1970 GMC 9500 Short Hood (Reworked AITM Resin Cab) & Scratch Built Tube Trailer

[Plastheniker]

Hi,

During the last say 15 years my favourite modeling subject was building vintage heavy trucks, i.e. trucks preferably from the thirties up to the sixties. The kit industry, however, offers almost nothing. The number of possible truck conversions modifying pickup cabs is very limited and in my experience scratch building a complete truck usually requires at least 1000 hours. Particularly truck modelers regarding simple kit assembling as no longer challenging while thinking that their modeling skills are not yet sufficient for complete scratch building may find resin conversions very rewarding. Various manufacturers offer a wide range of subjects and skill/quality levels.

I was delighted to learn some years ago that a line of classic resin cabs sold by an American modeler by the name of Jim Etter under the label „AIM“ in the sixties and seventies was available again under the label „AITM“.
These cabs, however, show the state of modeling and casting decades ago and the use of these moulds over such a long time makes casting quality even poorer.
Without going into detail making a really presentable model from these cabs is difficult and requires several hundred hours. With enough effort, however, these cabs can make very attractive and really unique models.

Though rather young by my personal standards IMO one of the most attractive truck designs ever was the GMC 9500 short hood. With its compact, clean lines without any styling gimmicks it was unmistakable, and in my mind it looks quite modern even by today's standards.

If you know this specific AITM cab you will probably notice a lot of modifications I made, f. e.

- I converted the cab from butterfly hood to the tilt hood version because of its more attractive fender design
- I built a large chrome bumper that was typical for the GMC 9500
- The massive resin grille/headlight unit did not look convincing at all, so I milled a new one
- I made mirror arms with realistic diameters from hypodermic needles
- I built a complete new interior
- A striking blemish of most finished AITM cabs is the use of a bed of white glue for fixing the cab windows as AITM recommends. Firstly it is almost impossible to cut out the "glass" so accurately that it fits without any gap and without any kink, secondly the required large amount of white glue dries as a visible white ring around the windows. Instead I used my own technique without any glue, preventing any gap between "glass" and window frame as well as any kink in the "glass". Probably you can recognize the principle of this technique on the pictures.


The tube trailer was scratch built.

[Martini Man]

Another amazing build, always enjoy seeing your builds
thank you for sharing.

Paul

[model freak]

Awesome build!

[quadzero]

Don't see many rigs here but when we do, it's usually a stunner. This is no exception, beautiful build! Great attention from bumper to bumper.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Quite an amazing model! Love it!

[Plastheniker]

Thanks for the replies!

Two more conversions using AITM resin cabs will follow later.

[sportracer02]

What an amazing model !!