Egilman

He doesn't, the bogies are driven by a rear axle with differential just like any other wheeled vehicle... when you go into the turn, the differential handles the difference in inner to outer speed.... The rear return roller just freewheels....

Step 2, The Frame... 13 parts, fairly well detailed. one of the things I've noticed about these early AMT kits is the level of accurate detail. It is right up there with many of today's models in the accuracy department. There are other issues with this late '60's injection molding tech, but they didn't short the details. First step checking for rail straightness.... As we can easily see the left hand rail is not straight, (they are upside down in the pic) but I can work with it. (this was after several hours of hot water bath and gentle persuasion to bring it back straighter than it was out of the box) The cross members are in two halves believe it or not, this makes it easier to assemble. I've painted them black on the interior sides cause you will never get spray into all the nooks once it is assembled.... Note you can still see the curve to the left side rail laying flat on the table.... Now the instructions say to mount all the cross members to the left side frame first and then cap it with the right side, But doing that with a bent frame rail with result in a bent frame. We of course need this frame to be as straight as possible.... So what I'm doing here is taking the strongest cross members and mounting them first..... (you can still see the curve to the frame) Glued together and left to fully cure. the tail is square and the long sides of the crossmembers give a large contact area to pull the two sides straight..... I mounted the four remaining cross members one at a time, using the rule to set a straight edge while the glue set. this allows the curved left rail to be drawn into alignment with the right side and hold there... the end result? straight as an arrow with no warps..... At this point, I check scale, and it's right on the nose! at 1/25th scale it should be just under 12" long Next step is adding the suspension parts Standard leaf spring straight axle front end and Hendrickson Walking Beam rear end. Now I'm not mounting the rear suspension cause I will be changing it to the required Torsion Bar suspension... I'm using it to support the frame while assembling the front end..... Front suspension completed except for painting, I took the pic here so you can see the detail. once it is painted black it will disappear.... Aftermarket Torsion bar suspension, comes out of Australia.... on the right there is a second Battery box step from Round 2 models for the curbside of the truck. Laid out you get a general idea of what the torsion bar suspension actually is, they ride outside the frame rails and connect to the axles by way of linkages that twist the bar when one side or other need to travel up or down... a very smooth riding system I'm told but many truckers especially heavy haulers say it doesn't have the load carrying capacity of the walking beams. Hence they don't like it.... But this also reveals my first hitch/hickup on this build, the linkages to attach the axles to the bars are not in the package everything else if there but the four parts needed to make it work. The gentleman from australia tells me that he will make them up and get them out to me. but it may be a while. The guys who do the aftermarket in the truck modeling world manufacture to order. Which means that when you order you go on the production list behind those that ordered before you... The suspension kit took a full month to get to me... and now I have to wait another month for the linkages.... so to save the gent the shipping, I ordered a few more parts I would eventually need. another month later, they arrive in good shape. I'm sure you guessed it, no linkages... Turns out he got his orders mixed up and sent the replacement linkages to another modeler. I'm now waiting on the linkages... but I figured that I would go ahead and assemble the Walking Beam suspension so I can at least continue the build..... Thank you for looking in and following along.... Next up Wheels and Tires.......

That's the trailer from SATB II, they used a GMC General SWB to haul it around. It's a 40 footer also and it's the right height, but it has more problems than it's worth to convert it to the first movies trailer. #1 is the curbside door in the side. All of that door detail would have to be eliminated and then the beading/rivet detail replicated over the repair.... I'm sure it can be done, just more work than needed to replicate the trailer from the first movie... The 4 Trans-Am's used in the original movie were '76's with a '77 nose bolted onto it for the movie. It had a Rocket 455 (7.5L) with dual quads for an engine and not the 6.6 litre. When they finally brought the '77 to the dealers and people bought it expecting the performance the car in the movie gave, they were real disappointed. 400 cu in small block does not make the performance of a 455 cu in big block. and Pontiac dropped the 455 rocket for the '77 model year.... People still bought the car in massive quantities though if only for the look. Sheriff Justice's car in the original movie was a '76 Pontiac Commander a police version of the Lemans 4 door sedan. It had a police version of the 455 ci in it but only a single quad carb. Sheriff Justice in SATB II drove a pretty generic chevy caprice sedan that was pretty much a standard sedan, nothing special.... Of course when making SATB II they had the full cooperation of GM which gave them their pick of anything they wanted for the brand placement as long as the principle vehicles were GMC made.... (GM wanted to blatantly cash in on the Smokey & the Bandit craze) I'm not going to build any of the cars, the Trans Am, although an icon also, has been way overdone. And in all my research, no one has done a movie accurate Bandit rig...... Why am I doing this? "It's never been done before" (at least not that I can find) As far as Freightliner models? AMT does the FLC sleeper model in 1/25th, and Italeri does the Superliner in 1/24th both widely available, I haven't checked recently, but there could also be aftermarket conversion kits out there as well.... ERTL also did a 40' Great Dane dry goods van and a reefer version. but to make todays trailers you will need to kitbash two together to get the 53' length.... Moebius Models does a Great Dane 53' van trailer which is a 2-n-1 can be made as a dry goods van or a reefer. (but it has reefer doors so they would have to be corrected) That's your trailer..... EG Update: Popeye.... The Moebius - 1302 Trailer kit, (53' Great Dane smooth side with roll-up door) is perfect for current Walmart Fleet application. (around $60.00 amazon) Asking around if they do a Freightliner Cascadia aftermarket set.... (they do make an International Pro Star Tractor that will also work for a Wal Mart Rig, around $68.00 at amazon)

