Hank also shut down the forum it's all gone a sad day indeed. Hank stated June 1st would be the end. Really miss the sites.
Well, that's unfortunate. I sure did appreciate it as a resource. There was a thread in the prototype section there chronicling Martrac TOFC operations that I found very helpful. Martrac was/is a unit of UPS operating refrigerated vans where produce and perishable goods are shipped one direction, then the vans that would otherwise be backhauled empty are used for package service. In my modeling era 45' trailers were the norm and there was no room for nose-mounted reefer units, so underbody reefers were used. That thread was a fountain of information and photos. Here's one of the models I built based on photos in that thread: Incidentally, the Langley twin steer Freightliner I posted earlier was built for a contest sponsored by Truck Stop Models and Hank's Truck Pictures back in 2008. There was a forum thread there called "Lunchtime at the Overpass" where photos were posted periodically of the prototype trucks passing by that overpass. The contest was to select a photo and attempt to recreate the truck in model form and post photos comparing the model to the real thing. It was a lot of fun and it really pushed me to get creative.
That's so cool I thought that truck model looked really familiar to me. Now I know why because of that old photo. Working on an Athearn 40' with vintage TK nose reefer, added an A-line working slider Assembly, used MM Aircraft interior black for the chassis, new A-line rims as I model 1979. Hope to post pics soon.
Just type in the type of truck or trailer. I do it like this White Freightliner truck or cabover image(s) Usually pulls up many pics to choose from Also wording it like Kenworth dump truck or peterbilt tank truck image(s) Can bring up pic closer to what your looking for Hope this helps And Pinterest pics are sometimes non downloadable
A lot of the image results returned by Google will be Pinterest images that were downloaded from Hank's Truck Pictures. Sometimes they will have a watermark that says "Russ MacNeil Collection" or something similar.
That's too bad. It was a great website. There were many different photo collections represented there including those of guys who had seen earlier times and had since passed away. It was a wonderful archive and a great place for research.
Some superb work there! The particular detail that stands out to me, as I never seen anyone do it before, is the red & blue coiled cables! One of those things on every truck but never modelled, how did you do it?
Thanks! I bought the thinnest wire I could find in the bead section of the craft store, then wrapped it around the needle of my airbrush. Once I had a long length of coiled wire I cut it and shaped it to fit the model. I used some hemostats to hold the wire and shot paint on it using the airbrush. Then I installed the wire back on the model and touched up any areas that got chipped. Like the exhaust heat shields, it's a detail that really makes the model pop and look more detailed than it actually is.
