Mirror Models Diamond T 968A Cargo Truck WIP #3

After several months of lack of enthusiasm, I seem to have got my mojo back for modelling. It's just a shame that we are in the middle of preparing to move house, so I am restricted in what I can do. The only problem I am having is finding that something I need to use is packed away in one of many boxes. Well, back to the Diamond T and an update on its progress. 

I did a little jump on the order of build from the instructions. The next stage of build was meant to be the final bits on the chassis like fuel tanks, steps and the cab. But I decided to start on the cargo body instead, which is typical for me to do. Tried to assemble as par the instructions, but due to the overlength of the body cross braces, I opted to construct both sides and fix them to the body floor. It also helped to hold the braces in place once they were trimmed as there is no location pins on them. Advance warning to anyone planning to build this kit, be prepared for some swearing and cursing during this stage of the build!

After the braces are fitted, the tailgate and rear brace are fitted followed by the benches. These can fitted in either the down or folded positions, I did one of each for this build. Another little warning for you all here. Take care handling the cargo body whilst you are building it. The uprights between the body sides and the upper slats are very delicate, do not put any pressure against them because they will bend or break easily. 

Along the side of the body, you will need to add some lashing hooks which have to be made from some bent wire. Make several extra hooks as you will lose a few to the carpet monster and you may not be happy with the shape of all of the ones you have bent up. In the first photo below, you will see that the rear mudguard is mounted to the extreme rear of the body, as show in the instructions and via the location holes in the floor. This position is incorrect as I discovered from looking at some side view photos of the real truck. The rear mudguards are meant to be the same distance from the rear brace as the front mudguards are from the front brace. They have also missed out supplying the support braces for them to. I also cannot understand why the rear guards are plastic, but the front ones are in etched brass!

As I was removing the rear guards to reposition them, they got slightly damaged along the joint area. So I had to repair these areas by using some Evergreen plastic strips sanding them to shape and size. Further strips of the plastic strip were used to make the guard braces so they would match the front ones. The mudguards are roughly 4mm from the inside faces of the end cross braces, as there is no reference points on the underside of the body to help you. I used the braces of the front guards to get the rough location of them and then transferred the measurement to the rear ones.

That is all for now, I will try and update further as I progress with the build. But I am not sure how much will get done over the next month as we approach the moving date which should be set later this week. So, until next time, happy modelling.

Mirror Models Diamond T 968A Cargo Truck WIP #2

It has been a productive week on the Diamond T. Had a couple of battles with the dreaded Carpet Monster, he won one and I won the other one. I just pray he doesn't raise his ugly head for a long while now. So, what progress has been done on the "T".

The chassis frame was assembled with a little confusion between the instruction diagrams and how the actual parts assembly together. This was on the front winch that sit between the chassis rails where the diagrams show the drive gearbox one way, but when you actually build it, it assembles the opposite way around. Not sure which way is correct, but the parts only assemble one way and not the other!

Said winch gearbox on nearer side of cable drum.

The rear suspension assembly is quite a detailed area of the chassis in this build. Once the main parts (ie. axles, springs and crossmember) are assembled, we start to add the brake actuators and the various bars that stabilize the axles from twisting. The following four photos show the detail of the rear suspension through it assembly over the last week.

The next selection of photos are the latest from a couple of nights ago with the wheels, engine and radiator test fitted to see how they looked when they are glued in place. You will also see that the transfer box, handbrake and various prop shafts have all been fitted to the chassis. If you are building this model yourself at any point in the future, you might find that the propshafts are a little longer then the spaces they are meant to fit. I just trimmed the location points where the shaft UJ's mount onto the axles and transfer box. On the front axle, there is a small disc which fits between the UJ and the extension on the transfer box. Firstly, mine was eaten by the carpet monster, so I scratch-built a replacement, which once I tried to fit the prop shaft prevented it from fitting. So I removed it and the prop shaft went into position without any problems.

Whilst getting carried away with building the chassis, I forgot to check the upgrade set to see if there was any kit parts to be replaced from it. So, when I checked, to my annoyance I found there was a few parts to be replaced from it. The first were these bump stops which the plastic parts are replaced by some etched ones. There is also a couple of parts on the rear of the chassis to be replaced, but luckily, I have not put the plastic versions on yet.

Well, that is all for this posting. There is a few more parts to be added to the chassis, these include the rear engine mounts and the cradles for the fuel tanks. I think there are a few other items to be added to, but I am not sure what they are until I look further along the instructions. 

