Classic Truck Modeler #

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Classic David Mars’ International 4070A……….…..Page 8
Truck
Modeler

First Quarter 2017
Volume 1, Issue 1

Table of Contents Reader’s Rebuilds……………………….…….……Page 11
Classic Trucks at Random…......................Page 17
Notes and Letters………………………….………………..….……4
Product Reviews……………….……………………………………..5
How Do I Do This?.......................................................6

Questions and Answers.
International 4070A....................................................8

David Mars rebuilds a rare old ERTL kit.
Readers’ Rebuilds.....................................................11

Readers send in pictures of their rebuilds.
Jabekke, Belgium….………………….…….……………..…..…13

Show coverage from the 2016 show.
Classic Trucks at Random………………….……………………17

More pictures from our readers.
Inspiration Alley………………………………………….………….18

Pictures of old trucks for inspiration.

Classic Truck Modeler is published four times a year. Single copy price is $5.99. Subscriptions are $20 per year in
the USA, $30 in Canada, and $40 per year outside the USA. For subscriptions or inquiries concerning
distribution, please contact the magazine at [email protected]

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Notes and Letters Photos and info should be sent by e-mail to
[email protected] or they can
By Lee Hartman also be posted on the magazine’s Facebook page
www.facebook.com/classictruckmodelermag/ .

Back in 1999, I started a Yahoo Group called Dodge L-700 Coca-Cola truck built by
“Classic Truck Modeler”. It quickly gained a fair Lester Priest of Boise, Idaho.
sized following, and a lot of truck modelers shared
their work, along with others sharing pictures of Published by CTM Publishing, C/O Lee Hartman,
old 1/1 trucks for inspiration. 308 15th Ave. S., Nampa, ID 83651, USA.
[email protected] Printed in the
By 2011, many of the old Yahoo groups had USA. Copyright 2017 © by Lee Hartman. No part of
moved to Facebook, so I followed their lead and this publication can be reproduced by any means
formed the group there under the same name. For without written permission from the publisher.
the last few years I’ve thought of producing a Submission of articles or photographs is welcome,
magazine for modelers of the old classic trucks, but no compensation or guarantee of publication
but didn’t have the time or resources to do it. will be offered unless negotiated in advance.
Now, with a little more free time since I retired, Articles and photographs must be the property of
I’m finally able to make it all happen. the contributor, or be accompanied by permission
of the original author or photographer.
Since I was a truck driver and a mechanic for most Photographs should be high resolution if possible.
of my life, this publishing thing is all new to me. Certain items, names, logos, images, etc. may be
I’m hoping everyone will bear with me while I try covered under trademarks or copyrights of others,
and create a magazine that readers will enjoy and and might be used here solely for identification,
be inspired from. This magazine is only 20 pages, I review, or educational purposes only.
wish I could make it bigger, but I want to keep the
magazine affordable. Once the magazine is going, This magazine can be purchased online at
and readership is up, I can get some of my costs http://classictruckmodelermag.com/.
down and add pages accordingly.
Please contact the publisher for information on
I do plan to have a couple of pages devoted to ads, subscriptions or distribution of this publication.
but they will be for vendors that offer items that
are relevant to the subject of truck modeling.

I’d like to encourage builders to send me pictures
of your work so that I can showcase them in the
magazine. High resolution photos with an
uncluttered background are best, but not
everyone has the equipment or experience, so just
do the best you can. Please include a short
description of your build and the kits and parts
that you used.

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Product Reviews Jimmy Flintstone has been producing resin car bodies
for years, but recently has added a few truck cabs and
A couple of resin cab conversions truck tires. The most recent truck cab is this 1/25 scale
White 3000 series. It also includes the front bumper
The first cab is an Autocar integral sleeper cab in 1/25 and grille, but no interior parts.
sold by American Industrial Truck Models. While the
AMT Autocar kit is a bit hard to find right now, this cab
can also be fitted to the White Road Boss or the
Diamond Reo. I believe both of those trucks offered
the integral sleeper in the early years.

This conversion cab is very high quality with little or no A good donor for this cab would be either the Dodge L-
work to prep it other than a good cleaning and flash 700 from Lindberg, or the Ford C-series from AMT.
removal. It also includes a bed for the interior. These trucks were available with gas or diesel engines,
the most accurate engine for this truck would probably
http://www.aitruckmodels.com/pages/kitsparts.html be a Cummins from one of the older AMT truck kits.

http://jimmyflintstonestudios.com/?product=nb312-
50s-white-truck-cab-over

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How Do I Do This? Q: What are the correct engine colors for
my model truck?

