Ive finally begun a new project! I havent even sat at my desk for 3 weeks! I was beggining to go into withdrawals But now , Ive got a great project instore. Im building Trumpeters Zil157 & SA-2 transport using both the Eduards and Voyagers sets. Any AM junkie will like these, both have alot of parts that the other does not, so, it wasnt a waste of money in my opinion. So far I have the engine just about ready to install. Thanks to the links provided by Frenchy and Kuba ,there was plenty of reference, plus Ive ordered the WWP book for future Zil projects. Im trying to get most of the plumbing on before installing but I have alot to do ,which will need to be added after its on the chassis. Some of it is rather puzzling, in the real photos some wires are either disconnected, missing junction boxes, or just go out of sight, so I'll do the best I can.. be nice if there was a Haynes book for this one!
The first photo shows a part painted orange, which will need to be removed. That was Trumpteres poor attempt at simulating the plug wires going to the distributor.




Im building this as an Egyptian piece, which is why this isnt posted on the Russian forum. I'll have more progress photos as I go along. Any comments, questions ,or suggestions welcome..thanks for looking.

Tim - very nice pictures! But my advice is: stop building engine and wait for WWP book. There are some pictures of engine in this book, but also there are some schemes of plumbing. Pictures from websites and from book + schemes from book = great engine.

And one more important thing, if You don't know about it yet: beware of Trumpeter's rubber tires, they melt plastic parts! So paint all inner area of tire and external area of wheel rim, or buy resin wheels.
Available now:
1. Trakz - TX 0098 - ZIL-157 Weighted Wheels (only 6 for truck and one spare).
2. Real Model - RMA3578 - Wheels for ZIL- 157/ZIL-157K (only 6 for truck)
3. Real Model - RMA3579 - Wheels for SAM-2 (6 for truck and 2 for trailer, no spares)

Available from end of May:
1. Hussar Productions - HSR 35052 - BTR152 / ZiL-157 Wheels (only for truck).
2. Hussar Productions - HSR 35062 - ZIL-157 wheels with 2 spares and SM-2 trailer tires.

Great project so far, Tim!!

I'll be keeping notes on this one since I've been wanting to build one of these SA-2 transports for a while but been, well, too chicken to tackle it.

Keep going!

Rob

thanks for the tips Kuba..Im stopping work on it until I get the book.

apparently this book is out of print. the only place I found one is on amazon...and Im not about to pay $80 for that book.

Amazing detail Tim, always impresse me how you and the rest of the folks who scratch-build do it.

OOB challenges me! Doing what you all do would send me over the edge!

Looking forward to seeing this progress, thanks.

Tim

Apparently it is not Just found it at AviationBookCentre.com (UK based) at $33 + postage...
WWP Zil-157/157K Variants in detail

Frenchy

One more helpful link (from polish modellers' forum):

http://modelwork.pl/viewtopic.php?t=315&highlight=

Got the book in yesturday from Historica...super fast shipping by the way...thanks Andy
and your right Kuba...this is a great book and a must have for anyone who wants to get into these truck kits.

Hereis more progress photos. Ive corrected a few things from the begginning as well. There is still alot more wiring to add for the engine. The rest will come once its painted and installed, since alot requires attaching to the firewall. Having both the Voyager and Eduards sets for the trcuk has turned out to be the best option, both sets have items that each other doesnt have, so they work great together. And there isnt alot of wasted parts either. The cab interior lacked anything on the walls and ceiling. This was actually covered in a laminate board , which I used the foil from a Maxwell House coffee can to make this. The seats were covered with bare metal foil to give them some texture and tears. Eduard provides the dash dials in clear and colored paper form, which I used both. Thoigh, the two center dials I had to drill out holes and mount them from the back of the dash to allow the photo etch parts to lay flush on the dash. Thats it for now...I'll be back with more progress later. Any questions/comments welcome.

That's great work! Dan

Tim :

You could put everything I know about the SA-2 on the head of a pin with room to spare. So all I can do is drool over the craftsmanship, and ingenuity you have so far shown in this build. The use of the foil from a Maxwell House coffee turned out great, and the bare metal foil on the seats looks oh so real. Keep the pictures and ideas coming.

