Well that looks a lot better!

Well that looks a lot better! The chassis is almost complete with all the main components now fitted. There is a wheel chock and a pipe still to do and the side skirts that are part of the body kit to the truck will need to be painted in body colour which I will do when I assemble and paint the cab.

Looking at the pictures I notice I still need to add the rocker cover to the engine as well. That large black ait intake pipe and its supporting structure was not the easiest to fit but other than that the other parts fitted well with some slight fettling.

I can now move onto the cab interior which hopefully will be a bit quicker to complete!

The chassis fit up starts on the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4.

 Following the WMD film crew's YouTube production these are the rear light units of the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4. Initially, the backing to the light lenses was painted silver to give a 'backing' to the translucent lenses. 

The lenses themselves were treated to Tamiya clear red and orange to depict the rear lights and indicators.

Once fitted using varnish as shown in the YouTube video they looked just the part.

With the mudguards done it was time to start fitting all those parts that I have prepared over the last few days. So on went the mudguards, the left hand fuel tank, the ad blue tank and front mudguard. In addition the front and rear hub covers have been fitted to the wheels. Hopefully tomorrow will see some more progress but it is certainly looking very truck chassis like"

All small jobs but they do take time!

There are so many small jobs to do on the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4 which take time to do but are important to achieving a realistic model. The fuel tanks are an example. The tanks themselves are aluminium and are painted as such. They are however attached to the chassis with steel straps which are moulded as part of the overall tank. These need to be painted in the chassis colour of Gunmetal Grey. Not the easiest to paint so out came the masking tape.

Now this is a risky thing to do as the aluminium paint can peel off with the masking tape when pulled off. I found that out several times in the past! I had already coated the tanks in semi gloss varnish so that would help prevent this possibility - hopefully! Masking tape was applied leaving the straps ready for paint. I brushed painted them rather then using the airbrush. After a couple of coats of paint it was time to see if I would be making a swear jar contribution as I removed the masking tape!

Fortune was with me and the aluminium paint remained in place and the straps looked good! Just need to add the filler caps, paint the feed pipes and then apply some more varnish! All small jobs but they do take time!

 The WMD film crew have been busy with another epic production! 

How do you attach transparent kit parts without glue marks is the subject of this video!

Slow work but nice to see something emerge from a pile of plastic parts!

Time to actually get the wheels permanently attached to the chassis. Italeri, do mould the parts such that the wheels rotate. Now much as I could just glue them solid and make life easier for myself, I like the challenge of keeping the wheels rotational! The secret is careful application of the glue to the plastic ring that fits on the end of the axels. However, not being careful but being a bodger, I do make life a bit easier by applying some petroleum jelly to the parts that I don't want the glue to adhere to!

With the front wheels in place, the rears were next to deal with. As the wheels are twins on either side two need gluing together. This new moulding by Italeri of their wheels makes life easier but care is still needed. I had to clean the paint off from the backs of the pairs of wheels so the glue could actually work. Gluing paint is never going to make a strong joint!#

I need to let them set now before adding the retaining ring to the axel but I did place them back on the chassis so that they were straight as the glue dried..

Slow work but nice to see something emerge from a pile of plastic parts!

Looking more like a truck chassis!

I have got to the stage with the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4 kit where I can temporarily put the wheels on and see if I have built the chassis straight and flat - i.e. all the wheels sit on the ground.

The good thing is that they do which is a relief!

All in all the chassis begins to look like a truck!

Next up is permanently attaching the wheels so that they still rotate as well as stay on the axels!

Darth Vader at the Rocks By Rail Museum?

Did we really have a visitation from Darth Vader of Star Wars fame? Well despite having had some celebrities visit over the years, this was actually Steve who was fully PPE'd up to the eye balls (literally) whilst cleaning up the footplate of steam loco 1931. Oh well but may the force be with you Steve!

At the other end of the footplate Gary and Richard were heads down whilst also cleaning up the footplate so things are moving on!

Meanwhile, John is getting to grips with stripping paint off the Southern brake van which despite looking like a neglected garden shed before coming into the Restoration Shed, has survived fairly well once the paint is removed. There is a need to replace some wood and metal but not as much as first thought.

Steam loco Barrington is coming along well and David was preparing the cab for the various gauges to be reinstalled which will bring some life back to the cab. Will this loco ever steam again? Well if you had about £100K you might achieve that but if not, then just making the loco presentable and preserving the structure is a good budget alternative! 

 

I was back in the Bone Yard on a mission of vegetational butchery and to rescue the water pipe that so many saplings had grown through trapping it from liberation.

Having cut all the saplings down it was possible to get the roll of pipe out of its resting place.

And then it moved onto a new resting place where it is at least visible so it may come in useful now we know we have it!

It was then back to the slow job of cutting down each sapling and clearing them out of the way but at least I can see more of the back of the cafe so things are progressing!

Hopefully next time I get a chance to clear some more saplings the view will be even better!

In the shadows!

Much as people think that I move in a shadowy World, the types of shadow that I am talking about here are the ones that are created on a model to accentuate detail. The two wheels in the photo below are an example. On the right is the 'before' wheel where the detail of the wheel nuts and studs fades into the overall silver colour of the rest of the wheel. On the left is the wheel where some dilute black paint, in this case Nulin Oil from the Citadel range, has been pin pointed applied to create a shadow around the base of the nut which just adds that extra highlight. Look at things in real life and there is that shadow no matter how clean they are! Well that is what I tell Mrs. Woody when she questions me after I clean up the house!

I did all six wheels and then moved onto the chassis where the raised nuts and rivets on the chassis received a similar treatment as did parts of the engine which is now mounted in the chassis and connected to the drive axel by the propshaft.

Taking a closer look at the chassis the subtly but effectiveness of the shadow effect can be seen.

And even more so in this picture.

Now it is time for me to get back to my shadowy World! 

All in all a good amount of preparatory work for further progress!

With some warmer weather it was time to do some paint spraying. A lengthy session resulted in many of the parts for the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4 receiving paint. The wheels are painted and ready to be assembled. The cab interior panels, seats and dashboard are in their base colour of dark grey and now require the details to be picked out in contrasting colours. The rear mudguards are ready to be fitted having been given a coat of black followed by some semi gloss varnish which was also used to give the chassis some sheen. The fuel tanks just need their attachment straps painted in chassis colour and they can then be fitted along with the catwalks. All in all a good amount of preparatory work for further progress!

Gunmetal grey!

The instructions for the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4 kit suggest a gunmetal grey colour for the chassis. Normally the types and era of truck that I model call for a traditional solid colour to complement the cab so I was not too sure about this gunmetal but I thought I would give it a try and see how it came out.

Being a metallic colour, the gunmetal paint is best applied over a black undercoat so that it reflects. The chassis was given that black undercoat and then the Vallejo paint was applied. At first I thought that it was a disaster as it looked washed out but it just needed three applications to build up some depth to the colour.

Now I have got used to the colour I think it looks good. The chassis needs a number of parts painted in different colours, such as black for the rubber airbags in the rear suspension, so that will take some time but at least it looks more like a truck chassis!