Whiskymack

Thanks. I'm glad you noticed those details. I thought you might have recognised it though. Most of the resin is the stuff I developed for the RS700L build based on all those photos you kindly sent me of your truck a few years back. The hood is an entirely new vacform.

Thankyou all for your input. The two options thing makes a lot of sense and if I had to guess I'd probably lean toward the cheaper option since all the brochure shots are frontal, 3 quarter frontal or side on. The problem with this is it leaves me wondering where the black meets yellow; perhaps the level of the black stays as it is and the yellow comes down to meet it? I think I did post some in progress shots of the model a while back but here they are again if you didn't get to see them.

I'm building a model of the truck attached but have got a bit hung up on the paint scheme because I don't know if the stripes continue across the back of the cab or not. I've searched for other factory striped Macks from this era looking for precedent but I only found a clear rear view of this U model to go on and it just seems to complicate things! If the stripes don't go right across then I'd have to figure out where black meets yellow! It would just be great if someone out there knows exactly how this scheme went or can at least give their ten cents worth on what I should do because the sides are all masked up ready to go!

Actually, it did have a motor but it looks like a 6 cylinder Mack not a DD. I think the truck that went off the cliff was not the same as the one used throughout most of the chase. The chase one is missing the cowl top vent but it's definitely there on the crashed one. The one that went off the cliff also had a flap on the top of the exhaust unlike the chase one and the passenger side mirror bracket on the chase one is prominently bent whilst the truck that goes over the cliff has straight mirror arms. I can't imagine that they replaced the cowl top vent and straightened that mirror arm before pushing the truck off a cliff. The trailer also looks different, it has a different style of greedy boards. I think the film makers must have purchased two near identical vehicles from the same source and wrecked one. Perhaps the other went for breaking afterwards? Then again, I could be wrong. FIRE_DOWN_BELOW_D4 - 00hr 51min 58sec (1).bmp

Does anyone know anything about the orange and black DM 800 which gets thrown into a quarry in the above movie? Sad to see a nice truck get destroyed like that but Looking at freeze frames I'm wondering if there were two near identical trucks, and if so, what happened to the survivor?

Thankyou for the nice comments, Larry and Vlad. The Duck truck cab started out as a used AMT R series cab but I pretty much destroyed it sanding the paint off and cutting the doors out so I scratchbuilt a new one keeping the old firewall and roof panel. I think the AMT R series is a nice kit as are all the AMT trucks, much more accurate than the early Italeri stuff. Alastair

Pawel, Marcel, Thankyou for the nice comments and the information. I think the axles are probably going to be the easiest part when compared with under the hood and cab. I'll have plenty of questions when I get there. I'm also pretty slow with my builds; only 3 completed projects to show for the last 10 years so don't hold your breath! Pictures of those 3 attached. Apologies for the inclusion of a non Mack subject but I think it's earned a place in truck history. Alastair

Hi Pawel Thankyou for your help. I've just downloaded that Bendix catalogue and I can see at a glance that it's going to be more than useful. With previous models I have made them look busy under the hood and inside theframe rails. They are not accurate though; For example, there are plenty of wires and hoses going nowhere and the valves etc. are either non existent or not connected in theright sequence. With my current builds, I'm not expecting to cover all bases but I want to get the plumbing so that it would look alright to a professional, not just the untrained eye. I'll probably start at the axles and work back so I'm sure the questions will start flowing as I get towardthe front end! You are spot on about the Italeri kit. There's not a whole lot that can be used. I ditched the Freightlinerframe and scratchbuilt a Mack one along with Mack suspension. The cab came in for a complete rebuild and even most of the engine ended up being discarded and redone. The old AMT and ERTL kits are much better for accuracy. I've posted a couple of images, one of my U series model and a dry fit shot of the RS700L. Many Thanks, Alastair

Hi Pawel, I never cease to be amazed by the level of detail going into your Superliner. I've currently got 2 models on the go, an RS700L based on the Italeri kit you used and a valueliner based on the AMT R model kit. I want to go that extra mile with the plumbing and wonder if you could help with images of brake line components and valves etc. You seem to have far more of an idea of what's what than I do. I hope to see the completed Superliner soon! Alastair

Hello Pawel I have followed your Superliner model project with interest and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished model. You must be nearly there by now? Here are some pics of a superliner hood showing some of the interior detail. You could also go to my valueliner post http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/34433-78-promo-valueliner-specs/ The brochure hood photo shows a superliner hood, not a valueliner. Hope this helps, Alastair

Thankyou for the info. Is that the TRXL 107?

