International ProStar truck, 1:25 from Revell

[richellis]

International ProStar

1:25 Revell kit build review.

The International ProStar truck is manufactured by International Truck Company in North America. Revell have produced a kit of this truck in 1:25 scale, this kit is produced by Moebius and boxed by Revell. This can be evident on the underside of the cab floor where the Moebius name is engraved in the plastic!
When I was told this kit was on its way for review I was excited, as the sister to the LoneStar with its marmite looks I think the ProStar is the better looking truck and has found its way into fleets across North America both large and small. I instantly jumped on Google looking at pictures of the ProStar and saw everything from slandered big fleet specification rigs to wild custom orange with Lamborghini style doors! For me I liked the simple fleet specification and as I wanted it built before I went on holiday in 2 weeks, clean and simple it was. I saw a number running with a white cab and black chassis and with that I can add an operator at a later date. Decision made. Black chassis, White cab, clean and as a fairly new rig.

With any build this size I looked at the instructions a number of times and looked at the plastic before I decided how to tackle this build. I normally build the chassis and cab shell first so they can be painted before tackling the engine and cab interior; I spent some time deciding what to add to the chassis before painting. My build process is to get the chassis rails and cross members together, straight and true. The chassis is formed with the 2 rails joined by 6 cross members. They are all to the rear of the chassis so care is needed when assembling. I also note that some of the cross members are attached to the sprue by the ends, so you need to be careful when removing them from the sprue and ensure they are kept square or your chassis will not run straight. I then made up some sub assemblies building the axles and battery box/ air tanks. This latter was chromed but oddly the instructions say they need painting the chassis colour so these parts where stripped before assembling. I drilled holes into the tanks to accept some plumbing later.

The back axles and suspension where tackled next. They go together well but are careful with the brake back plates E71 and E211 as they are different and take care and double check how the brake chambers fit so they don’t foul the suspension arms.

I then moved to the front axle and suspension, as stated in the review the steering can be made to work by heat swaging the plastic pins. I did this by touching them with a hot soldering iron, just long enough to mushroom the ends and stop them slipping off. The front suspension glues onto the form of the chassis rails and is a good positive fit on the locating pins and holes. take care with part R218, the power steering box and steering column, this is fitted at step 23, but as you can see in the above picture the column is delicate and breaks easy, in hindsight I would leave this till much later to fit. I have managed to glue it back but be warned!
I added some simple plumbing to the chassis, not too much but I did plumb all the brake chambers and the suspension airbags, I also plumbed the air tanks just to add some life to the chassis. For this I used some thin electrical wire that I salvaged from some broken electrical device or cable from my house.
This then got me to the stage where I could paint the chassis.

[richellis]

While the chassis was in the paint booth I made a start on the cab, hood and the various aerodynamic fairings on the truck.

As a start I attached the cab roof, this only covers the front section of the cab as can be seen in the before shot below,

The part is a very good fit and located on 2 pins above the wind screen and on to a moulded step at the rear. The part is moulded as the real part so the joins are present on the real truck, this saves the need to fill the joints, they don’t look too out of scale on my build so I didn’t do any more to them.

I added the mirrors next, these are chromed but for my build I wanted a plainer look so I stripped the chrome in some oven cleaner and stuck them on at this point. The fit is OK, but I did some shaping with some sandpaper to get them to sit better.

To finish the basic cab shell I added the rear wall, I have only glued this along the top as it needs to clip onto the floor inside to locate it, and the cab interior. Note that the wall isn’t flush so you will need to paint the inner sides of the cab at the back.

Now I took the cab, hood and the other bits for a coat of white primer.

The second shot shows the top fairing in place, I can’t decide if I want this on my model but it is a good fit so you can paint it up and fit without glue so you can alternate. You will need to paint both sides of this part though as it is open at the back.
I have also to this stage made the cab interior floor as this needs painting black to match the chassis, you also need to add the firewall to the floor, O280 and to help with the location it helps to put the dash and interior side walls in place and this is evident in the shots above.

