Adding a cab floor mat to AMT's 1/25 scale Mack R600 kit

Описание: Making the cab floor mat a separate piece not only adds detail, it can also make assembly of some cab interior parts easier.

0:05 Following AMT's instruction sheet assembly sequence for the Mack R (and the majority of truck kits which use a hollow interior shell or "tub") the seats, dash etc. are assembled to the interior shell...

0:14...then the cab is assembled...

0:22...and one of the final assembly steps is attaching completed cab to frame.

0:32 I prefer to attach interior shell to frame early in the assembly process as this makes it much easier to run wires, heater hoses, and other details such as clutch cable into the cab without having to work around a finished, painted cab with windows installed. By making the cab floor mat a separate piece it can be turned into a subassembly, making some of the "ship in a bottle" work of adding parts to the interior shell a little easier.

0:45 This parts box interior shell shows the seat locating tabs highlighted in red along with four large ejector pin marks.

0:59 Searching truck for sale ads online can usually turn up some useful reference photos, these two of Mack R models show a rubber mat with ribs oriented side to side in the seating area, and front to back in the footwells, along with a smooth area under the brake and throttle pedals.

1:22 A smooth surface is necessary as a starting point, and a small ball end carbide mill in motor tool works well to clean tabs and ejector pin marks from interior shell floor. Minor gouges are not a concern as the new floor mat will cover them.

1:39 Begin with a .010" styrene sheet subfloor cut to match floor of interior shell. Mark the location of notch where brake/throttle pedal assembly is attached for future reference.

1:59 Ribbed surface is simulated with Evergreen styrene freight car siding. I used HO scale, # 2037, for this model. An even finer rib texture can be obtained using their N scale freight car siding, # 2020, which I will use on my next Mack model. Orient ribs on main piece side to side, and use the centre of T-shaped gear shift hole in floor as guide to length of this floor mat section.

2:22 Laminate this main section to .010" styrene subfloor. Black styrene isn't necessary for subfloor however it does work well for this image to show contrast between the parts.

2:33 .020" x .060" wide styrene strip is added in front of ribbed section to simulate the smooth area between change of direction of floor mat ribs.

2:47 Smooth (no ribs) .020" styrene sheet is cut .425" wide and attached at pedal location.

3:03 Fill in remaining areas with freight car siding, ribs oriented front to back. Seats can be glued directly to this completed floor mat.

3:19 Interior shell on the current project gets seat tabs and ejector pin marks ground off...

3:29...and floor mat/seat assembly can be set in place temporarily. The next step is optional but worthwhile...

3:42...and that is adding additional ribbed and smooth styrene sheet sections to represent the floor mat where it angles up toward firewall. These pieces got an extra .020" shim on the bottom to make them align with top of main floor mat.

3:59 Although they don't match the real floor mat exactly the finished appearance is convincing enough...

4:11...especially with dash set in place.

4:27 Pedals are the next thing to add, they appear as a chrome blob on parts tree...

4:42...but actually look quite decent when de-chromed and made into two separate pedals. Drill for .020" brass wire pins...

4:52...and glue into matching holes in floor mat. Trim pins off and sand flush to complete pedal installation.

5:09 Completed floor mat with seats and pedals is a subassembly which can be installed and removed as needed for test fitting until it is time for final attachment of cab.

5:26 This isn't limited to the Mack R, here a similar approach is used on AMT's Ford Louisville with angled section in footwell made as a separate piece.

5:36 Set in place before painting of floor mat...

5:45...and assembled into cab shell. This image shows a great advantage of making floor mat separately - clean colour separation between floor and cab walls/doors, much easier than masking around bottom of interior shell.

6:03 Similar installation on an Autocar, this time with smooth styrene sheet instead of ribbed.

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