This 1/25th scale kit is huge! There are over 300 parts and none of them are individual track links! With the addition or deletion of the sleeper roof extension (1 part), you can build two versions. The sprues are all wrapped in plastic, very detailed and are very well molded without visible injector pin marks or flash. The engineering of parts and parts placement on the sprues really shows a modeler was involved with the design on this one. Most of the sprue attachment points are hidden or very small. Even the chrome is well thought out so that you don’t have major seams or attachment point cuts showing. The exceptions are the fuel tanks and air cleaners. They have a long seam where the halves join. The upside is that the seam on the fuel tanks is hidden when you add the aero skirts. The tires are soft vinyl and appear very realistic. The parts also include a thin metal, flexible metal mesh grill insert. This is a very nice touch.

The decals are bright and in register. They will be used to add woodgrain to the interior, a nice dashboard, various exterior markings and a trucking company name.  Your choice for company names are Erb, a real Canadian company, and Moebius Transport.

There is a downside to this kit; the instructions for building the engine are very poor. They show a couple of color shots of the engine (great for reference) and use text to tell you to add the parts. If you are not familiar with the Maxxforce 15 engine it is a real trial. I would suggest you use the  instructions from a Revell Lonestar or a Moebius Prostar to build the same engine, these instructions were great with exploded drawings. The rest of the instruction sheet is just ok, with color call-outs for the parts on a separate page. I copied the color callout page, so I didn’t have to flip back and forth in the instructions. (I would suggest going to the Revell web site and downloading a set of their instructions. The kit is the same except for decals.)

To begin the assembly I broke it down into several steps, engine, chassis, interior and cab/sleeper. Everything was washed in dish soap, and given a good rinse. Don’t skip the wash! There is a lot of mold release agent on this kit and it will mess up your paint and leave visible finger prints on the chrome.

The engine is a modern International Maxxforce 15 with EGR. International discontinued this engine and replaced it with a Cummins, rather than certify it for newer emission standards.  I would have like to see a Cummins engine in the kit, but I understand the licensing problems. The engine was sprayed an appropriate blue and assembled per instructions. The Moebius instructions are confusing, but with a lot of test fitting everything is an excellent fit. I went back with brush paint and did the detail painting. Chrome foil was used to make the hose clamps. The finished assembly was given a black wash and set aside to dry.

The chassis was next. Before you start; figure out a way to insure you assemble the frame rails and cross pieces so that everything is square! I use a small carpenter’s square taped to the glass on top of my work bench. I check the fit often and when the basic assembly of frame and cross pieces is complete, I stop and work on something else until the glue is dry. Next, I added the rear suspension and differentials. There are no surprises here, everything has an almost snap kit tightness to fitting the parts. I followed the instructions and part numbers very closely, for a change. There are parts that must go in a front/back or left/right position for everything to line up. I assembled the front springs and axle per the instructions, but I didn’t glue one side of the axle to the spring. When you insert the engine you will be very happy you did this, it saves a lot of fitting, bad language and possible broken parts. No chrome parts were added to the chassis and it was set aside to dry and wait for painting.

This interior is exceptional! Everything was prayed with Krylon grey primer before assembly. The dashboard was detailed with paint. I thought it looked pretty good, then in the spirit of doing a build review, I added the decals. They feel a little thick, but I applied them over a drop of Microset then brushed a little Microsol on top. The decals settled down very well on the uneven dash board. It looks so much better than my hand detailing. A little scraping on the join areas and the whole thing was glued together. Again the assembly was almost a snap fit. The dashboard was masked off and a final coat of grey primer was sprayed on. Some small details were picked out with a brush and the rest of the wood grained  interior decals were added directly to the primer coat. I trimmed them very close and used Microset. They didn’t silver and settled down nicely.