Whiskymack

That's just beautiful! You could almost hang that motor in an art gallery it's that good! Is it an 866 and what's the tranny? Cab looking sweet as well. Is the frame done too?

Hi Pawel Hope these images are of use to you. At least one of them shows the cab underside. They came from a late 60's RS700 parts book so the cab is the early narrow one with metal dash but I'm sure there are many similarities. Alastair

Whatever floats your boat when it comes to modelmaking. I too know guys who put a lot of effort into models which are none too accurate but then you can end up spending an awful lot of time trying to get things right and it's really frustrating when you later find you got something wrong! Thats the beauty of the old AMT and Ertl kits. Although the mold quality was not up to today's standards the kits were pretty faithful to the originals and each truck had the correct frame. You spot on about the Italeri Superliner, though. It's hard to find anything right about it. I've been rebuilding the cab for my second RS700L build and theres so little Italeri sheet plastic left I'm beginning to think I should have scratchbuilt it! I can understand why the resin aftermarket suppliers only do cab kits to fit on the "generic US frame". It just wouldn't be commercially viable for them to do the whole lot and if it's an issue, frames are generally easier to scratch build than cabs. Really looking forward to seeing your RW complete. Alastair

Hi Pawel, Frame looks absolutely superb. Like Jeff, I'm a stickler for getting things right as far as possible so I like to see the correct frame under a truck. I've seen pictures of a US spec Superliner with that heavy duty trunnion on it and the 80 brochure lists severe service options for the Superliner so I'm sure you can get away with it. Regarding the parts book cab scans I mentioned in Vinny's cab off thread, I'll get around to it sometime over the next few days. The R cab is from an early RS700L parts book but I just realized that I also have some pages from an RW book though it's the 2nd gen. post 85 model. I'll scan some of that as well. Alastair

Pawel, I have a few parts book diagrams which show the construction and underside of the R cab. Only thing is, it's an early narrow cab not the plus 3 which the Superliner had but there must be a lot of common ground. I can post some scans if you are interested.

I'm trying to find out how the radiator mounts on the above models or the high end Cummins or Cat equipped models. The 6 cylinder Maxidyne trucks have a shorter radiator which sits across a w shaped crossmember with a pipe coming directly out of the underside of the bottom tank. The high HP models have a much taller radiator and the bottom tank sits much lower so there is no space for a crossmember below it. I can only guess that it either mounts to a crossmember that sits behind it or that the radiator side frames attach directly to mounts on the frame rails. I'd be gratefiul if anyone can help me out here as there aren't any of these trucks over here in the UK so I can't get a look at one! It's for a model project. I'm building an RS700L and I want to put an 866 into it. Many thanks, Alastair

That's right as far as I know. I have an '80 brochure that lists the 90" BBC as standard but offers the 93" as an option so I guess you could order the plus 3 cab on a U if the BBC wasn't an issue. There was a nice blue U model with a plus 3 cab on Ebay a few months back.

Nice U model. Shame it's in such a bad way considering its pedigree. It got me thinking about the promotional paint jobs. Were they just one offs for publicity or did mack offer them as factory paint jobs as well? I have a copy of the 78 Mack Western Brochure which features the superliner, Cruiseliner and valueliner all in a crisp black yellow and orange striped finish. I saw a picture of a Superliner in the same colours on the road in a book and wondered if it was the same truck as in the brochure?

Pawel, Thats over 800 hours if my maths is correct. I don't keep a log either but I do know that I won't have enough time left in my lifetime to finish all the projects I have on the go! The RD build used drivetrain components from the AMT Cruiseliner kit installed in a scratchbuilt frame. The cab came from the AMT R685ST although I rebuilt it using only the roof, firewall, dash and seats to get the doors to open. The able sleeper and long hood were scratchbuilt. I have been repeating the process at 1:24 using the same Italeri kit you are using but it's a pig of a kit and a lot of it is unusable. The cab requires an enormous amount of reworking to get it looking like an R cab. It would be easier to build it back into a Freightliner! Keep up the great work. Maybe we can see the finished truck in few more months!

Pawel I just joined recently and stumbled across your threads on your Superliner build. Absolutely fantastic modelmaking! I'm astounded by the level of detail you are putting into it. I'd be curious to know how many hours have gone into it because I know from experience that that kind of work doesn't just come together in an afternoon! I built a model of the RS700L from the movie Convoy which you can see in the intro forum. I didn't put in as much detail as you are but in terms of structural detail it's reasonably accurate. It took me a few years on and off and a lot of that was research. Late model RS700's and early Superliners shared some similarities so I can already see that I had to fabricate some of the same parts you have. Looking forward to seeing the completed machine.

Hi all, I was hoping someone might be able to help me with a bit of info on post '78 valueliners. I'm currently working on a scale model of one but there are few Macks over here let alone Westerns to look at for reference. I've worked out that the radiator sits down between the frame rails on a crossmember which straddles the spring hangers but I don't know where the bottom hose goes in. I'm assuming it must be somewhere down at the bottom left and that it comes out at the back. I'm attaching a pic of the frame so far. You can see the angle bracket crossmember which the radiator sits on right at the front. Any help would be appreciated.

I spent some time in Japan and saw a lot of trucks like this but not 4 axle tractors. All the Japanese manufacturers like Hino, Mitsubishi, Nissan Diesel and Isuzu provide the full range from light livery vans right up to heavyweights including semi articulated. In the last few years Hino seem to have made inroads here in the UK especially with mixer and dump trucks.

Thanks for the nice comments. Myself, I'm amazed at the work some of you guys on this forum do on full sized trucks. I'm just about ok with the odd minor cosmetic fix on the car but I'd never dare tackle anything bigger than a push bike for a full restoration! Models I can handle though. You're right umodelnut. That is the Billboard Ernest Borgnine went through in the Chevelle.

Hello All, I've rambled about on this site a few times before and finally got around to joining. I love older Macks, R models especially, but sadly I have no truck of my own and probably never will unless I win the lottery! Instead I content myself with building models of them. This is my RS700L made famous by 'Convoy' I'm now working on a '78 Valueliner. Many thanks for letting me join.