This beauty from the 1978 Mack Western brochure is the subject of my latest model project and I was hoping someone could help me with spes. I've heard that the gold bulldog denotes Mack only drivetrain. I was thinking perhaps a 300 plus motor and a 9 or 12 speed transmission because I can see two sticks but I'm no expert so help would be appreciated.

Did the RD700's ever come with a steel nose? I've never seen one but often wondered.

A side on shot would help but look at the infill panel behind the fender. This looks much longer than on the standard RS700 hood.

I came across this on the internet. Does anyone know about this one? It looks like it has a few extra inches in the hood when compared with a standard 700 model. I know that the Detroit Dozen 771 models had to be stretched a bit to get the motor to fit but I thought they used the standard hood with the slack taken up by an extension to the cowl. Is this a factory hood or has someone else made this hood?

Hi, I checked my spec sheets and BBC for the RS700 was definately 117 which makes it two inches shorter than the R 700 at 119 inches. Thge Australian Superliner has 91 inches from wheel centres to back of cab and 35.6 inches from bumper to wheel centres. Given that the bumper is set well forward of the hood, if you reduce this dimension to 28 inches which seems to be standard on US models pre frame mounted intercooling, you get 119 again. My guess is you would be best off getting exact hood dimensions for an Australian R700, including how much clearance there is at the front for the intercooler and compare with your RS hood. Then you should know if it will fit or not. By the way, if your main issue is that you want to reduce clearance between tyres and fenders then, as a last resort, perhaps a late model US R 700 hood could be your answer if the RS hood doesn't fit. From about the mid 70's the US R700 rode higher and the fenders were deeper. I have never seen one of these hoods on an Australian R 700. Check this out:

Hello, From memory I'm pretty sure that the BBC for later model RS/RL700's was 117 inches, very slightly shorter than the Eastern model. I think the same applied to the 600 as well; the western hood was fractionally shorter than the Eastern model. Also, hood length changed when frame mounted intercooling came in in the early eighties, I think they added an inch or two to the front of the hood to make room for the intercooler which sat in front of the radiator. Because Western model 700's were phased out before this I don't think they ever added the extra length. I guess a lot will depend on when your frame was made. The other possible fly in the ointment is that the Superliner (US) was longer than either the RS700 and the R700. I think the BBC for the series 1 was 121 inches. I suspect that the Australian version may also be longer than the R700 but I can check it tonight when I can get a look at my specsheets.

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/7279-air-ride-cab-modifaction-r-model/ I don't know if this link is of any use to you. It's more about air ride but might be interesting. I think you also need to bear in mind that the Australian spec Superliner was a different beast to the US one. The Australian truck had the same basic frame as the R model whereas the US Superliners had a totally different frame. The same applies to the US RS/RL series which had a different frame to the Eastern built and Australian R series. You might find that cab mounts from an Australian Superliner or V8 valueliner would be the best match for your frame but I'm no expert and could be wrong. There is a website called hcvc.com.au where some people seem to have done similar things. I think that if you search the gallery pictures on this forum there is someone in your country who built an R700 Rubber Duck lookalike out of a Flintstone R600. Hope this helps.

Me too. Rd drives a KW in the original. Great looking truck. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

Thanks for all the comments. I didn't keep a record of how many hours I spent on it but too many is a fair estimate! It's at 1:25 scale so it works out to about to about 10 or 11 inches long. Vinny, the U-600 emblem I cut from acrylic sheet with the laser cutter at work. I could easily run off a few more if you'd like some. You'd also have to get an AMT R model kit for the frame which is what I did.

Just a few pictures of the U model (model) I have been working on. At last I got it finished. Many thanks to those of you who helped me with information requests and pictures.

Thanks for the picture and the ATHS pointer. I checked out the ATHS website and I'll try contacting them for starters.

Thanks for looking for me. There doesn't seem to be much on the net so I may just hold off for as long as I can and invent them if I can't find any concrete info in the meantime.

Thanks. I don't think my model frame has power steering so I may have to add it in. I should have it finished in a few weeks so I'll attach a few shots then.

I like the colours, Green and orange, and I came across a picture of a beaten up U on the net in Tucker colours. Looks like they ran a lot of different trucks so I don't know how many U models they had but the model will be loosely based on the one I saw. There are some codes on the door below the Tucker Insignia but I can't find a close enough shot to read them so I may have to invent them. I'm guessing that Tucker would have codes for Indiana and neighbouring states? Thanks for your input.