By David Mars A: Since there are so many variations, I will go over the
most popular. As a general rule, Cummins engines from
Welcome to the question and answer column! Our goal the 60’s to 80’s are Cummins Beige. Detroit engines are
is to provide you with the best possible answers to any Alpine Green, and CAT engines are CAT Yellow. You can
questions regarding model truck building. Anything you buy these in spray cans at your local automotive
can think of, whether it is about detailing, modifying, supply. These colors may not all be in stock, but they
kit bashing, or just plain building, feel free to ask! can be ordered. There are, however, exceptions:
Peterbilt and Kenworth engines from the late 60’s to
I would like to take this time to introduce myself: my approximately the late 70’s were painted white,
name is David Mars. I have been building model trucks regardless of what brand engine it was. International
for 42 years. I have competed nationally and several of truck engines from the 60’s through 70’s were all
my builds have been seen in “contest issues” of various painted red, regardless of the engine brand. These
magazines. I have also done kit reviews in another colors are also available in spray cans at your local
model magazine. I have built anything from box stock parts store.
to full detail, plastic to resin. I don’t claim to know it all,
but together, we will get these questions answered!
My hope is to help everyone build what they dream
and inspire anyone to build at that next level! Now…on
to the questions.

Q: I have never built a model truck before.
What sort of kits should I look for?

A: For a first-time builder, I would highly recommend Cummins engine painted International Red
the Revell Peterbilt 359 or Kenworth W900. These are
skill level 2 kits and were originally manufactured by Q: How can I strip a bad paint job from my
Monogram. They are excellent kits that build up well model, without destroying the plastic?
and are hard to distinguish from a glue kit. Overall,
they are very convincing and a fun build.

Revell Kenworth W900, 1/25 scale kit A: For most paints, something like Purple Power or
Simple Green will remove the paint without harming
the plastic. Use a plastic container with a lid, placing
the badly painted parts in the bottom, and then fill to a
level that the parts are submerged. Seal the container
and let it sit for a day. After 24 hours, use an old
toothbrush to aid in the paint removal process. It may
take a few attempts, but usually the paint comes off. If
the paint is really tough, you can use Easy-Off oven
cleaner. This is much harsher, so definitely use gloves.
Apply the cleaner outside, as the fumes are noxious,
and place the parts in a sealable bag. Let it sit for 24
hours, and then apply again, using an old toothbrush;
don’t forget the gloves! If all else fails, you can also use

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brake fluid. Again, use a sealable container, place the Q: After I have painted the hood, cab, and
parts in the bottom, and fill just slightly higher than the sleeper, I want to use metal foil, decals,
parts. You know the routine: 24 hours, toothbrush, and and maybe clearcoat. Can I use these, and
so on. As with any chemical, although these won’t in what order?
harm plastic, they may cause you harm or harm the
environment. Proper safety equipment and disposal A: Yes! Once your paint has cured, I would suggest that
should be used. you metal foil what you want, then you will apply your
decals. If you apply your decals first, the metal foil will
tear them when you trim the foil. I usually let my
decals set for 24 hours before the clearcoat is applied.
You can indeed apply clear over the metal foil and
decals, in fact, it is recommended!

International cab ready for the strip tank Clear coat applied over the paint and decals

Q: There are so many different adhesives. Well, that about wraps it up for this issue. For the next
What glue should I use? issue, we have questions about stretching frames and
making posable steering. Please feel free to send in
A: While most people have their own preferences, here your questions and you may see your answer in the
is what I use: for assembly of engines, axles, frames, next installment!
multi-piece cabs and sleepers, I use liquid cement. I use
clear epoxy for clear parts, and on most other parts I Questions about model truck building can
use cyanoacrylate, also known as Krazy Glue or Super be sent by e-mail to
Glue. [email protected]

Glue Selection Guide

Styrene Plastic…………Liquid Cement or Krazy Glue

Window Glass…………….Clear Epoxy or White Glue

Photoetch…................Clear Lacquer or White Glue

Resin Parts…………………………..Krazy Glue or Epoxy

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International
4070A Cabover

By David Mars

David Mars is a long-time truck modeler Box art for the original kit from 1973.
that hails from Fort Worth, Texas. He also
pens a question and answer column for this
magazine. We are proud to have him on
board here at Classic Truck Modeler!