[richellis]

The engine was an easy build, and in my haste I didn’t take any progress shots! I completed step 1, and glued the 2 halves of the block together with the back of the gear box, gearbox sump and oil sump. I then moved to stage 2 and deviated from the instructions. Looking at the painting instructions, and some pictures online of a real engine I chose not to fit A149, B123, and a132 at this point, and then added A147 from step 5 as this is painted the same colour as the block. I the primed the engine and gearbox silver, and all other parts with white primer. I got some Tamiya paint, X-13 a metallic blue for the main engine block and a couple of coats gave a good effect to my eye. I them painted the parts in various silvers and blacks as per the instructions and the reference shots online once complete I added it to the chassis. I glued the radiator assembly to the chassis earlier to help straighten the chassis and this made it very hard to get the completed engine into place, but now it’s in!
Now I looked at the front bumper and its hinge assembly. I noticed that the real truck has an open grill in the centre of the bumper, this is closed on the kit and you are instructed to paint this black, I chose to open this up, a nice simple job as can be seen by the photo sequence below. I just ran a fresh blade around the grill, removed, sanded then added some mesh to fill the hole!

I then added the hinge to the rear of the bumper, be careful with the glue on the plates that hold it onto the part if you want it to tilt but the finished effect of that bit of work can be seen below.

I think this is much better than painting the aperture, and not too much work to achieve.
Lastly to show the build to this point a few mock up shots

High top on

High roof off

[richellis]

I moved onto the interior next. The kit is made as the top of the range bed that can be converted into a couch, I couldn’t find any pictures of this style interior on the net, and as I wanted a fleet spec truck I modified this. I’ve shown some shots of the kits interior in situ to show the layout.

There is a couch with a separate base that has moulded detail for the storage cupboards under and a pair of full height units each side of the sleeper compartment. These are well moulded and a good fit into the cabin. I chose to alter the right unit, cutting the centre section away to form a low cupboard, and then fixed a shortened upper section into the moulded roof liner to mirror the layout I’ve seen on the net. I also built a wide bunk using some plasticard. The interior was painted a mix of Greys and I carefully painted the dash to highlight the moulded detail. You could sand the dash and use the supplied decal; I chose not to except I cut away the sat-nav screen from the decal and used this. I then detailed this with some fabric to simulate a blanket, and some milliput as a pillow, a few magazines, maps and books are scattered about to give some life, to make these I took pictures off the internet and resized them to 1:25 and printed them onto some card. I then added some of the kits decals around the interior for the other switches and lights in the cab, and some International badges to the dash and steering wheel.

[wkennerley]

Wow very nice build so far, not my style of truck but it looks like a fine kit.

Wayne

[richellis]

Its a lot better looking than the LoneStar, and this will be done in Celadon Livery, as soon as I get back off my holls, Ill order the decals, I plan to grab another one to do as WalMart with a 53inch sleeper conversion. Its a bit more done than shown in this update, a sneaky peak though...

[Julien]

That looks pretty darn good there Rich.

Julien

[Rickpadwick1801]

That looks good, I am thinking about doing a Peterbilt truck, like Optimus Prime....

[richellis]

Thanks, I have a Pete 359 on the bench, that looks like the classis American rig, but I cant wait to get the decals on this now and get it finished

[richellis]

Ok, the build is now completed. I am more than happy with the build, there are no issues with the kit, it goes together very well, with no fit issues. I chose to alter the layout of the sleeper area and made a bed over the couch style setup in the box, I couldn't find any reference of this being available on the ProStar range. Some will notice the missing rear spray flap, this got knocked off at the Sutton Coldfield show, never to be seen again! I will attempt to scratch build a replacement at some stage!
Although the build was mainly out of the box I have used some aftermarket parts and I will list these at the end.

The kit is very well detailed, I added some thin wire to the chassis to give it some life, but the engine is out of the box, I did some research online to get the colours right on the parts, the Celadon company decals are aftermarket decals from the USA.

Conclusion
I would rate this as one of the best truck kits I have built, lots of detail out of the box, but it will lend its self to super detailing.

Aftermarket used on build.
Chassis wiring and cable (spares box)
Airlines from Kit Form Services
Celadon Company Decals from ModelTruckin

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

[HOUSTON]

Rich.

Awesome build and work from beginning to end..

And it looks simply Super.

Well done

[kpnuts]

really great build, and i like the commentary as the build progressed. i have built a lot of amt and italeri truck kits and they normally need a little tweaking but generally make a good kit in the end, and of course you can get a lot of add on's for them.

[katmando]

nice job look good

[ukmodeller]

Looks like a super kit to make and so well done.

One thing I always have problems with too is the mud flaps. You only have to breath on them and they fall off.

Kevin.

[richellis]

Yep, I agree. Look at mine, one is missing!