Scale model building

[ebinmaine 77,309]

34 minutes ago, Beap52 said:

working on the building for the rail road layout. 

 

 

Very nice! 

[Treepep 1,060]

On 2/7/2026 at 7:11 PM, ebinmaine said:

Figured some o you would get a kick outta the future projects collection...

 

Various pics.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always loved the old school cab overs.  That dodge looks pretty saweet

[ebinmaine 77,309]

1 minute ago, Treepep said:

 

 

Always loved the old school cab overs. 

 

Me too!

I've since gotten a few more. 

 

 

1 minute ago, Treepep said:

That dodge looks pretty saweet

 

I have another one now. The second has a flatbed trailer.  

 

 

[Handy Don 15,915]

20 hours ago, Beap52 said:

We used to stain wood shingles  using linseed oil, green paint and thinner or something then spray the shingles. 

During summers in high school I had a job painting houses. One client wanted their farm outbuilding painted as well as their house, including a huge barn with a second story hay loft. It had a Dutch gable wood-shingled roof that needed some repairs and then full roof paint. That was by far the scariest job we ever had and it took about a month for the whole job. 

[ebinmaine 77,309]

Several things going on today. 

I got a coat of flat black on the trailer suspension of the tanker. 

 

 

On the Peterbilt I moved the bright chrome plate to the rear. Added the two silver ones. The cab guard will be setting on the front plate.  That'll block off the former sleeper mounts from view. 

 

 

Been working on the matching trailer too.

The axles and landing gear were in the wrong locations. 

The red pencil pointer shows the old places. 

I moved the axles back, relocated the mud flaps & rear bumper, painted the rear lamps. 

Also moved the landing gear forward to a more realistic place.  

The clamp with the white plastic was a couple base plates I made up so the landing gear would set flat in its new location. 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 77,309]

[ebinmaine 77,309]

Got the project tanker trailer back on the desk this morning. Last week I used a black marker to accent where all the visible defects and mold lines were in the plastic. 

Wet sand those marks off. Wash & dry, then recheck the surface. Mark more if needed.   

 

I found this method on YT. Seems similar to the way @Achto uses different primer colors to find highs and lows. 

 

Works excellent.  

 

 

[ebinmaine 77,309]

Some progress pics of the tanker.  

 

The wet sanding went well for stage one. 

 

 

After this pic I used the flat sheet od sandpaper to "adjust" the line-up of the front and middle sections and glued them together.  

 

Here I'm doing a simple mockup for the rear suspension position and the frame rails I'll be adding on.  

Not sure exactly where the whole thing is gonna set just yet.  

 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 77,309]

On 2/11/2026 at 7:37 PM, ebinmaine said:

Reference pic

 

 

 

I had a thought several weeks ago that maaayyybe I could use the two kits shown to create the tractor more like an S2500. 

 

The 2500 and 2600 were the heavy haulers of the series. The fleet beast.  

The 4300 was more of an owner operator seller. Nicer options. More chrome. 

 

The Paystar had the setback front axle and HD frame of the S2500. 

 

After taking some measurements today it appears that I'll be able to use the frame and running gear of the Paystar and the nose and fifth wheel of the 4300 to combine into a 2500.  

Probably. 

Biggest obvious challenge will be cutting the 4300's hood to shorten it quite a bit.  

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 77,309]

More reference pics of the tanker as I remember it. 

 

Note that the rear axle is definitely past the rear of the actual tank. 

 

 

 

[Handy Don 15,915]

Tank? Eh. A faithful rendition of the plumbing? Now THAT would be a real modelers’ challenge!

[ebinmaine 77,309]

6 hours ago, Handy Don said:

Tank? Eh. A faithful rendition of the plumbing? Now THAT would be a real modelers’ challenge!

 

There's a "parts" model here with all the gasoline transport drain piping for a 5 pocket (individual internal tanks) trailer. There are several model kits that have them in various types.  

 

On this particular build I won't be needing any. 

This is a single pocket trailer with only one or two connections.  

In 1:1 scale there could be one to six (?) internal baffles but the fluids can flow through.  Oddly, the top hatches are still multiple. Perhaps because the oil flows so slowly when cold? But I fins it difficult to believe it would be faster to fill each baffle individually than just wait for flow from center to each side..... ((??))

