SPA Modeler

With the end of my "Demon II" build in sight and a slight lull in it due to waiting on parts I've decided to put my next build on the work bench. This one is another "Blast from the Past". I built this kit as a kid and although it was a terrible build looking back, I had a lot of fun with it. After a tumble on the shelf shortly after I built it she was put out of her misery. The Pactra Star Blue paint had been brushed on and it was the ugly duckling of all of my builds even in that day. Flashing forward some 35 years later here I go to give this beauty another shot. As some of you know, I've been wanting to build a rig for some time now and this just seemed like the perfect one to build.



The Pactra paint line has ended so I'll be on the search for a close, if not perfect, match to the original Star Blue as possible. I also need to do a lot of research on White Freightliners as to get a lot of the details right and the paints as close as possible. Decals are shot so I'll be outsourcing those to get a fresh set. I've also managed to round up an upgraded set of wheels and tires for this bad boy so I turned to Moebius for those.



I've also ordered an upgraded resin Caterpillar engine to use with this kit. The OOB one isn't bad but it just doesn't have the details that I want. So I'll be posting pictures of that when it comes in.

With that............let's get started...............

Right off the bat there are a lot of parts to this basic frame and suspension. Got lots of cleanup to do and some research before painting.

Welcome back, Mustang! I hope your vacation went well!! Paint research! Let me know if you find Pactra Stormy Sea Blue... I found the above here:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topi ... d-is-here/

Thanks Bruce. Close but not dark enough. It's gonna be Pactra Star Blue bubba....................but a close match will work.

Take a can of PBR into Hobby Lobby and check it against the Testors paint rack for a match...

Stikpusher wrote:Take a can of PBR into Hobby Lobby and check it against the Testors paint rack for a match...

LOL! May have to get inventive alright.

This will be interesting!

I have an old old old old old :


I even started some years ago... Not that I will build it the coming months or even year, I certainly will follow your build very very close!

- Kari

From Tim’s Trucks:

I have a friend who just built this very kit...... a word of warning Joe, if it's anything like what he just went thru, then this is a very very poorly fitting kit in almost every aspect. He ended up scratching quite a bit. Are you doing this one up modded or oob?

Thanks for the comments and the warnings fellas. There's a couple of folks over at Model Cars Magazine who will be helping me along with this build. I'm being pretty careful about how much money I throw at this thing in the way of aftermarket stuff. I've gotta make sure that everything is going to fit after some of the mods I'm going to have to make to get this thing to "work".
Bruce and Kari : I cant see either one of you guys images that you posted.