Mack FK Truck Tractor by FriedClams - FINISHED - Shadowbox Display in 1:87

[Keith Black]

 Whew!

[Egilman]

3 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Whew!

Thank God for the tiny umbrellas.... {chuckle}

[FriedClams]

Greetings fellow modelers.

 

Thanks to all for the comments and likes and to those following quietly.

 

Here's a short update on the model.

 

A stairway that follows the walls through the back corner has been constructed.  Building it from styrene would have been my preference, but coloring experiments on scrap material to replicate wood was a total bust, so I built it instead from basswood.  I began with the stringers.

 

 

 

2” x 12” material.

 

 

 

The tread material is slightly thinner - about 1.5” x 10”.

 

 

 

1-2-3 blocks are used to keep things square and to ensure tread overhang off the stringers is consistent.

 

 

 

In this photo, the lower staircase treads have received some foot wear and added coloring, where the upper stairs have not.

 

 

 

Then some railings.

 

 

 

Before the stairs can be placed, I have to first lay down the floor.  Scale 2 x 10's are first colored in the typical way by scrapping the side of chalk sticks directly onto the wood in a random pattern.  Burnt sienna, raw umber and a speck of dark green here and there.

 

 

 

Alcohol is generously swabbed on and spread about.  This produces an irregular pattern of darker and lighter areas.  Water can also be used to do this, but the quickly evaporating alcohol lessens the chance of the wood warping.  In the photo below the wood is still wet and consequently darker than it will be after it's glued down.  

 

 

 

Before I stuck down the floorboards, I pulled them individually through 600 grit sandpaper pinched between my thumb and forefinger.  This eases the edges and strips off some of the color. 

 

 

 

The stairs are glued in. 

 

 

 

Foot traffic wear pattern is sanded into the floor.  The corner under the stair landing needed some visual filler, so I resorted to my often-used default item and placed a couple of old barrels there.  It's so maddening when the prior tenant leaves some of their junk behind.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary

[wefalck]

Very convincing results ... we became to expect this from you

 

While looking at it, it occurred to me, that such industrial premises may have had wooden pavement, that is small blocks of hardwood, set end-grain up into a bed of sand with asphalt caulking. Some cities in the 19th century even experimented with such pavement to reduce the noise from cart-wheels. Would be fun to make, glueing stacks of battens together and then sawing slices from it ...

[FlyingFish]

Masterful work Gary, great weathering effect on the wood!

[Keith Black]

 A very convincing backdrop for the main story. 👌

[king derelict]

The stairs are spectacularly good. Its already very real looking

Alan

[pwog]

Gary! It’s amazing! Looks great and I love when you put a pair of glasses next to your work. It totally reminds me of how small a scale you’re working with and totally gives me perspective. Kudos my friend 

[mtaylor]

Beautiful work and more impressive by your small scale.

[Old Collingwood]

Just beyond words  amazing skill   Fantastic  stuff.

 

OC.

[rookie]

Amazing, as usual.

Especially at that scale!

[Landlubber Mike]

Gary, your miniature work is incredible.  So realistic looking, very very impressive!

[FriedClams]

Hello Fellow Modelers,

 

Thank you Wefalck, Andy, Keith, Alan, Paul, Mark, OC, Colin and Mike for your kind and generous comments.  I appreciate it very much.  And thanks to all for the likes. 

 

 

Well, I haven't accomplished much lately, but here's a short update on what I have managed to get done.

 

The ceiling for the display is a simple construction - scale 2 x 10's glued down to a piece of 3/32” basswood sheet.

 

 

 

It's colored in the same way as the floor was – chalk and alcohol.  Above the ceiling, a box surrounds the cutout for the stairway.  It will act as a visual block not allowing a view of the inside of the shadowbox.  The interior of the box will be painted and the top covered.  Lighting will be installed inside so that it will shine down the staircase.  The two small holes along one edge of the ceiling are where the electrical panel conduits pass through.

 

 

 

 

Evergreen I-beams will be attached to the ceiling to match up to the steel structure of the walls. The material is colored with Stynylrez gray primer and pigment powder.

 

 

 

There will be three light pendants hanging from the ceiling: two larger ones as general fill lighting and a smaller one above the stairway landing.  The pendant shades hang off the scale pipe.  The “pipe” is stainless tubing and has an inside diameter of .013”.  I have not found any pre-wired LEDs with wires fine enough to fit through such small tubing, so I solder up my own surface mount LEDs with very fine wire.  In another build log, I have explained how I do this, what LEDs I use and how the pendant lights are constructed, so rather than repeating all that here, I'll just provide a link to that posting for anyone who is interested.

 

Post #117 at the link below.