 

 

 

 

[Handy Don 15,915]

The hatches allow access to the separate pockets in tank for inspection and servicing. Even porous baffles would block humans!

[ebinmaine 77,309]

On 2/24/2026 at 9:03 AM, Handy Don said:

The hatches allow access to the separate pockets in tank for inspection and servicing. Even porous baffles would block humans!

 

 

I did some interwebs poking around and found that the hatches being required for human access for inspection began around 1991. 

Tanks manufactured prior to then could/ can still be used for HAZMAT by either retrofitting larger hatches or using alternative methods like an air pressure test. 

 

This build is representative of a mid 1970s manufactured Heil. 

2 pockets. 2 hatches. Likely a couple vents. No people access. 

 

 

[ebinmaine 77,309]

This evening I worked on adding a back panel to the tank. 

The model kit I'm using is a "peddle truck".

What I'm building is a bulk delivery rig. 

The back would be entirely different. Peddle trucks have the pump and hose housed at the rear. Think of a home heating oil truck. 

Bulk tanker would have the outlets for larger hoses only. Usually centered on the bottom. Not always. Many have rear or even front outlets. 

Think fuel station delivery truck. 

 

I've been mulling how to create a rounded look at the rear and haven't come up with a method that's within my current skill set. So, flat backed it is.  

 

I traced the tank onto a slab of thin sheet styrene. 

 

 

Glued that on. 

 

 

 

 

 

After that I was ready to attach the second rear section to the rest of the tank. 

Here's the interior center holder from the kit. 

 

 

The line up of the 3 pieces is absolutely horrible. 

Not exactly a huge surprise considering the molds were made back in the mid 1960s. Also, two different companies made these kits. Also, I'm doing something they weren't built for. 

 

It'll take some serious filler, sanding, patience,  repeat... It'll eventually resemble a bunker tank.  

 

 

[Handy Don 15,915]

Too late, but I might have tried heating a

thin styrene sheet with a heat gun and molding it over something with the right bulge/curve. Once cooled and hard, then trace and cut to match the tank’s end. 

[8ntruck 8,598]

Got an old Mattel Vac U Form?

[ebinmaine 77,309]

8 hours ago, Handy Don said:

Too late, but I might have tried heating a

thin styrene sheet with a heat gun and molding it over something with the right bulge/curve. Once cooled and hard, then trace and cut to match the tank’s end. 

 

6 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

Got an old Mattel Vac U Form?

 

 

One of the advantages of using styrene is that "too late".... isn't. 

 

I can definitely add another piece to the back here.  

 

 

I knew about the ability to mold the sheets (That's likely how I'll make the front and rear fenders) but not what to "wrap" on to.

 

I'd need to create something with a different convex in the up/down and left/right directions. It would also need to be such a slightly and thin taper I'm not sure how to accomplish the task. Wood would be to thin I think 🤔? 

 

Perhaps it's a @Wheel Horse 3D job?

 

 

[8ntruck 8,598]

4 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

Perhaps it's a @Wheel Horse 3D job?

 

This would be a good job for a 3d printer.  Most of the work would be in building the CAD model.  From what @Wheel Horse 3D has posted, I think he has some CAD software that is designed for 3d graphics work that could 'sculpt' the contours needed fairly easily.  

 

I wonder if he can print styerene?

 

If you went the heat formed sheet method, you would need to make a 'plug' to form the plastic over - wood would work fine for that.  

[Handy Don 15,915]

I looked around the kitchen and spotted this as an example of a forming base!

[ebinmaine 77,309]

2 hours ago, Handy Don said:

I looked around the kitchen and spotted this as an example of a forming base!

 

 

How do you feel about getting your wife to give me permission to use that?

[Handy Don 15,915]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

How do you feel about getting your wife to give me permission to use that?

Hmmm. From her grandmother. House rule is that they are not even allowed to be lifted off the counter to avoid risk of accident. 

I made the wooden lids to replace the irreparable ceramic originals. 

Having no idea how warmed styrene really behaves (e.g. stickiness, deposits, etc.) I’d need to do some preliminary research.