Detailing a cartage tractor
make sure it will all fit together com- fortably. Depending on the size of your driver, you may have to remove his legs and even file down his posterior to get him low enough to fit in the cab. Don’t be too alarmed about working your driver over to get him to fit in the binder cab. Those cabs were not all that big in real life either.
Drivers must step from the right fuel tank to behind the tractor cab when hooking up the air hoses and the electri- cal chord. This is a dangerous area with uncertain footing especially during in- clement weather. Most truck owners in- stall grating behind the cab commonly called a deck plate. The deck plate pro- vides a safe area to stand on during the hook-up process. My see-through grating is etched freight car running board ma- terial from the scrap box. Trim it wide enough to set on the tractor frame rails and long enough to fit between the rear of the cab and front of the tractor’s fifth wheel mounting plate. Secure it directly to the red tractor frame with cyanoacry- late and paint it to match once the adhe- sive has dried. This area did not stay clean for long so the addition of rust paint for weathering is a good idea. Tail lights are molded on the outside
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rear of the frame rails. Small red self adhesive dots make excellent lenses for these lights. My red self adhesive dots came from the office supply store and are made in various sizes by Chartpak. Use cyanoacrylate to attach the lenses as the self adhesive material doesn’t hold that well over time.
Legalize your CF cartage tractor by installing a Microscale license plate decal on the front bumper. The model and prototype bumpers have a flat spot in the center designed to hold the li- cense plate. Some states require that a second plate be mounted on the rear of the vehicle, but most require front mounting only because the trailer ob- structs the view of the rear license plate mounting area. Fender mounted turn signals are dif- ficult to model, but are necessary to achieve a well detailed model. Fortu- nately they are cast on the Mini Metals binder and factory painted silver. Their appearance can be significantly im- proved by touching a Sharpie orange permanent marker to the fronts of the turn signal castings and the same in red to the rear of the turn signal cast- ings. Afterwards, run a black Sharpie permanent marker over the top of both
turn signals to represent the black metal turn signal housing that holds the orange and red lenses in place. Having spent a portion of my truck- ing career driving various versions of the IHC R-190, I could go on and on adding various details that I recall see- ing and using on the prototype. These could include grab handles, air hoses, interior details, fifth wheel release lever, hook-up light and so on. But be- cause of time limitations, I stopped adding details, applied the door sign decals followed by a protective cover- ing of Testors Dullcoat. The final flat finish is typical of all but the newest trucks of the 1950’s and 1960’s. Their paint dulled fast.
The IHC cab had very few chrome fea-
tures. After final assembly of the model use a silver Sharpie permanent marker to highlight those few features such as the cab marker lights, horizontal grille, door handles and the IHC hood emblem. Then enhance the appearance of the various body panels by running a sharp No. 2 lead pencil in all of the crevices be- tween the panels.
identifies and emphasizes the
This process better hood,
doors, vents, etc. Then your CF cartage tractor is ready to roll.
MAY 2013
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