International Prostar Big Rig.

Haven't built a Big Rig in ages.  Will be a Box stock build..... I think.....

Picked up this kit and thought wow that was expensive but after opening it I'm ok with it. Very nice looking kit.

Have never tried the chrome heat staining before. Not real happy with the outcome and I also think I sprayed polished aluminum instead of chrome LOL.
Using the instructions for a rough guide on colors. This must be Internationals own engine being blue and all.






Some mock ups.

The engine looks great ! I can see the fascination in building these big rigs !

Hi Brent,

After seeing your last project, I am looking forward to seeing this come together, I agree with Mr G, the engine looks great and the exhaust staining looks very convincing to, do you airbrush the different shades or do you use a brush, I have seen on a few places the kit that Tamiya do for staining, have you used this at all...

Andy...

These kits are HUGE! I thought it was a bit on the big side until I put it beside a 1/25th car and thought, no that's about right.
Thx Andy. I just used the Alclad red yellow and blue transparent colors with the air brush. I have not seen the Tamiya kit.

It will be interesting to see this kit built. I have seen it in the stores, but wanted to see one built first. Thanks for taking this on, and I will be following this one.

Although as a retired employee of Daimler Trucks North America (Freightliner/Sterling/Western Star), I might have a hard time shelling out cash for a truck kit of Brand X.

Engine is looking good. I have never built a BIG RIG but have thought about it. Now I can see what it's like. Thanks Brent.

LOL Pete yeah I hear ya. I still haven't built a Western Star truck yet. Built enough 1:1 parts for them I should at least build a 1:25 scale.

Buck, I am finding it challenging. A car model you know where everything goes, don't use the instruction much. I found myself reading the instructions quite intensely. The engine was a slow process, lots of parts, lots of painting. The frame will go fast as it will be all one color. I had it primed then looked ahead in the "book" of instructions and noticed I could glue some more parts on before painting.

So far the fit and finish of this kit is awesome. A few scary times where you have to glue a part on and rely on it later to fit into another piece later on in the build. For example the exhaust has to line up with the muffler that mounts to the frame. The entire Rad Assembly has to fit into the frame. When I did the mock up I test fit the muffler and fit like a glove. Unreal. That's pretty impressive as the engine exhaust was 4 different pieces and all relied on each other for position. The rad assembly relies on the fan, the inter cooler tubes and one rad hose. Was thinking wow this is a little wonky. But again fit like a glove.
One thing I wasn't too fond of is the kit comes with a painting suggestion page, which is cool but the layout and how they did it was extremely time consuming to trace. They had it all by color. I thought they should have had them by part number as I spent a pile of time trying to find a single part number in the double paged (front and back) painting guide. I finally went through the entire painting guide one number at a time and transferred it over to the instruction book.

Big rig kits are indeed BIG! Thanx for sharing very clear fotos and tips in making changes. You Tube and maybe some of the model forums have heat staining tips I've seen. One was a Y.T. lge scale build of a Ferrari. I'll keep watching as big rig step-by-step builds are rare at most forums. THANX!

Nice subject brent. I have been looking at these since they came out.

Brent, blue is the right color for the engine.

Since the Prostar came out, International has only offered their own engine (with high EGR, not SCR). They were the only OEM that went this way for the new emissions standards of 2010. Then recently, they could not meet emissions and were forced into SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) like everyone else. SCR is the injection of Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) into the exhaust stream just aft of the turbo. Europe has had this for many years for their standards.

Also interesting is that fuel consumption is generally less with SCR emission engines than high EGR.

So International now offers the Cummins engines (red in color) and their own (still blue). But this new engine combination is only on the newer version of the Prostar.

This change in technology was a big deal at International, as they had to "eat crow" after touting high EGR against the rest of the truck manufacturers. There were some highly placed people there that lost there jobs over this.

Just interesting trivia for those not in the trucking industry!

Thx for the indo Pete, cool stuff!

Brent, the fuel tanks look nice. I assume these are the kit ones? These are always a difficult piece on a truck model, as they mostly come chromed and in two halves. Gluing them together and hiding the seams is tricky at best.

The glossy black chassis looks good! At Freightliner, probably over 90% of the chassis were painted black. It looks just like the chassis in the plant at the point of "cab drop", when the completed cab is hoisted over and down onto the chassis. The rear cab air bags look ready to see this happen!

Thx Pete. Yes tanks are from the kit. The tanks have two pins that attached each side together so no gluing along the seams required (which was really nice). I used Alclad chrome to touch up the tree spur marks which were visible.
I did a trial fit with the cab floor. Lines up perfectly with the cab bags and mounts that are on either side of the engine. The fit is tight at the fire wall. Real tight but it slid into place.

Looking good Brent. You are right it has the International made engine. Which it aslo has the same chassie as the Lonestar just the cab and sideskirts were modified. Which one did you go for the Mobius or Revell. I found the Mobius was a better fit than the Revell. But there are no major problems with fit of the bulk of the parts on the Revell. But you might have to remove a locating peg here and there to get a perfect fit.

It is the Mobius kit. Very impressed with the kit and the Trailer kit looks as nice.
I keep looking for another one but is never in stock so I ordered another one.

If they keep this up Mobius will become a real player in the model market. The kit wasn't cheap and I second guessed buying it but now that I have been building it I would spend the money again.

The only issue I have had, and it might be my doing ... is the steering box and linkage seems to be too long.

Great looking chassis.
LOOKS SERIOUS !

I know what you mean Brent. That kind of thing happens with a lot of kits. But as I tend to use a lot of resin conversions and the main part I use is the chassie. A helpful tip if it don,t fit is to cut the steering box arm leaving a 3-4mm stub on either end and remove the center section fit these in place on the kit then when your happy you have the wheels straight and the steering box drop linkage central measure the distance between them then cut a length of tube to fit the measurement but make sure the 3-4mm stubs fit inside the tube and glue in place. It is a pretty easy task but if you want I can post a demonstration using a spare chassie with step by step pics.

It's all good tony, thanks for this info. I figured I'd just shorten it but wanted to make sure I didn't do something wrong first.The kit has extra parts so want to have a good look at everything to make sure I didn't mess up somewhere.

Clay, I like your comment, but it is for the wrong brand. When I worked for Western Star Trucks, our tag line was "SERIOUS TRUCKS"!

It's looking good Brent. Any plans for muckying up the engine?

Al, I'm not very good at it so I am always hesitant. All this time making it look good and then messing it up with attempting to weather it...... I always struggle with this.

That chassis looks great. I am really enjoying this build.

BrentH wrote:Al, I'm not very good at it so I am always hesitant. All this time making it look good and then messing it up with attempting to weather it...... I always struggle with this.

Yea, right Brent. I dont buy it a bit. What about your crop sprayer that won "best paint"


 001 

I got lucky LOL

Your being modest, which is one of the things I like about you.

Have you considered a light wash on the engine so the details stand out a bit more?