A very long time ago, I purchased the Monogram 1/32 Mack “R” Conventional & Fruehauf Tanker. It’s a nicely detailed snap kit, and for the most part went together well. That’s an awful lot of tape, glue, & rubber bands for a snap kit.
The kit came with stickers to detail the tractor & trailer, so those had to go. I picked up some Chemical Leaman decals from Model Truckin’, & I was in business. Revell graciously provided the decal sets from their recent reissues of the Mack & tank trailer. The kit came with 10-hole disks all around, so I swapped them for spokes from the Mack C600 fire truck & the Fruehauf reefer. I also bobbed the front bumper & corrected the fit of the rear mud flaps. Fleet Unit Number on the tractor is from Microscale, the Pennsylvania license plate on the tractor was downloaded from Rick Kretschmer’s License Plate Archive, and the Pennsylvania plate on the trailer is from The License Plate Shack. I also made the little bracket for the DOT hazmat placard on the rear of the trailer. I don’t know if Chemical Leaman ever hauled gasoline, or used this type of trailer, but they do now!
Here is one of my inspiration photos from Hank’s Truck Pictures (remember them?):
Thanks, Michael. A little bit if elbow grease & some aftermarket decals go a long way to making them look better. I would have liked some fenders on the front of the trailer, but I’m not that good.
What would you like to know about the trailer wheels? The spokes are a direct swap from the disks that came in the kit for the spokes from the Revell Fruehauf Reefer Trailer. No modification required as they just snapped right on. All I did was painted them the same Testors Dark Blue 1211 as the trailer frame. The tires on the tractor & trailer are painted with Tamiya Rubber Black TS-82. Looks good to me in this scale.