I'm at a loss for words..... You can find this architecture all over europe, but the cloister has a definitely northern italian feel to it.... Beautiful job.... it will be spectacular when finished....

This is the thing about stone buildings from a distance, they look pristine, up close, nothing is exact, even or square. (unless it is a church dedicated to god) even then the stones are cut to fit onsite.... Beautiful work..... miniature masonry! who woulda thunk!!!! Never seen anything like it before... Amazing!

Actually, modified conveyor belts..... They had "America" & "Detroit" flashing all over them..... Great build so far.....

I'm gonna have to get one of those to go with my corsair....... It's a beautiful kit and a gorgeous rendition.... You sir, are an artisan......

Before I start building, just a note..... I'm building a movie accurate replica, the sole source of information is the movie. (I also use pics from the making of for some details) if it isn't on the movie rig it isn't on the model. All vehicle kits for some reason start with the engine.... 31 parts not counting halves..... The kit engine represents an NTA 855 cubic inch Cummins big cam engine, I do not know the HP rating. now one of the constant debates on this truck is what engine/tranny combination it had. We know from the opening sequence that it had a Fuller 13 speed Road Ranger transmission. but there is no information on what engine it had..... There are many people who have spent a lot of time around diesel engines who listening to the sound of the opening sequence of the movie have described it as either a Caterpillar, Cummins or Detroit Diesel engine, I have it from the people who did the sound track for the movie that the sounds for the entire movie were dubbed in the editing portion of the production. The hood was never opened during the production of the movie and it doesn't appear on screen anywhere. Why can't we go back to the trucks and take a look see? certainly they still exist????? In fact, no they don't. The '73 was sold by Universal Studios at auction in 1980 back onto the road, by tracking registrations, it is known to have been converted into a day cab tractor, (removed the sleeper) some time around '95-'96, after that there is no further registration info and it has disappeared into the ether. Some people claim that it is in an Illinois field with brush growing up all over it, but no one has been able to confirm this over the last 15 years since the claim was made. The two '74's (and trailers) were held at Universal's vehicle lot in southern california and in the early '80's fell victim to a warehouse fire, both of them. Total Losses. So no, we can't just go back and take a peek under the hood. (and amazing that the model companies, with the known popularity of this movie, second highest grossing film of 1977 only behind Star Wars, did not make a model kit of this truck/trailer. It boggles the mind. They definitely had their heads up a dark place on this one) Well onwards. I'm building the kit engine out of the box, since there is no other info, that will have to suffice.... The color will be Cummins Beige and the rest of the trucks chassis will be black as that is what the movie shows for the chassis. The engine color is what a cummins engine would have been painted back then based upon cummins records but I really do not know for sure. This is an idea of what I'm aiming at..... That is pretty much representative of a line truck, built on an assembly line and shipped to a dealer, a base model, the only thing not black on the chassis is the engine.... I'm using/converting to True North's line of enamel paints and the one I chose for the engine is called USMC Sand it's not exact but close enough, it is a bit darker in real life than the pics, the camera flash really lightend the paint..... the Transmission is the kits Spicer 5 speed, it was connected to a 4 speed auxiliary transmission giving the truck 16 forward speeds and putting two sticks in the cab. I'm leaving this alone, there is no aftermarket Fuller Road Ranger and besides it would be painted black and you really won't see it.... And yes real engines from the factory were overall beige, everything including the hoses.... Next Step, assembling the Frame.....