Mirror Models Diamond T 968A Cargo Truck WIP #1

Here we go again with another magazine review build, the subject being one of my favourite military vehicles, the Diamond T. During my teens, I had built the Matchbox Diamond T Tank Transporter, and it seemed to wrangle its way to a little corner of my heart. To the point that I recently purchased the Revell release of the said ex-Matchbox rekindle that love of the truck. That was until I got the chance to build the new Mirror Models 1/35th scale Diamond T Cargo Truck, along with the upgrade set for a SMMI review build.

This review build has fortunately turned out to be the ideal project for me to do whilst we are in the process of moving. I can do all of the main construction and leave any painting until the end which should coincide with when we have moved and I have unpacked most of my modelling equipment and set up the new workshop. So, here is where I am up to so far. 

First here is the engine supplied in the kit. Mirror Models have tooled up a nice example with very good detail. This engine looks better then some of the ones you find in the models cars of the 1/24th and 1/25th scales. Supplied on the etched sheet in the kit, is this lovely fan which just need the blades bending before being glued onto the pulley. There is potential for adding extra detail such a hoses and wires, but I will not be doing it on this build.

The front axle is next. As this is a 6X6 truck, naturally it is a driven axle which you can pose in a steered position. It does not mention this in the instructions and the steering arm that mounts on the chassis does have a small tab to locate it in the centre position. What I did was to glue one of the brake drum backplates in position, then using the steering track arm, get the position of the other drum and glue everything in place.

The wheels were all straight forward to assemble, but do not forget to run some glue around the inner joint on the wheel rims. I forgot to do this and still need to do this job. The instruction say to assemble the wheels onto the brake hubs, but I am leaving them off so that the hubs can be added to the axles separately from the wheels. Plus I want to paint the wheels individually to. You will notice there is twelve wheels in the photo, two of them are spare wheels which mount on the headboard of the cargo body.

Last for this posting is the radiator. This just needs a little bit of cleaning up on the joints prior to painting, mainly down the sides of the radiator. Believe or not, this is made up of five separate parts including the cap.

More work has been done since these photos were taken on Friday evening. One thing I have noticed with this kit is the lack of locating pins for the parts. What ones there are, tend to be fairly small and the holes they locate into are not big enough to accommodate them. I have had to drill these holes out slightly in both width and depth. But like the ICM kits I have built in the past, you have to rely on you eyes to ensure the parts are lined up and the right way around when gluing them.

I will post later on this week with further progress of the chassis.

Kit Review Page Updated

Tamiya's great 1/24th scale kit of the Lotus Europa Special has been added to the Kit Review Page of this blog.

On The Move!

Hello to all of you followers of this blog.

I am sorry that things have been very quiet on here for the last few months, but there has been a lot of other things taking priority at the minute. We are in the process of moving home, which we hope will happen by the end of October (fingers crossed). 

Having to get a few things sorted out on the house took priority and my time was diverted away from this great hobby. Now my hobby room has slowly been packed away starting with all of the unbuilt kits that took up 17 boxes, 7 folding crates and 4 large scale models stuck together in 2 bundles. It was whilst doing this that I thought to myself "Why did I buy so many kits!". Packing has continued with my tools and paints being packed away which is now 95% done. Most of my built models are packed to leaving just the ones in the cabinet over the stairs left. 

But there is a brighter outcome to this though!

We are moving to a bigger house with more bedrooms. So my hobby room/workshop will no longer be in the converted loft like in our current house, but in one of the spare bedrooms. No more trying to get my built models through the loft hatch in their boxes for transporting to a show. And there is one this I can tell you, falling out of the loft down the open hatch is not much fun. Especially when you have to repair the step and hatch mechanism afterwards.

This is going to be a big adventure for the family as we are moving from Bedfordshire up to West Yorkshire, to a nice small and quiet town called Hemsworth. Unlike my wife who has liked in several different locations, this will be the first time I have lived outside of Luton in my entire life. But the outlook is that life will be more relaxed up there and once we are settled into the new house, I can get my modelling back on track. There are a few unfinished projects that I would like to get finished off, like my F-15 Eagle and A-10 Thunderbolt to start off with. But the first priority on the model side is to get the new magazine build done, written up and photographed. The kit is the Diamond T Cargo Truck from Mirror Models with their upgrade set. Done a bit on it so far, but time has needed to be spent elsewhere.

So, if there are any of you who happen to live in the same area as we are moving to, let me know and we could possibly meet up at some point in time. Oh yes, another plus. Some new model shows for me to start visiting.