Mack DM800 refurnish

[Jürgen M.]

Hi everyone,

after I saw Bonzekeg's Mack heavy hauler it inspirated me to finally do something about the boring look of my Mack DM800.

It was also one of my early pieces, assembled without a single drop of paint on the exteriour! 

In the mean time it's totally dusty and the chromed parts all look old and grimy! 

See for yourselves!

I haven't decided yet what exactly I'm gonna do with it but if I don't start taking it apart I'll never do anything with it!

I'll decide shortly what to do and you'll be the first to know! ?

Edited August 1, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Gary Chastain]

Be watching, I have one of these kits but can’t seem to get inspired to build it. 

[yh70]

i have washed some like this and put them back on the shelf. just like going thru a car wash..lol..add a little dish liquid to your kitchen sink and fill it up. set the model into it for at least 30 minuets. with a good brush (not hard) you can was the dust away.  drain the water and add clean to rinse off the dust & soap. put it out side in the shade if you can for a few hrs. at least it will be clean when taking apart.. make sure you ck in the sink before you drain as some parts my have fell off..

[Jürgen M.]

Thanks for the good advice in cleaning it, Dave! I´ll do that!

I liked building this kit back then. Ertl has always been a garant for good quality. The functional rear suspension was one of the features I´ve always liked on this kit! I was probably afraid to ruin it if I try to copy the stars and stripes finish shown on the box cover so I convinced mayself it would look good in red too which it did to me for quite a while.

I´ve been thinking about a work over for quite a while but I always found something else to do first. R.D. work over, Big nasty, Bruhn Trucking, Conco, ...!

Now I finally got myself to take it apart. The chassis will probably stay the way it is but I´m not so sure yet! I´ll be doing the cab and the hood with grille, the fuel tanks and bumper first.

The cab is stuck pretty tight. Have to be careful not to break anything but I'll manage it.

The small stuff came off quite easy. Put it in the jar so it doesn't get lost.

I guess cleaning them in a tupperware will be the best.

 

Edited August 2, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Force]

Interesting.
For information, this kit, the DM 600, the gravel trailer and the Rex concrete mixer body was developed by MPC wich put out the first kits in 1971-72, and they later sold the molds to ERTL, so it's not a ERTL developed kit.

[Jürgen M.]

Thanks for that information! I was always convinced that it was the DM800 since it's got the badge on the side.

Did they actually name the kit wrong? Didn't Mack do anything about it?

Edited August 2, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Force]

No this is the DM 800 so that's correct.
MPC and later ERTL did both the DM 800 and DM 600 and the kits shares some of the parts like the cab, front and rear suspension, wheels and some other stuff.

[Jürgen M.]

Oh, OK! I'm amazed how much you guys know! Thanks for sharing your knowledge! 

I Always enjoy learning more about trucks and the kits!! ?

[Jürgen M.]

Bigger parts are cleaned and dried!

The smaller ones in the jar will either be cleaned separately or exchanged by printed ones!

Edited August 3, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Rockford]

Looking forward to watching this take shape.

[Jürgen M.]

Painted the chassis! It's actually darker than the picture shows. It's granite grey, Revell no. 69.

The color of the cab and other body parts is not decided yet. 

The interior is touched up a bit compared to before!

It was completely black and the steering wheel and shifters chromed. Like I said, assembled right out of the box.

[Gary Chastain]

Lookin good

[Jürgen M.]

By the way, the scratch on the glove compartment was on purpose! It was supposed to look a bit worn.

Edited August 6, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Jürgen M.]

Primered and painted the body parts.

There will be a second color as you can see.

The masking is done! As soon as I've got time, I'll apply the next color! Then decals and clear coat!

Even designed and printed a new bumper!

[BK9300]

Jurgen, nice updates to this Mack, including the new bumper.  Do you have to do much work to the bumper after its printed to get it where you want? (I've no experience with 3D printing)

[Jürgen M.]

Hi Brian,

 

thanks, I just thought the original bumper looked a bit boring!

Actually there´s a bit of sanding to do but not much! It does depend on how you place the part in the slicer.

The regions you don´t see to well when it´s in place should be the down side in printing. Then the sanding is

not much of a job.

It makes a difference though what kind of part you print. Printing a truck cab for example means much more
after work than a bumper or a chassis part. The printing lines on a cab are not really sandable since the material
gets so hard that you would need a diamond sanding paper. That would let you grind all details away though so
it´s better to use a filler primer. That gave me pretty good results on my last project, the IH Conco.

Of course it also depends on what printer you use. If you don´t want to spend a few thousand on a high end printer
(or can´t) then you use a good everyday printer for a few hundred but have to get used to the printing lines.

I´m quite satisfied with my Creality printer. Does the job!

[BK9300]

Appreciate the info!

[Jürgen M.]

I'm still undecided which color the engine will be!

It seems to be a V8. Anyone know If these engines had a specific color or if they came how ever the customer wanted it?

I once read that Peterbilt generally ordered the engines in white because they wanted them to look very clean in a new truck. Thought that Mack may have had some sort of policy of that kind too.

Edited August 8, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[37 caddy]

Mack motors were gold colored back in the 60's then they went to a darker grey color.I think the V8 was grey,it was not a common engine it only was used for a few years,the 6 was the one you always seen back in the day.

[Jürgen M.]

Wow, thanks for that info! 

I probably would have chosen green or orange or something! 

I think I'll follow your info and paint it grey! ?

Edited August 8, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[gotnitro?]

Nice rebuild! Glad to see you remove all the ridiculous chrome this kit has 

[Jürgen M.]

☺️ Yes, you´re right. I liked it back then in the 80s but over the years when you get a more realistic view of those trucks it doesn´t make that much sense anymore especially looking at the engine.

It wasn´t really meant to be a show truck for exhibitions I guess.

Anyway, I´m glad my inspiration finds your appreciation! I wanted to do this for years. It was really about time!

You´ll be glad to see, that there will be not a single spot of chrome left on this one!

[Jürgen M.]

Here´s the chassis. Looks a bit more like a working horse now!

The engine looks a bit golden colored on the picture but its iron grey.

[Jürgen M.]

A sneak preview of the cab and fenders!

[Jürgen M.]

Here's some more:

Still a lot to do!

The mud flaps are taken from the "Big Nasty" Mack, just had to print them once more! 

The exhaust system will be taken from the ACX Autocar.

Just reduced the size in the 3D drawings to about 80% and then lengthened the muffler! Didn't like the original one. Looked too skinny.

Unfortunately my printer is now out of order. Had to order spare parts. Hope they arrive soon.

Till then I'll finish up the rest! Marker lights, horns, headlights, mirrors, ...!