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/28441-1940-auto-repair-shop-interior-by-friedclams-finished-diorama-in-187/page/4/#comment-864355

 

Here's the pendant shades for this model – green primer and rust colored pigments.

 

 

 

Once the LEDs are inserted, they are covered in a product called Gallery Glass (crystal clear – not white), which is clear after drying.

 

 

 

Before the ceiling gets glued down to the walls, I might just add a junction box to the pendant pipe at the ceiling and a conduit leading off from that. Emphasis on the word “might”.

 

 

 

In the photo below, the ceiling has been temporarily flopped on top to get an idea of what these pendants lights will look like.  It's being driven at full current and will not be that bright when the thing is done.  Nor will there be a light crack at the top of the wall.

 

The LED is a surface mount warm white #0603.

 

 

Thanks for taking a look.

 

Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary

Edited January 30, 2023 by FriedClams

[Old Collingwood]

Amazing work.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

It's beautiful. It looks real enough to walk into.

Alan

[Canute]

Very nice work with the pendant lights. That's a tip worth copying for spreading out your lighting effects. Thanks.😀

[Danstream]

It is amazing, it looks so real. Mind get a reset when you post one of those pictures of yours with your gigantic spectacles.

Continuing watching,

Dan

Edited January 30, 2023 by Danstream

[Keith Black]

 Such a distinctive style Gary. I never tire viewing your work whether it be for minutes or hours.

 

The natural light spilling down the top of stairway from above makes the stairways look so real. Will that aspect be incorporated into the final scene or will it be lost once framed? 

[mtaylor]

That last photo... just looks so real.   Wow.

[Egilman]

3 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Will that aspect be incorporated into the final scene or will it be lost once framed?

 

On 1/29/2023 at 12:58 PM, FriedClams said:

The interior of the box will be painted and the top covered.  Lighting will be installed inside so that it will shine down the staircase.

Yep, Backlight the box so the light spills down the upper stairs and reflects into the space highlights the detail without overpowering the lamp over the staircase landing... Gives you two highlighted interest points in the picture leaving the shadows over the upper staircase.... A simple switch would make it so the upper attic light could be off or on so you would get the best of both worlds...

 

Brilliant vision as to scale lighting effects...

 

Very well thought out Gary....

[FriedClams]

Hello folks - I so appreciate all the "likes" and the wonderful comments.  Thank you.

 

On 1/29/2023 at 4:22 PM, Old Collingwood said:

Amazing work.

Thank you OC.  So far this has been a fun, no stress model.

 

On 1/29/2023 at 7:24 PM, king derelict said:

It looks real enough to walk into.

That's good to hear and a wonderful compliment.  Thanks Alan

 

On 1/30/2023 at 8:04 AM, Canute said:

Very nice work with the pendant lights

Thanks Ken.  This is the third display where I've included them, so I'm at least getting faster at making them - if no better.   

 

On 1/30/2023 at 12:41 PM, Danstream said:

It is amazing, it looks so real. Mind get a reset when you post one of those pictures of yours with your gigantic spectacles.

Just because I have a Charlie Brown head, doesn't make it okay to make fun of my glasses.  Thanks for the nice words Dan.

 

On 1/30/2023 at 1:54 PM, Keith Black said:

Such a distinctive style Gary. I never tire viewing your work whether it be for minutes or hours.

 

The natural light spilling down the top of stairway from above makes the stairways look so real. Will that aspect be incorporated into the final scene or will it be lost once framed? 

 

Thank you Keith.  I always truly appreciate your support, encouragement and feedback on all my builds.  Yes, there will be an LED in the box at the top of the stairs to highlight the staircase and hopefully graze the wall as well. 

 

On 1/30/2023 at 4:08 PM, mtaylor said:

That last photo... just looks so real.   Wow.

Thank you Mark.

 

On 1/30/2023 at 5:15 PM, Egilman said:

Brilliant vision as to scale lighting effects...

 

Very well thought out Gary....

Thank you EG.  Yea, this model really is predominantly about the lighting, and it will make or break the thing.  At this point I'm not confident how it's going to turn out, but I feel certain there will be some fails and a "plan B" down the road. 

 

 

Hope to have something new to show soon.

 

Gary

[wefalck]

If the intended purpose doesn't work out, you can always turn it into some workshop diorama - thinking about lathes, milling machines, overhead line-shafts and such things ...

[FriedClams]

 

21 minutes ago, wefalck said:

If the intended purpose doesn't work out, you can always turn it into some workshop diorama - thinking about lathes, milling machines, overhead line-shafts and such things ...

