02-02-2025, 12:55 PM
I disassembled the 70 tonner, taking pictures as I went:
to remove the shell, you first need to remove the one screw holding the fuel tank on, then there are two screws holding the body onto the chassis.
Taking the handrails off is quite the challenge as they are glued in from the underside of the shell. I used a chisel blade on my x-acto knife to scrape the glue off before pushing the handrail tabs out of.
It took about an hour to remove all the handrails with minimal breakage. I also had to fish the window glass out of the cab but the headlight glass was glued in so I had to drill them out and I'll replace them later.
I soaked the shell in Isopropyl alcohol for a few hours and discouvered that the shell was molded in the bright red that you see. That will be fun to primer over later.
After that was done I went to work on the RSC-2
In contrast to the 70 tonner, it was very easy to strip down the Kato shell. The hardest part was the remval of the window glass with is a snap-fit and not glued. The tricky part came after:
The hand grabs are all on corners and curved which means you have to stretch them a bit to get them into their mounting holes. The intructions statethat no glue is needed as the grabs are a friction fit. After trying it their way for a bit, I decided it was just a bit easier to drill the holes out slightly larger and glue the grabs in from the back.
In addition to the grabs on the corners, the model also has coupler cut bars, lift rings and some more grabs on the pilots to install. Fortunetly none of these interfer with the paint or decal so I can place them before painting.
Now both engines are ready for primer.
to remove the shell, you first need to remove the one screw holding the fuel tank on, then there are two screws holding the body onto the chassis.
Taking the handrails off is quite the challenge as they are glued in from the underside of the shell. I used a chisel blade on my x-acto knife to scrape the glue off before pushing the handrail tabs out of.
It took about an hour to remove all the handrails with minimal breakage. I also had to fish the window glass out of the cab but the headlight glass was glued in so I had to drill them out and I'll replace them later.
I soaked the shell in Isopropyl alcohol for a few hours and discouvered that the shell was molded in the bright red that you see. That will be fun to primer over later.
After that was done I went to work on the RSC-2
In contrast to the 70 tonner, it was very easy to strip down the Kato shell. The hardest part was the remval of the window glass with is a snap-fit and not glued. The tricky part came after:
The hand grabs are all on corners and curved which means you have to stretch them a bit to get them into their mounting holes. The intructions statethat no glue is needed as the grabs are a friction fit. After trying it their way for a bit, I decided it was just a bit easier to drill the holes out slightly larger and glue the grabs in from the back.
In addition to the grabs on the corners, the model also has coupler cut bars, lift rings and some more grabs on the pilots to install. Fortunetly none of these interfer with the paint or decal so I can place them before painting.
Now both engines are ready for primer.