Ok so what am I going to be using to build this flight of phantasy? The Tractor, AMT 1021-1 Kenworth Conventional W925... This is a 2019 reissue of a kit originally released way beck in the late '60's. It represents a 1970 Kenworth W925 which by 1977 would be called a W900A. It has to be updated to represent a '73 which has some detail differences. But it is the correct short wheelbase conventional. A note about the W25 designation, when the kit was originally released it had a torsion bar suspension on the duals. it was a difficult suspension to assemble being very fiddly with many small parts. About 7 years after initial release AMT re-designed the kit with a Hendrickson walking beam suspension for the tandem unit. (and released it as the "Alaskan Hauler" kit. In real world terms this makes the kit represent a W923 model kenworth truck. But alas they didn't change the artwork on the box. So we will have to replace the rear suspension to match the movie truck. Fortunately, there is aftermarket to do this conversion. The Trailer, the trailer in the movie is a 1977 48 foot Hobbs bead sided dry goods van with a dummy non-functional Thermo King reefer unit. It will take two trailer kits kitbashed together to built a movie correct trailer. Believe it or not, these kits are identical except the holiday trailer (released in 2018) does not have the reefer unit that the Watkins trailer has. the Watkins reefer is an original release from 1968. It represents a Fruehauf 40 foot bead sided reefer trailer model FB. We are in luck, Hobbs trailers back in the day was a division of Fruehauf trailers and their trailers were built to Fruehauf designs. So as far as details we are good to go. (but we will have to bash the two together to arrive at the correct scale length and height) The details on this kit are outstanding for the most part, even the interior is detailed, and it's equipment matches the movie trailer perfectly, the only thing missing is the spare tire carrier.

Oh Yeah, The TV show "Movin' On" used the same model tractor a Kenworth W900A VIT during it's run also....

Hi, my first build log, actually this has been in progress for a couple of months now but I figured for a first log I will do what I'm familiar with. Plastic..... Styrene to be exact, it brings us tangible proof that the imagination really exists.... The Iconic Kenworth Truck, pulling a 48' Hobbs Reefer van. The Tractor is a '73 and the Trailer is a '77. There are a lot of people who have built a model of this combination using the available kits in the marketplace. there are aftermarket companies that make the mural decal for the current available kits. But unfortunately there is no dedicated model of this subject, '77 Trans-Am's no sweat, there are a plethora of them from many many companies. I think all of them made a model of the darned car and said to heck with the star of the show..... And that truck is definitely the star of the show. The Model companies tried to correct their error and made a model of the GMC General and it's Fruehauf trailer from Smokey & the Bandit II but it's pretty much forgotten in the model world except in the most avid truck modeling forums, and it's hardly iconic..... I say Iconic because there are over a thousand replica rigs roaming america's highways today with some form of the mural gracing their huge billboard sides... This truck sticks in the american conscience, that makes it iconic. Well to the initial details... They used three trucks in making the movie that appear on screen, A 1973 Kenworth W900A and two 1974's. Also they used two 1977 48' Hobbs anti-sail dry goods vans for the trailer. The first truck appearing in the movie, (the opening scene where the truck starts and proceeds to the Truck Rodeo at the fairgrounds) is the '73. It was a line truck hauling the I-40 corridor for three years when it was bought for the movie. Black in color with gold trim it is also a 50 year anniversary tractor celebrating Kenworths 50 years in business. This is designated on the truck by the gold hood ornament and side lettering. Other than that it is a pretty typical american over-the-road truck. The two '74's were bought from a dealer, they were purchased cause they needed a backup to the '73 and a film rig to be towed behind the film truck for the interior shots of Jerry hacksawing the steering wheel. They were Coffee Brown in color. Well there were no black trucks available with the gold trim package. Pantone color reference to "Coffee Brown" lists Model Masters Gloss and Flat Black as the closest representation to coffee brown in the MM lineup... As close as your going to get to black without actually being black. 1973, Truck #1 below.... 1974, Truck #2 below.... Casually watching the movie you cannot tell the difference. (but there are differences) As research I have gone thru the movie taking screen caps frame by frame and identifying the differences. Truck #1 is seen in 75% of the driving road shots and Truck #2 makes up the rest of the road shots. Truck #3 was used for the interior shots. So how does one go about telling the differences? (the trailers were different also not observable casually, but under detailed inspection they were different enough to tell which is which) So the first tractor appearing on film is tractor #1, the second, tractor #2 and so on and so forth, the Trailers I did the same with for Trailer #1 and #2...... Predominantly, in the movie it is Tractor #1 hauling Trailer #2. 75% of the time this is the combination seen on film..... Tractor #2 only appears in three scenes, Picking up the beer, Motorcycle Cop sneaking in the backdoor, and Crashing the gate at the fairgrounds. Tractor #1 does all the rest..... Below is a composite pic of the tractors where many of the differences can be readily seen..... Tractor #1 on the left, #2 on the right... First thing that sticks out like a sore thumb? the exhaust stacks. They are not the same length on either truck. but more important, the short stack is on the opposite sides from each other, #1's short stack is on the curb side and #2's is on the road side.... You can spot that difference a mile away... Take a look at the mirrors, curbside #1 is a mack style oval replacement, #2 is a stock Kenworth rectangle. .... Take a look at the blind spot mirrors, #1's are painted white on the back, #2's are bare aluminium..... Bumper #1's has a center step bracket, #2's does not...... There is more but if in any doubt, try to find the lettering on the side of the hood, Gold for truck #1, Chrome for truck #2 & 3. The two Trailers..... #1 on the left #2 on the right The quickest way to tell the differences is that they had different murals on their sides... same subject, but painted different. #1 no cactus behind the Bandit's horse #2 it's readily seeable. #1 no cactus between the last horse and stage, #2 it's there plain as day, #1 cactus behind the stage in the distance, #2 no cactus behind the stage at any distance.... Tractor #1 and Trailer #2, that is the iconic Bandit Rig as it appeared in the movie.... and that is what I intend to model..... Next installment will be what I'm going to use to model this for kits since there is no ready made kit.... It is going to be a kit conversion of the tractor and a kitbash of two trailer kits... Stay Tuned....