The first plastic model truck kit ever made by ERTL was I found this one for sale on a Facebook page and I
the International 4070A Cabover. This kit model was contacted the seller immediately. A few dollars and a
also the first of an International truck, and would set few days later, this one arrived at my door neatly
the stage for many models to come in their lineup. The packaged. What I found inside the box was an
4070A was set apart from most truck models of the unpainted, heavily glued specimen, missing several key
time, because it was designed from factory blueprints. trim parts. The first task was locating those parts; with
This became known as the “ERTL Blueprint Replica” a little time, every part was found, purchased, and
series. ready to go. Now the fun was about to begin!

The 4070A wasn’t just extremely well detailed; it was This is the starting point for the rebuild.
highly unique because it offered features not found in
kits from other manufacturers. These features included Tear-down included gently prying pieces apart,
the posable steering, an entire interior shell instead of numerous hobby knife blades, and a hobby saw. Some
a tub, paint templates to recreate a factory paint parts were too securely glued and wouldn’t come
scheme, and an instruction manual with pictures of the apart, so they broke. Those pieces would have to be
completed model. The engineering of this kit would repaired later, but for now, I had to choose a direction
rival any modern truck kit on the market today. for the build.
Remarkable, considering these were released in 1973!

I missed out on these as a youth, because I didn’t like
cabovers. Eventually, the 4070A was retooled into the
Transtar II Eagle and the unique features of the 4070A
were gone forever, making it a very desirable and
expensive kit to obtain. Over the years I have acquired
a few of these, but since they are so expensive to buy
these days, what is a guy to do? Occasionally, one
comes up for sale as a rebuilder; a perfect option!

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I had heard a story about a local 1969 K100. The man finally got the desired look. Once the frame was back
was the companies’ senior driver with a perfect driving together, I added the suspension, axles, and fuel tanks,
record. His excellent work ethic resulted in the along with scratch built tank straps, air, and fuel lines.
company ordering him a new truck in 1969 that was
equipped with all the bells and whistles. Years later, It was then time for the engine. The 4070A kit comes
when he retired, the company gave him the truck as a with a nicely detailed Detroit diesel 8V71. I wanted
gift. That became the inspiration for this build. something different, so I chose the Cummins Super 250
from the AMT White Freightliner. That was a natural
choice for me, considering my 1-to-1 scale 4070A has
the same. Since I had the real one, I had all the detail
information. Once this engine was assembled, it got
the full detail treatment, including the red engine paint
like International painted all of their engines with at
the factory.

After the frame was shortened, I clamped it
while the glue dried to make sure that it
stayed straight and true.

The Cummins engine was painted, then
fully wired and plumbed.

The undercarriage was fully detailed with The finished chassis. Now, on to the body!
fuel and air lines, and wiring.

.

The ERTL chassis is excellently detailed, including a
Neway airbag rear suspension. Once I assembled the
frame, I decided the frame was too long for the look I
was going for. I removed 1.25” from the length and

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The interior was stripped of all previous black paint, single exhaust has a scratch built rain cap. Once all of
and was repainted in a correct saddle color. The dash that was complete, the truck still needed something. I
and door panels were painted and detailed like my real located a headache rack for it as a final touch for this
one. work horse.

The interior is a match for my real truck. Photo of finished truck with cab tilted .

That left me with the distinctive 4070A body to This truck was completed the night before the 2016
complete. Due to copious amounts of glue in some MCMA showdown. Naturally, I entered what was one
areas, some bodywork had to be done. After primer, I of the most rewarding truck builds I have ever done.
wanted to choose a color that would have been The model placed well and made the contest issue of
common for that era. In my search, I found some another magazine. Response to this build has been
leftover Golden Lime paint from an AMC project; I incredible. I sent pictures to the guy I bought it from.
thought it would be a perfect fit for this. Since this was He was thrilled at the work I did on it, and glad it has a
a company truck, it either needed a second color or a second life. I have had people tell me this truck
stripe. I decided on Solar Gold as a second color. inspired them to build one of their own.

All of this started over a previously built, hard-to-find
kit. Sometimes, you just can’t bring yourself to build a
very rare, expensive kit. The solution: construct a
rebuilder for a fraction of the cost and give an old
model a new lease on life!

I taped the windows to prevent overspray.

