Adding details to a 1/25 scale Mack R600 air cleaner
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- čas přidán 21. 02. 2023
- Some "little" model projects take on a life of their own, such as this air cleaner for a late 1980's Mack R600. What started out as a plan to add a few details to stock kit part grew into rework of a parts-box item for a more accurate reproduction - with some details added along the way.
0:45 Comparing kit air cleaner to photo of 1:1 truck, the kit part's proportions didn't look quite "right", kit part appearing to be a smaller diameter.
1:25 Photo seen on a "part for sale" ad of 15" diameter air cleaner on a Mack R looked to be a closer match.
1:39 In 1/25 scale, air cleaners from the "snap" KW Aerodyne are a good match for diameter, height, and canister's top & bottom contours.
2:34 Spacing of the molded-in bands is main difference between "snap" KW air cleaner and Mack R series.
2:49 Protect details we want to save with a wrap of masking tape, and using chisel blade in hobby knife shave down the molded in bands. This is easier than relying only on sanding to remove them. Projections on top and bottom of canister are also removed.
3:13 Laying out centre of air cleaner and the dozen lines to locate 12 bolts around top of canister is challenging but not impossible. A simple "centre finder" tool like the plastic one shown makes layout easier.
3:27 Small 90 degree hobby square with fractional inch markings is the other tool needed, to both get a true 90 degree intersection of two lines...
3:51...and to divide the four quadrants into three equal spaces each to get 12 bolts located. I did this by lining up an easily-divisible-by-3 measurement with the two lines, in this case 3/8". Marks were made at the 1/8" and 1/4" measurements to locate lines for the inner two bolts.
4:19 With 12 radial lines drawn on, circle template is used to mark bolt circle around perimeter of canister.
4:37 Centre punch at each intersection point. A sharpened push pin works well as a centre punch on styrene.
4:48 Drill holes to fit .020" styrene rod and cut 12 pieces. Make them a little extra long for ease of handling as excess length will be inside canister and out of view. Also drill centre out to 3/16" diameter for styrene tube that will be the intake pipe to which air cleaner cap is attached. Using parts runner and styrene strip (in this case .040" thick as this will produce a projection of 1 scale inch) create a "setting tool" that is used to push each styrene rod in to the same distance as shown at 5:05.
5:34 Raised round section on top of canister starts by scoring circle approx. .430" diameter on .040" styrene sheet.
5:51 Drill 3/16" hole while still attached to sheet - much easier to hold onto!
6:00 Rough cut circle can be glued to 3/16" tube to hold it for final shaping.
6:24 Kit chrome will be removed, but first it is a handy "guide coat" when removing parts runner attachment points.
6:42 "Glue bomb" Titan 90 kit provided starting point for intake elbow.
7:44 Heat forming of .020" x .188" styrene strip was done by elastic banding piece to section of brass tube that matched air cleaner diameter. About 5 seconds immersion in boiling water followed by quench in cold water got a bent piece that holds its shape 8:09.
8:21 5/16" styrene channel is the other part of bracket, .080" styrene rod pins are added to match kit cab's locating holes.
8:53 Trimming an equal amount off each end is easy with spacer (1/16" square brass tube here) and flush cutting pliers - the good 'ol Xuron track cutting pliers.
9:25 An air fitting is modelled with styrene disk and small piece of .040" square styrene strip, drilled .020" for wire that will simulate air line.
10:15 19/32" and 21/32" brass tube are the tools used to heat-form .060" styrene channel into rings that represent rubber strips on air cleaner attachment bands. 19/32" tube is smaller than air cleaner, making rings a little undersize so they will snap nicely onto air cleaner canister.
10:26 Clamp in place with small clothes peg and do the same 5 second boiling water immersion/quench as the .020" strip received.
11:00 Bands are .010" x .030" styrene strip with short pieces of the same strip and bolt head castings glued on to represent the ends that bolt together.
11:15 Prepaint the parts - one of the great things about making these as separate pieces is the ability to achieve a clean colour separation by pre painting instead of trying to detail paint a one-piece assembly after the fact.
11:27 Snap rings onto canister, glue one end of strap with CA, then bend around, trim to length and glue opposite end. .030" strip fits inside .060" channel to make it look like band set into rubber strip.
11:55 Finished air cleaner has slightly larger diameter and looks more in proportion with 1:1 truck's photo. Information decal is taken from N scale freight car data set and although not an exact match for Mack decal, has the appearance of white lettering on black background and is "close enough" for 1/25 scale.
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The engineering of this just blows my mind….I guess I need to start upping my game when it comes to “the models within the model” idea. I also find the layout and measuring skills top notch. You sir continue to raise the bar…..and I for one thank you!!
Nice tutorial. Fantastic detail. Thanks
Rob, you keep out doing yourself! Who would have ever known that there were so many parts needed to make the update accurate. 👍👍👍
Having access to many different photos on line certainly makes it easier to add details like that, compared to not that long ago when it was much harder to find images for reference. A lot more “extrapolation” required working from just one or two pictures!
Another great video 😊 thanks
This was a very cool video and I just loved the ingenuity so very cool and I the second thumbs up on the video. 🙂Thomas over at The Model Hobbyist
Thanks for sharing
Fantastic!
This good I have the newly released from round 2 the transtar 4070A as good as they fixed the older kit they still miss the drip rail molding around the roof line and they missed the one roof rib molding as well but overall the kit is great 👍
😎👍🏻