Stunningly beautiful! An excellent tribute build.....

I like the way you did the split canopy, that was hard to do in the 1/48th monogram kit, here it looks real. One half a little bit further forward than the other.... Great build of what looks to be a great kit....

Looks like it wants to fly right now..... Absolutely stunning......

"Those were the days my friend" I have nothing to compare, I wasn't old enough and my father missed it by marrying my mother...... But then if he hadn't asked her on the ramp to Japan I would never have been here..... Thank you all for your service....

I always liked that color scheme, Navy Blue over Sea Blue over Haze Grey..... Occasionally sprayed but usually hand painted.... I love the faded navy blue effect looks perfect...... The first Navy aircraft I ever built was the Monogram 1/48th scale TBM..... Beautiful Job......

It's always been a feeling of wonderful mystery watching one of these get planked.... You see the process in miniature and can imagine the process in full scale.... One heck of an accomplishment, each and every hull built in this fashion.....

Yeah Nitto went out of business several decades ago. But, I understand that bluetank owns the molds and did a release of the M-8 HST a few years back, it can be had at reasonably fair prices on evilbay.... The Renwal Skysweeper is harder to find though.... the M-18 Generator set on the back lift of the M-8 is scratchbuilt.....

Yep that 5-D Dark Grey on the West Virginia, Tennessee & The Nevada definitely looks faded black..... Compared to a couple of the tugs in 5-S Sea Blue. Not enough of the Arizona shown to see what color she was though. Although it is clear that most of the Pacific Fleet was in Measure 1, 5D Dark Grey at the time of the attack. The only color evidence I have is from 1949, a Life Magazine color shot of a flag raising on the Arizona. (ordered by Adm. Radford (cincpac) in '48) She was definitely blue

Well thank you for the warm welcome, seems like there is a bunch of members in the local area! No more lone ranger sitting out in the wilderness.... {chuckle} Looking forward to learning what I've been missing all these years.... Thank you all.... EG Below is a pic of my last journey, a little known piece of army history....

Hi. Egilman here. coming to you from the great metropolis of Graham Wa. (when I moved here is was smaller than a wide spot in the road) General modeler for many years when I was young. Real life took over my life for a bit, and over the last year or so getting back into the hobby. Have known about the NRG for a long time, was unaware you had a fora system... Anyway I build anything that strikes my fancy or has a particular interest to me.... currently I'm fully embroiled in recreating a film accurate Smokey & the Bandit Rig. But I've been known to dabble in ships, and airplanes, cars, trains and construction machinery. Bob Hunt got me interested in wooden ships 15 years ago. (but I haven't built one yet, I still have his prototype rope walk around here somewhere along with two of his practicums) But the journey resumes. For me it is an experience and model building starts long before a kit or materials are bought. One has to do the research to build a true scale model... The art comes in duplicating real life in miniature, the best we can. I've been lurking for a bit, posting a comment here and there when I feel I have something to contribute. And hope to contribute more in the future especially when I get to building ships again. The modelers around here really impress me, the build quality of some of them are outstanding. someday I hope to attain that level of competence... I'm glad to have finally made my way here.... It's been a long long road.... Hopefully I can learn some new things and maybe offer a few tidbits..... Thank you... EG

Yeah me too, Personally, I will wait till it shows up at sprue bros or somewhere like that before pulling the trigger. (besides, I have the Tamiya Missouri in my stash already with extensive PE. explaining such a purchase to SWMBO would be problematic at best)

Evil Bay or BNA has it... (or claims to have it)

yep, between $200.00 & $220.00 US dollars.... Plastic kits have become almost as expensive as wood Kits...... But it is the culmination of where the plastic engineering has been going for a while now.... instead of a plastic & aftermarket paradigm, all the extras, (pe & brass barrels etc.) are now being included in the kits themselves.... Given another 10 years or so, I'm figuring that all plastic kits will have some multimedia contained within them..... maybe the prices will come down hopefully...

Thank you for your wonderful explanations of how to turn a BoGP into a beautiful model...... It was an education....... Very well done.... EG