 

I hope to make it work somehow.  But it's ironic that you should mention an old machine shop with line drives etc., because that's a project I have long been planning for.  It would require a wider shadowbox than the one I'm using now, but oh yea, a boiler, steam engine, overhead belts and lots of machinery.  But I've already started work on another scratch fishing dragger and . . . . .  there are just so many models I want to build, more than I will ever have time for.  Thanks for stopping by Wefalck

 

Gary    

[Keith Black]

19 minutes ago, FriedClams said:

I've already started work on another scratch fishing dragger

Where?! 

[FriedClams]

Hey Keith.  No, I've not started a build log on the dragger as I want to finish this one first.  And there isn't very much to physically show on the dragger at this time.  It's a long-term project for sure.

 

Gary

[Keith Black]

 Yeah well, seating goes quick and I didn't wanna miss out. 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Keith Black

[FriedClams]

Greetings Fellow Modelers,

 

Thanks to all for the comments, "likes" and for taking the time to look.

 

 

The whole purpose of the shadowbox display is to provide a stage for interchangeable 1/87 vehicles. The first vehicle to take the stage is the Mack FK. Five different “F” series models were built from 1937 to 1947, and with a gross vehicle weight of 23 tons, the FK was built from 1938 - 1941. Trucksplanet.com tells me only 123 units of this vehicle were produced, so they don't show up at truck shows very often.

 

This model kit comes from Ralph Ratcliffe Models and is cast in resin. The owner individually casts each kit himself by hand and consequently the kits are expensive. I bought this kit on eBay some years ago for a fraction of the current list price of around $50 U.S. The company's products are unique in the sense that you can buy truck and fire engine parts À la carte - cab sets, frame and suspension kits, engines, transmissions, wheel sets, etc.  And the castings are very good and considering they are in HO scale, I would say they are excellent.

 

The instructions for building the kit are, let's say simple.

 

 

 

Here's the entirety of the kit and although the assembly is easy, the size and fragility of the model requires patience.

 

 

 

The suspension and drive train goes together quickly.

 

 

 

 

Everything is primed with Stynylrez gray then the cab and hood are airbrushed with a mixture of Tamiya primary flat colors to give me this orangish-red. I leaned orange because I'm going to fade the paint and faded red often reads pink, which I certainly don't want.  The frame is painted black.

 

 

 

The model is assembled - tanks, steps, chain drives, radiator, 5th wheel parts, steering wheel and other stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

The model seemed incomplete to me, so I scratched a few additions.  First, an exhaust stack made of brass wire with two different sizes of brass tubing soldered to it.

 

 

 

And support bracketry adapted from an example I found on-line.

 

 

 

 

I replaced the kit supplied rear-view mirrors with these made of .010” stainless wire and thin slices of styrene rod. The rod was warmed over a candle flame and stretched to gain the diameter required. Extras were made to replace the ones that would surely jump from my tweezers. In the center you can see one of the kit supplied mirrors.

 

 

 

A couple of tow hooks for the front bumper were fashioned from brass wire.

 

 

 

Slices of thin-wall brass tube were cut to represent fender mounted directional signals. These things are about 1.5mm in diameter and less than a .5mm thick and boy were they ever fun to cut from the tubing. They would collapse and required reforming into a ring by slipping them onto a sewing needle. They were filled with a tiny drop of amber Gallery Glass.

 

 

 

I modified the kit supplied headlights. The lower piece in the image below shows the original with a flat featureless face and the upper one that was drilled out to provide a little interest.

 

 

 

The pieces were painted with a steel-colored enamel while the cavities were painted in chrome and filled with clear Gallery Glass.

 

 

In full disclosure, and as far as I can tell, most of the Mack trucks of this era were painted with red frames and I have never seen an FK painted in the way that I have here. But, I'm not claiming the truck is original and the decision on colors as well as the add-on items simply reflects my personal taste. Because the model is so light (.423oz or 12 grams), I did have to torque the frame a tad to get all the wheels to sit on the ground, but overall the model went together well.

 

I didn't want to turn the thing into a rusty pile of junk, so I used a light hand putting some age on it, using only oil paints and pigment powders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a good look at the headlights. The chrome paint in the cavity with the Gallery Glass on top, catches the light in a decent way. I think the radiator and mirrors need dulled down a bit.

 

 

 

 

And finally, the obligatory gigantic spectacles photo.

 

 

Thanks for stopping.

 

Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary

[rookie]

Excellent work!

and no surprise that you did some custom upgrades 😀

I was intrigued by the powder pigments you use so I googled it

 

looks like something I will try on plastic models that I have on my shelf 

[mtaylor]

An amazing amount of detail and implied detail on the truck, Gary.

[pwog]

Gary, once again - amazing work! I love the obligatory giant glasses shots. They always remind us of the scale you’re working with. You are the master.