Final assembly presented some challenges. The
posable steering had been glued and would not come
apart. After plenty of cutting, I was finally able to drill
and install steel pins. Because of the Cummins Super
250, I had to scratch build the intake and exhaust
pipes. The intake pipe has a real screen in it, and the

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Reader’s Rebuilds The tool boxes and drom deck were also scratch built,
The 12V71 engine came from an old “Super Boss” kit.
Pictures of rebuilds from our readers

John Shelton of Hudson, Indiana rebuilt this
International 4070A from an old wreck. All that was left
of the original truck was the cab and the front three
inches of frame. He stretched the frame and added a
scratch built headache rack.

George Murphey of Horseheads, New York wanted to
build an original “California Hauler” Peterbilt. The kit
had been discontinued years ago, and unbuilt
examples were bringing big bucks, so George got a
rebuilder from an eBay seller.

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Mark Willson tells us about his two trucks below, “I David Rose of Rosepine, LA sent us these pictures of
restored this Pete using bits and pieces found at swap the glue bomb International that he rebuilt into a nice
meets and shows . It was started in 1984 and finished day cab tractor.
in 1996, I had never bought the kit back in the ‘70's, so
later on when I wanted one in the fleet , it took a lot of
time to find the bits as it had long been discontinued.”

“Here's the latest rebuild we finished a couple of years
ago. The Road Boss came from eBay in a million pieces.
It was pulled right down then built back up including
converting it to right hand drive. The trailer came from
my wrecking yard that I got from somewhere.”

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Jabbeke, Belgium

Pictures from the show in Jabbeke,
Belgium, last March 12 & 13, 2016. Photos
by Andre De Vries and Kees Kamp.

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Classic Truck Tommy Collett of Marietta, GA built these three
Models at Random gorgeous trucks and trailers. He said the Freightliner
was a real challenge to build, and having built a couple
Random pictures submitted by readers of them myself, I’d have to agree!

Chris Betancourt of Bradenton, FL built this beat up
Ford snowplow from the AMT kit. He actually cut out
the floor of the bed and replaced it with thin metal,
then made it sag between the crossmembers like the
abused floor of a real dump truck.

Tommy used furnace duct tape as a finish on this
reefer trailer. He carefully overlapped it to replicate
the seams that are seen on a 1/1 trailer. Once the tape
was applied, he polished it to a high shine.

Evan Hermel of American Canyon, CA built this ’50
Chevy box van using a Herb Deeks 2 ton conversion kit
and wheel set. The frame and box were scratch built.
An AMT ’50 Chevy pickup kit provided the rest of the
parts for the build. The project was inspired by an old
truck that Evan saw wasting away on the roadside near
his home.

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Inspiration Alley

This page will feature pictures of old
trucks that can serve as inspiration and
reference for building models of great old
classic trucks.

The GMC 600 series of the early fifties has always been American Industrial Truck Models, GMC 630, kit #CK-
favorite of mine. When I was a kid they were still a 110.
fairly common sight running around town making local
deliveries. I loved the fact they used the same cab as http://www.aitruckmodels.com/pages/kitsparts.html
the pickup from the same era. Some of them had big
gas engines, but the best ones were the ones with the
diesels, we called them Screamin’ Jimmies. Dave
Natale at American Industrial Truck Models makes a
nice resin conversion to build this truck. It was
mastered by Brazilian modeler Ricardo Tropia.

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In The Next Issue Of

Double Take Replicas specializes in custom resin parts Tow Trucks
for scale model trucks. You will have to look twice to
believe you are not looking at the real thing!

Kenworth cabover replacement grille, available
for the AMT or the Revell kit.

Shop through an array of resin parts for your custom
scale build. Don't see something you need, feel free to
contact us and let us know what you are looking for.

http://kdhumphr.wixsite.com/double-take-replicas

At modeltruckin.com we offer a wide variety of
water slide decals for model trucks and trailers.
Our decals come in 1/16, 1/25, 1/32, 1/43, and
1/64 with the main focus on 1/24-1/25 scale.

Scale Finishes has fleet colors and detail paints, along We have decals for over 200 companies, both
with all the necessary painting supplies for trucks in old and new. We also have many decals for
both single stage and two stage forms. We also carry detailing trucks and trailers. Many different
scale bolts and hardware for super detailing your rig. truck stripes are available as well. Endless
possiblilities!!!!

http://www.scalefinishes.com/welcome.html

http://modeltruckin.com/store/

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Autocar

Model Built By Ray Santora

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