Recently I got my hands on an Italeri Scania R730 Imperial for quite a nice price.

I TRIED to start building it, but the instructions were such an error prone mess and the parts themselves a ridiculous exercise in frustration, likely due to Italeri reusing the same mold since the dawn of time for Scania trucks. So I dumped the whole thing into the greebly box for the time being.

What I DID learn however is that there is a potential for fun with trucks. So I got myself the Revell Iveco Stralis and Peterbilt 359 in 1:24. Both are 300 part kits, the Iveco Stralis a European style truck and the Peterbilt an All-American hauler.

The Stralis is going to be a practice run in truck building, the Peterbilt will then be built as a present for my American trucks obsessed uncle. He actually once spent several fortunes on a RC Peterbilt back then when RC trucks cost as much as an actual 1:1 car.

As you can see from the title the Stralis build is split up into 118 build stages. In light of this I'm going to skip my usual obsessive-compulsive posting of minutiae and post updates after a page is done or so. That's still a lot of updates with this 28 page monster of an instruction book.

Funny enough, this Revell kit is actually in reality an Italeri kit produced in license. It is entirely different in that the instructions are not a complete waste of paper and the parts actually fit (probably related to newer molds). Revell has also made some interesting choices in regards to colouring the cab.

In typical Revell fashion everything starts with the motor.



And a fine motor it is. Revell/Italeri have opted for very nice detail here. The motor is identifiable as a Cursor 10 not only from the decal on its top but also looking at photos on the internet shows a Cursor 10 looks for large parts exactly like this. Every part added to the motor so far I also could find like this in actual photos. This is new and exciting and a welcome change from so many other engines where the phantasy went wild with the designer (cough VW Golf 1 cough). I only hope I don't become a nut counter. Being a nut case is quite sufficient.

This is almost all rattlecan/brushwork right now, quality of the paintjob should go up as I slowly phase in my new airbrush. The fan is the first (and so far only) part to benefit from that.

Parts count: 14

Looking good!
I love building engines, they are usually very satisfying mini-kits in themselves.
What are you going to paint the body with? I mean, what type of paint?

Looks like a nice start

This will be the first truck build I've seen coming together so will be watching with interest

Thanks. I've never been much of an AMT/Ertl fan, almost their entire lineup is reusing forms from the 70s, which in my opinion is quite noticable qualitywise and detrimental to the whole fun aspect. If I was more into scratch building, maybe. Might come, one never knows.

Radiator, gummed up with a mixture of ground cigarette ash mixed up in my brush water and the pigments at the bottom of the water bowl. Came out quite ok, I think. Going for "has been driven but not all that long really" here.

Finished the engine and made a bunch of tanks and what looks like a compressor


It's amazing how much better metallic paint looks when applied with the gun. However I also learned to never again try and shoot Revell metallics through a 0.2 mm nozzle. It INSTANTLY clogs up the whole gun and requires a very thorough cleaning. Apparently the Revell metallic pigments are rather crude.

Shot Tamiya Flat Aluminium instead. Went on like a charm.

Parts count: 35

Revell paints are generally awful. Go Tamiya or Gunze and you'll never look back.
For metallics, the new metallic line from Vallejo is nice. I like Alclad II too, but these are lacquers so require a bit of getting used to. Anyway, the biggest error I've been doing for quite a long time was using acrylics straight from the jar. They go magnitudes better when thinned. My latest love? Mr Color Levelling Thinner, it works perfectly with Tamiya. Ultimate Modelling Thinner is great too, but I prefer Mr Color and it gives amazing gloss, especially if you thin Tamiya clear with it to go over a painted part once more, and then mist spray pure thinner from a distance while it's still wet.

The leveling thinner is angel's tears, it works miracles compared to isopropanol / X-20a. Just saying. I made the switch and never looked at X-20a again.

It's thinner, retarder (which improves self-leveling) and flow improver in one. Plus some magic. Never had anything better.

Work begins on the frame where all of these little tanks are situated. I had no idea trucks had so many tanks for stuff and there's a lot more coming



Shooting gloss is still an issue that completely eludes me. Sometimes it comes out right like with the two frame arms themselves, sometimes it just gets weird like with the braces in between. Someone who builds the show models for Revell recently told me, he's not even shooting gloss anymore at all, he shoots flat and then goes over that with clear gloss if necessary. Might be worth a try.

Parts: 42

Thanks, you might be on to something. I usually only prime large parts or multimaterial assemblies. This might be it.

Case in point: The frame arms (which I like) were primed, the braces (which I don't like) were not.

Getting there. Paint looks much better this time around



Added the rear axle and bellows for the air suspension. Now I know what those tanks are for.

Also added some brackets that will support the plethora of small parts that will be added next to detail the rear suspension.

Parts: 52