So, what do you do when a paint scheme that you picked for a model has got you totally psyched out? Pick another paint scheme, right? No, of course not. You build another truck! And here it is: a 1974 Matlack Mack WS686S Cruiseliner!



Here's my inspiration pic.



The build is box-stock with a couple of adds. I started with the Stevens International reissue of the AMT Mack Cruiseliner, swapped in some Plaskit Mack 6-spoke wheels, replaced the 11:00x20 tires in the kit for some 10:00x20, added a fifth wheel release handle made from a straight pin, added the 1/4 fenders from the parts box, converted it to a single exhaust, added the roof marker lights from the AMT Ford LNT8000, added the Matlack decals that I got from another modeler, and added a 1976 Pennsylvania license plate to the front bumper. That's really about it. The frame is Dupli-Color Semi-Gloss Black, the cab is Tamiya Racing Green TS-43, wheels are Testors Gloss Yellow 1214, the tanks are Dupli-Color Aluminum, and the engine/transmission is Tamiya Gold Leaf X12.











Looks like my pogo stick is a little bent; have to remember to fix that.

Hey! Who let the Dogs out?



Jim

Sweet rig..now you better get going on building that Matlack liquid trailer as per the pic!



...btw, what's the paint scheme that's given you issues?..inquirering minds wish to know- and me too!

Thanks, Bob. No, it's not going to get a trailer like in the inspiraional photo. The plan is to (eventually) build a 20ft liquid container & trailer for it.

It's the scheme I picked for the blue & white W900. I wouldn't say that it's giving me issues, just that I'm psyching myself out about doing it. Never done a multi-color paint scheme before, and the masking disaster I had with the tanks on this build didn't help matters.

Jim

...wuss!



Make sure you burnish the tape edges really well...I like using one of those plastic finger nail cuticle pushers with the rubber angled tip on the end. I "borrowed" one from my wife long ago...she blamed the kids and she went and got a new one.......Shhhhhhhhhhh!

Wuss? I'm still collecting parts & skills!

As for the masking, I tried that on the fuel tanks on this job. Maybe it was the paint I used or the tape I used, but it lifted big chunks of the aluminum off of the tanks & left sticky residue. Won't use that tape again!

Jim

Ah, painting over masks is tricky{duh, you say} ... your two choices are spray and then within 5min remove the tape at a doubled over angle so the paint settles down and so you don't rip fresh paint....or....go real easy near the masked areas with the over coat and let it dry...too much paint on the edge of the mask tends to peel paint off when removing the masks...an AB is truely your friend when it comes to masks!
As for "skills"...bud, your there! That KW dash is a thing of beauty, but I would've added some tamiya clear orange over that wood grain to richen it up...but that's me, and your paint jobs are getting waaaay more smoother. Your doing fine my friend.

Hey James, being a trucker for 26 years I can appriciate them, they look nice. And pogos never stay straight. You forgot the 5th wheel grease pack and the most obvious, the bugs all over the front, Just kidding, it looks as I remember those c/o's and the conventional looks good too. I wish they made them in 1/35th, those snap tights real are a dissapointment.

Bob, I have to agree with you on the 1/32 stuff...they did a decent jog of the bodies but really need more detail for the rims and tires.

Jim, that hot tanker could easily be made with a piece of PVC with the bottom sliced off and rounded end caps.

Not a hot tanker, this: Container

Oh, and this, too: Trailer

Ambitious project, and I need some parts from the Italeri Container Trailer & either the AMT Fruehauf Tanker or the Revell of Germany Beall Tanker. The Clint Freeman Components stuff I can probably get from another vendor.

Jim

Actually, you could use pretty much any rear axle assembly{s} since your going to scratch the frame...then adapt the axles to it. Simple frame work around the tank, and the tank would be plastruct tubing and eliptical end caps.
The only problem with htose old articles is that you usually don't get the templates for the framework...I saw the gooseneck piece template but not much else...leaves the modeller to their own means for a source.
Eons ago, when I built the G scale train stuff, I often used 1/87 scale pieces for scaling up with.....take the 1/87 ruler and measure, then take a 1/32 scale ruler{1/25 for your needs} and draw the new template on graph paper and go from there. I was lucky in the fact that we had a regular train swapmeet here so I could buy cheap pieces to scale up with for the same cost as an old model railroader mag{$2-$3}.

I picked up the suspension from Plaskit a while ago, so I'm pretty good there. What I need are the valve assembly from the Beall or AMT tanker, and the container mounts from the Italeri container trailer (but I might be able to scratch something up. I have some axles (someplace) and the landing gear & kingpin. I jabe lots of 10-hole disks.

Jim

I have it from a good source that the first Cruiseliner (W series) came off the line in 1975, the last came of in 1983. There were and few years overlap with the Mack F model. Which confuses people to extend the Cruiseliner back farther than it was made. The AMT kit is a 1976 or 1977.

This biund should be a 1976, not a 1974.

Jim