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The longest build i've undertaken


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Ok so i've been working on this and it's become my latest project. And as the title says it's long. Though not in the Time sense of the word. It's just really long lol.

 

Right here's what this project entails:

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That's Meng's 1/24 Ford F-350 and a resin Dually conversion from Scenes Unlimited with a 32' Gooseneck trailer from Galaxie Limited.

I haven't started the trailer yet but when i measured the length to see whether it was 1/24 or 1/25, I found out that it's 10 scale feet too long. so basically the length works out at 1/18 scale. I then measured the width and compared to actually 1/1 scale dimensions that too is out at 1/23 scale. So i just thought to hell with it, I'll just build it when the time comes and see if it 'looks' right. The main concern i have is to do with locating the fifth wheel but more on that later.

 

I first opened the box a couple weeks ago at a Leicester Modellers build club and managed to get the chassis buit up to this stage:

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All black plastic to be painted black. Shhh i haven't painted it ;)

 

Next i built up the engine:

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And filled the ejector marks on the cab floor:

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Who's for a full mock up?

Well i was lol.

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That's the chassis and interior of Fujimi's 1/24 Daihatsu Mira in the bed lol.

 

Next i chose to strip some of the chrome parts as i prefered them body coloured.

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This is my prefered chrome stripper. None of your fancy dettol, mr musclke etc. Just Wilko's £1 own brand Oven Pride.

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And 24hrs later:

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Once the brake discs were painted up i got to work on the Dually wheels. Painted Matt black followed by a coat of Aluminium from an old Tamiya PS spray. Waste not want not etc haha.

Rear's fitted:

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Now this is what i'd been hoping for:

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Just nice and glossy black. Not mirror shine but one i'm happy with. And it was a technique i'd been itching to try. Matt Black followed my gloss clear.

Halfords Matt balck was the paint of choice and it went on that smooth that i didn't need to cut it back like i usually have to. I wet sanded the first clear coat with 2000 grit and the polished the 2nd coat with Meguairs Ultimate compound.

 

Her'e the first dually fender finished with the marker lights installed:

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And after 2 attempts, Glued to the bed in full mock up view:

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Next up i got the front weel fitted and the exhaust painted and fitted. Another mock up ;)

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And now for the potential issue for the trailer.

Here's the ride height:

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it's very tall. The reason is that the Meng kit represents a 4WD truck, which rides higher than the RWD's Most dually's are RWD but you can get 4WD ones so that was never a problem. But it danwed on me that the trailer might not sit level. There is nothing i can do now about the ride height. And even if i was starting again with a new kit, the amount of work needed to lower the suspension would put me off doing it. So basically when i've finished the truck, if i can't get the trailer to sit level then i will save the trailer for a different truck.

 

The other day i finished the engine and got it installed into the truck:

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For the engine i wasn't happy with the colour call outs. So i did some research and it turned out that Meng was right, the Powerstroke engines really are painted black. Bummer.

But then i found out that the 6.4L engines as featured in this truck are still in production under the name MAXXforce 7 and are painted in a rather fetching Ford Engine Blue. so i followed suit ;)

 

This morning i got the second clear coat on the other fender and used my trusty Meguiars to polish it.

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And finished with the marker lights:

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That's all for now as i'm still in the process of clear coating panels and i need to get some paints for the interior.

 

TTFN Ashley

 

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Having seen 1:1 scale versions in Canada when working over there very often the tail gate was taken off whilst the trailer was hitched. also in some cases the load bed was cut and the 5th wheel attached directly to the chassis.

 

Roger

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I got a full mock up going the other day. The trailer is fully enclosed but for the purposes of seeing if the paring is suitable, this is all that's necessary.

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The trailer rides flat with the neck resting on the bed. So in order to give the trailer clearance I'll probably have to add 1-2mm raisers to its axles. I do want to double check on a level non carpeted surface but am having trouble finding one lol.

Another thing that's caused me to have a think is that the original plan was to have a Nascar in the trailer. However the 1/24 ones don't fit, being too wide for the trailers inner arches. I always thought that transporter trailers had flat floors inside to prevent this in the real world, well maybe they do and this multi scale trailer kit is wrong. The wheels on it are hideous so I'm hoping I have something in the spares box to replace them with. Lots of things to ponder.

 

I've had to get liberal with the filler on the seats for the truck. So far the only parts that have needed any, other than the odd ejector pin.

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A small update but it's still progress. Got to fix my 1:1 scale at the weekend so not sure how much I'll get done.

 

TTFN Ashley.

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