal has come away from the backing paper and is starting to just crumble


so,to cut a long story short i ended up bidding on the new ones and ended up winning them(for $20 more than i was going to pay!)and got the guy to print me an extra set for $15

hopefully they will arrive this week and be better than the previous ones

managed to get a little bit more done on the 1st trailer

got the chassis to the right length,just need to re-join and add the detail (landing legs,control box,outlet pipes etc...) and sand down the filler (hopefully the 2nd trailer wont be so much work > )


here it is mocked up with my chevy bison

some more progress on this one (but i am a slooooooooooow builder!)

got all the chassis parts/detail on
i made a new winding handle for the trailer legs from brass rod & aluminium tube




i also made some "anti-sail" stays for the rear mudflaps and an access ladder from brass rod & aluminium tube




modified and mounted the discharge pipes


once i had mounted the front & rear suspension i discovered that the chassis did not sit level!


to fix this problem i glued 4 pieces of 2x2mm square Plastruct rod together to make a 4x4mm spacer which i placed between the axle & springs
this lifted the front end and leveled out the chassis




i wanted to use the 10 hole disc wheels that come with the Transtar kit but didn't have any of the Transtar backing plates for the front wheels so i modified the Paystar backing plates to match the Transtar ones




hopefully in my next update i will have finished both trailers & the dolly & got some paint on it