Whiskymack

Can anyone help me with location and number of air tanks on Western R models? My latest model project is a 67 RL771LS logging truck but I am a bit stuck on where to put the air tanks. Most Westerns I have seen have them mounted under the battery boxes, usually two on the left side and one on the right although I have also seen some with two on each side but severe service spec trucks such as loggers often don't have the tanks under the battery boxes, presumably for better ground clearance. Later models seem to have them mounted one above the other immediately behind the diesel tanks whilst some earlier models seem to have them mounted inside the step boxes immediately behind the front wheels although there only seems to be enough space to mount two tanks in this manner. So my question is this: How many air tanks should there be on an early model (1967 to about 1970) and where would they have been mounted on a factory spec severe service model? 

Thank you for the comments. I usually build in 1:25 but occasionally 1:24. I think the Australian resin is from a company called Auslowe. I've never used any but it looks really good. I think he only does Australian Macks but you can get complete kits for the Superliner and maybe others as well. The Superliner kits are incredible, lots of detail and spot on in terms of accuracy as far as I can see.

Mine is mostly scratch but with drivetrain and a number of other bits from AMT kits. The hood is a vac form and the cab is scratch with AMT firewall dash and seats.

I've seen a few like this and I think it was probably factory. It might have been to support the grill where it hinged. My guess is the hinged grill didn't work very well in practice because the lower piece was also attached to the bumper and may have caused the upper piece to pull away from the hood. This would also explain why the two piece grill only lasted a few years and was replaced by the more familiar one piece design.

Double Denim Dude looks real enough to me! Mine's a cardboard cut out though. A bit of a one dimensional guy.

Hello Marco,

I built a model of this truck a few years back. I think I asked the same question back then but wasn't able to find out anything about that particular truck apart from the images in the brochure posted by D-Day. Maybe the Mack Museum might be able to help.

As far as Value-Liners go, I do have lots of photos etc. both of actual trucks and my model during and after construction. 

Thanks for all the information. I've had a search for Kysor, Red Dot and Mark IV but there are very few images of old units so I can't find anything that looks the same although I've seen the same unit on several trucks of that era. I'll just have to make it up I guess.

I'm guessing the truck itself is from about 73 to 75. It still has the step boxes behind the fenders which I haven't seen on late models and it also has the earlier style fixed cab mounts which later got replaced with what looks like a pivoting mount, maybe to allow the back of the cab to move up and down when cab air suspension came in.

The film truck is also a two stick and it looks like there is an auxiliary transmission mounted mid frame so I've gone with a Cummins and Spicer 5x4 axiliary for the model.

Looks like it might have the plastic dash but very hard to tell. It also has the larger plastic Mack letters on the front which I think came sometime in the 70's rather than the smaller metal letters.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I think I have found the answer. It looks like there is a square opening in the bottom of the radiator core for the shaft to pass through. The Radiators on RS/RL models are tall and drop down below the level of the crankshaft so I guess  the opening was the only way it would work.

Thank you for all the encouraging comments. I put an 8V92 detroit in the model but I think this was probably just studio dub. You can see that the truck that went off the cliff had a 6 cylinder Mack motor but then I'm pretty sure they used two near identical trucks for the chase sequence so I suppose the other might have had a detroit though unlikely. The Mack DM of this era brochure does not list detroit amongst the engine options and a google search for Mack DM873 brings up nothing. I'll call it modellers license!

I'm planning to build a scale model of the above based on the one that appears in Beverly Hills Cop 2. I'm  using an AMT Kenworth Challenge mixer kit  but building my own RL600 frame  It has a front mounted hydraulic pump/tank and oil cooler but there is no mechanical drive to the pump included in the kit. The pump sits behind the front bumper extension not connected to anything! I have been told that there should be a drive shaft coming from the back of it which passes either under or through the radiator and connects with the large flywheel pulley on the front of the crankshaft. I have a couple of internet pics of a similar RL685 mixer but I just cannot see what's what. Can anyone explain how a front mounted hydraulic pump would be driven on an RS/RL model? Any pictures would be great.

Many Thanks.

On 1/20/2022 at 7:53 PM, 67RModel said:

It would be really sweet to own that lone RS800 or at least even see it. I wonder who it was built for and why they only made one of them. 800 series DMs were fairly common. Did Mack build any R800s in Allentown?

I have never heard of an RS800 before. Does anyone know what it was? A proyotype maybe?

16 hours ago, Vladislav said:

Wonder why this table points out a few models produced up to 1983 and even 1984 years?

Possibly was it mean "Hayward models" which didn't mean "trucks made in Hayward"?

I think you are right. It refers to models which started out as exclusively Hayward products but had their production moved elsewhere after Hayward closed. Hence RS600 production continued until 87 and RWS until 85.

You could get hold of a spec sheet which will normally have a line drawing with key dimensions. This is the kind of thing:

 1987 Mack Trucks Model MH603 Diagrams Dimensions Specifiations Sheet Original | eBay

You can use the dimensions given to scale up the drawing so you have something to work from. As Vlad writes, the frame is pretty much the same as a 2nd generation superliner. There is quite a good article in an old model magazine on scratchbuilding such a frame so I'll dig it out for you and post it.

Just looking at a 70's DM brochure. Engine choices listed are all Mack or Mack Scania with Cummins options for the DM 800. No mention of Detroit so was there no factory detroit option for the DM?

I have a feeling that the truck in the original post was a single drive. I'm sure I've seen another picture of it somewhere. Also look closely at the stripes on the Superliner 2. Not quite the same because the downward sweep starts a few inches further back. 

Oh yes, and no insignia at all except for the Mack letters under the passenger seat!

Looks very clean for its age. I've never seen an offset Western Grill like that before. Is it factory? If so you'd have thought they would have offset it both sides and blanked out behind it on the right hand side. Looks like it's got a dual air cleaner set up with the external one feeding the tip turbine and the one under the hood routed to the turbo. I think there used to be a similar set up with a rear facing scoop on the hood but I thought it was only the Super-liner with a grill intake.

Forgive my ignorance but what exactly is a hill climbing helper?

753: Isn't that CAT powered? Looks like it needs rescuing although the cab looks rough.

14 hours ago, Prowrench said:

here's a few pics of the frame horn and hinges

 

Thank you very much for the terrific pictures. That's just the kind of detail I wanted to get a look at. If it's not too much trouble would you be able to get two or three  more showing the first couple of feet of the frame from both sides and the radiator? That would give me a clear idea of how it all fits together. Also, Is that an aluminium frame? Many thanks.