Vladislav

Wow! That's funny. i never knew the guy shared his tiny scale sculptures on the net. Seems not difficult to figure out which truck he used as an origin to built the model.

A real pleasure to see! Thank you for posting all the thread.

Thank you Tom. Seems like it's never too late

Yes, we did

Looks like 864 to me and more powerful but I might be wrong. The engine could be easily stuck from sitting outside for 20 years. I also think 3 scrap costs to start from. If asking more they should have at least starting the engine and make the truck moving over the yard. The rare model together with rare old V8 engine seems as an interesting resto object as long as you're wanting a toy. And ready to invest in fixing it. If any practical use a straight six engine seems much easier to deal with. And bringing V8 back to life might cost sufficiently more than just finding a different (and running) R-model of similar type but more commonly specified. The rear part of R-model chassis was mostly identical during the years of production (same distance between frame rails) so the most any bogie could be swapped by a matter of redrilling mounting holes only.

That's exciting. So far I'm not ready to make a solid truck purchase from overseas but Superliners continue making my mooth water. In fact I have two big resto projects undergoing for multiple years so it makes sence to first finish them instead of multipliyng future tasks. Let's see.

Finally the time has come to put the cab the floor side down. I.e. in its normal position. The rest of old green paint was sanded off the rear wall (where I didn't blast it because of the cab was laying on its back at the blasting time) than covered with primer. The next step was a sign of light in the end of the tunnel when the roof got painted.

That's almost true. Also I like to go through such job since I'm not a body guy and would like to set up new skills.So far I can say I like this kind of work and seems there's field to apply some engeunity to. Thanks for the comments.

The engine side of the firewall covered with spray sealer and painted grey metallic as it was from the factory. To be true factory paint was matt but I made it gloss. Looks good on my mind and seems easier to remove dust or dirt.

A bit of update. The cowl lower reinforcing plank installed, panel seams covered with polyurethane sealer, the inner side of the floor sprayed with sealer and painted black.

I doubt you can still order brand new R-model cabs (RD for square hood is different). Also if you would I'd expect its worth of 10 grand or more. And actually if you want to make it really nice (show quality) i.e. paint it well and to a color you like, make good rust protection and other preferrable modifications you would need to apply about a half of the above jobs to it. In fact the work didn't cost as much as you would pay for it in the US.because labour is much cheaper here. Maybe even not labout itself but you don't add taxes, business insurance and other sufficient costs which your country's economy redirect to supply state and social needs.

Absolutely true!

Is the RW tandem? Looked like a single axle on the pics you posted. Or the 2nd axle was just grown into the weeds?

So what are they? A factory option?

Just less beer And it looks like I spotted this truck in one of old pictures.

Thanks, I will do

They exist aftermarket but as long as I remember people commented them of bad quality on the net. A DM, U, F or even CF model door could be used to replace one on a R-model. The differences could be found in the mirror mounting bracket holes and also a steel strip to grind off at the bottom if you use a LH door off an offset cab truck (DM or U).

Thank you for the idea Rob, sounds interesting. But honestly I worry to fill the rockers and other insides with solid foam. Should be good but difficult to figure a case if any rust show up and start spreading along a steel surface under foam. Or maybe I'm just not used to such situation. There should be no rust expected if everything is blasted/painted with no restovers of corrosion. So far I still prefere a more common method of spraying the insides with wax based protectant. Sound and vibration deadening is sure a good reason to use foam but rockers and different pillars don't seem as the sound soursing areas. I more lean toward expecting sounds from below the floor and firewall.

A bit more time passed and the whole floor underside was covered with spray body sealer and than painted for better water protection and easier dirt cleaning.

The body guy welded the rockers with door sills. Than ground the welds and put self-etch primer to the seam by brush so it spilled all along the gap.

Put the rocker panels in place.

Prepaired to install the rocker panels. There was an issue I couldn't attach the upper edge of rockers to the sills with screws because of no place to hide the heads/nuts. So had to weld them there. Cheered up myself by being able to apply primer to the inside of the seam. Also that area would be along the top of the rocker inside and water collects along the bottom so seemed Ok. Ground paint off over the holes drilled for welds to not be burned up.

A layer of sprayed sealer was applied onto the floor underside. After that we could install the sub-structure. Put sealer, installed the channels and attached them with bolts and nuts as was designed.

Installed the roof reinforcement strips. When I bend them I could achive some spring action of those since they were thick enough. So when in place they put tension to the roof sheet keeping it from flipping. Set them on body sealer for the same reason and for additional strength increase for a case if anyone would try dancing on the roof again until the time I see it and kill them. When the roof got supported the body guy could start applying filler on it to bring it back into the correct shape.

After the paint set hard enough we prepped areas to install a patch to close up the floor rear channel. The patch was also painted but on the side facing the channel inside only. It had happened when a lot of parts was painted it was not enough paint mixed so my buddy saved a bit of paint. The outer side would be painted later anyway so no issue. I just explains this point because the pictures show the patch covered with primer only. But in fact everything was under control I took my helper guy for two more hands in action. Being 3 in number we applied zig-zags of sealer from a tube, glued up the patch and attached it with half a hundred of 10-32" machine screws and nuts. Than smoothened up the excess of the sealer forced out of the seam by brush and added some onto the screw heads and other spots. Turned out as 30 minutes of hectic work with extensive solvent hand wash afterwards.