Thanks for sharing
Fido

Time for another round of progress pics. Heres the chassis so far, its getting close to needing some paint before I continue. I have to admit, Trumpeter has done an excellent job in capturing the details on this model. Im finding there isnt much that needs corrected, or missing. So far, Ive found only a few bolts that need to be added, like on the towing hooks on the front, but I havent added them yet. Both the Eduard and Voyager sets supply the racks for the fuel tanks, but on comparison, the Eduard ones look more like the real thing, and the Voyagers are very difficult to bend anyway. On the first tank I had used the p/e straps provided by Voyager, but, as you can see, theyre really not neccesary, since the molded on ones look fine. I did find an error though on the tank fittings. IF, you were building the 157 cargo truck version, the Trump instructions would be correct, however, not for the tractor version. (according to my references anyway) . The kit has you mount the fuel pump (part D6) on fuel tank A, which is the drivers side tank, which is correct for the cargo version, but on this version it should be mounted on Tank B (Step 16,part H15) Also, on this version the fuel line fitting, part D9 (step 13) has two connections and two fuel lines leading out. Again, this is correct on the cargo version, but on the tractor, there should only be 1 connector and 1 fuel line leading out. I simply cut the extra off. I only assume this is because the tractor does not have the extra tank at the rear of the chassis, due to the fifth wheel installed? any question comments are welcome.

Finally...some paint! This is when things really come alive I think. With the engine installed and painted, I'll finish up the cab interior. Then I'll have more plumbing to add for the engine.

impressive work!

looking forward to see the further progress ...

Thanks Thomas for the compliment.
Heres a bit more progress. The cab is ready for paint. The two thick braces on the nose will be removed once the cabs ready to mount in place, those are not suppose to be there. One of the trickiest parts of this kit, is painting what and when. Theres so many assemblies with different colors from the chassis,Ive had to plan ahead before glueing things together..

Really Great Tim
I love the cushion seat damaged and the engine whoa what a nice piece of detail here

Cheers
Seb

beautiful detail work Tim and the painting and weathering is perfect i know nothing of this vehicle but i really like what i am seeing.

Ron.

Me too!! Thats as close to real, as Ive seen. Great technique Tim. This is looking stunning already ... some great scracthwork. Looking forward to more.

Thanks guys, I do appreciate the input. Ive got some more progress done the past couple days...gotta love those extended weekends
I did run into one problem ,maybe someone has the answer. On the fifth wheel mount, there is ,what looks to be an airline junction box? (part H40 step 14). Ive found photos of this, but there are no lines connecting to it. Im wondering if this is maybe the trailer connections for power and air during tow? Anyone know if I should have lines connected?

I also found some problems on the spare tire rack. The kit, as well as both p/e sets seem to have missed this detail. On the braces which hold the tires in, there should be a rod which holds the brace up. This is unscrewed to lower the brace.

Also, in the Voyager instructions, one photo shows this brace correctly, the other does not. Which, unfortunately, I wasnt paying attention to that and was looking at the incorrect photo.

They were a bit tricky to assemble , so after realizing the mistake, I just reworked the kit part, which turned out much easier than the p/e one. Especially when trying to add the missed detail.



Thats all for today.. any questions/comments are welcome.

Don't let that spare tire hit when it's coming down the ramp! Dan

Finally! I have some paint on this puppy. Its certainly been a chore to plan everything out for paint...not to mention getting it done. I decided to paint the truck before I even started on the trailer. I felt I could get a different finish on the trailer that way, in order to give them both their own look... if I can pull that off Now for the decals and weathering.

oops, forgot the photos..

Outstanding work, Tim, it's great following the progress on this. As far as the air connection goes, I would guess that is the trailer hook-up, maybe with a break away to dump the brakes. Some trucker may know, have you tried posting in the auto section?

thanks for the compliment, I do appreciate any feedback. I havent posted there, though, I am a truck driver and I dont know That was my guess though, just wasnt sure.