Late 60s-Early 70s Mack F-737

[RoninUtah]

Here is my latest build, a Mack F-700-series, one of the most commonly seen American COEs of the sixties and seventies, especially in Eastern fleets. The cab is 3D-printed, from Neffy Customs, and I set it on an AMT Cruiseliner chassis (what else?) and AMT Mack DM-800 wheels and tires. The 3D kit included the cab and a complete interior, 3D printed even with the steering wheel and shifter in place! It also included fuel tanks and battery box. The 3d printing was very detailed and correctly proportioned (except that the little raised “eyebrow” in the center of the cab roof should be higher). However, the layer lines were quite pronounced, creating an undesirable “wood-grain” effect. I sanded them off the roof and most of the sides, but I didn’t want to go too hard to avoid sanding off the detail. I used a semi-gloss clear coat to further dampen the “wood-grain” effect, and now it’s not quite so obvious. Also, the printed parts were quite thick, requiring some grinding to make them fit, and resulting in a very heavy cab.

I think it looks decent; you can see I struggled with painting the grille. I’m almost tempted to go in and remove the paint from the grille and re-do it, but it’s printed integrally with the cab and I don’t really want to deal with all the masking and touch-up that would be required. So, it’ll stay until it my perfectionism makes me crazy and I screw it up trying to fix it. There are a few other wonky things about the build as well; I cut down the Cruiseliner windshield to fit the narrower F-Series cab, which led to some unwelcome gaps at the top, partially concealed by a visor. The visor was a little warped and too wide, so it conceals the marker lights at the edges of the cab. I resisted using bullet lights as the marker lights, wanting to stay with the ‘60’s no-frills fleet truck look, but I might have to switch them out just so they can be seen. Anyway, I’d welcome your comments!

[Jim B]

Nice looking F-Series.  Well done.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Always liked this era COE Macks. Nice work overcoming a bunch of challenges.

Edited May 19, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[Gary Chastain]

That’s a really nice build, gonna look good on the display shelf. 

[DRIPTROIT 71]

Looks great! I’ve been considering getting one of these myself, but was concerned about it being grainy. You did a great job on this one. Thanks for the info about your experience with it as well.

[Warren D]

Looks good, seems like the scan lines are part of 3D printing.  Some are better than others but it seems a problem that most resin casts don't have.

[RoninUtah]

1 hour ago, Warren D said:

Looks good, seems like the scan lines are part of 3D printing.  Some are better than others but it seems a problem that most resin casts don't have.

I'm sure that's true. I don't know much about the technical side of 3D printing, but I'm sure that it can be controlled such that the layers of material can be deposited in varying degrees of fineness. I guess that the finer (thinner) the layers, the longer it takes and the more material it uses. This one was fairly grainy; I've seen others where the surface had a satin-like texture, and I'm working on one now from Tx3Dcustoms where it's perfectly smooth and you can't see any texture at all. The trade-off is that 3D printing offers crispness of detail that traditional cast resin can't touch.

[Dutzie]

Sweet looking Mack!

[RoninUtah]

On 5/18/2024 at 1:13 PM, Jim B said:

Nice looking F-Series.  Well done.

 

On 5/18/2024 at 7:03 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

Always liked this era COE Macks. Nice work overcoming a bunch of challenges.

 

On 5/21/2024 at 11:36 AM, Gary Chastain said:

That’s a really nice build, gonna look good on the display shelf. 

 

On 5/22/2024 at 1:00 PM, DRIPTROIT 71 said:

Looks great! I’ve been considering getting one of these myself, but was concerned about it being grainy. You did a great job on this one. Thanks for the info about your experience with it as well.

 

On 5/22/2024 at 5:03 PM, Warren D said:

Looks good, seems like the scan lines are part of 3D printing.  Some are better than others but it seems a problem that most resin casts don't have.

 

On 5/24/2024 at 4:54 PM, Dutzie said:

Sweet looking Mack!

Thank you all for the positive comments, they are deeply appreciated! I’m still on the fence about stripping and re-doing the grille, though…

[Chuck Most]

Looks good to me.

The "everything as one piece" type of prints always put me off, because of the potential for difficult detail painting as you described. Even though that theoretically means I'm saving time by not having to do as much assembly, it takes that little extra bit of patience I don't always have. ?

[RoninUtah]

3 hours ago, Chuck Most said:

it takes that little extra bit of patience I don't always have. ?

Thanks, Chuck! I know what you mean- my builds are always a conflict between my impatience and my perfectionism. Usually, the former results in compromises that the latter can't stand!