https://www.arcticdecals.com/products.html?id=33921/1293797
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1572185228041174&set=a.542663430993364
(The completed model is here:
https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2026/10/mack-ac-buldog-tanker-rpm-172nd-scale.html
It's not easy to find adequate 1/72nd scale diorama vehicles for your Golden Age airplane models, and when you do, often have to convert them from military kits and find or produce decals. This Arctic Decals set solves the problem providing detailed marks for a readily existing kit:
There is also a PE set you can get to enhance your model:
Some sub-assemblies are started. The fit in general is good after the cursory cleanup:
There is a mistake in the instructions, the pip goes
ahead of the tab, not after as the arrows point:
Unclear here. The parts goes
over the tab:
What the P.E. set has to offer. A lot. But many parts are for the military version, so not applicable. In some cases, due to the difficult of assembly, very fiddly nature and/or minuscule size of the P.E. parts, I will just use the kit's parts instead:
More sub-assemblies in progress. I will keep some separated to facilitate painting and dry-brushing:
Needless to say you have to really pay attention to the instructions with this one.
It actually feels as if you were assembling a real life vehicle or machine (for those of us that experienced that). It's fun! and the detail is good. Some may think the kit is over-engineered, perhaps for some modelers may feel like that, but I am enjoying it.
A number of parts are being prepared for priming and painting:
Be sure as you build the model to include what is needed for this version (following Arctic decals art) and
not to include what it isn't pertinent.
The other, not so practical side of having a myriad of parts, many of them extremely small, is painting. This is further complicated because in order for RPM to add so many detail parts, they ended up having to arrange the assembly sequence in steps that often do not make any sense.
As an example: in some cases manufacturers allow for the completely assembled body of the "cockpit" to be able to be painted apart and then slide over the already painted and detailed interior. Not in this case, which makes things a pain in the butt, as you are only being able to partially assemble the body, and very uncomfortably having to add several detail parts to the interior and around it, and then finish closing the body with already painted parts (roof and windscreen in the case), risking marring the finish.
Painting the individual parts that can't yet be assembled -as they are different colors or will benefit from careful drybrushing to make the detail pop up- can be quite the task, as you may see here:
The more simple -yet effective- approach of ACE with their Ford truck is more practical in that regard:
https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/12/ford-truck-1936-ace-172nd.html
There is a mistake in the instructions. The part doesn't go where the thin arrows point, but to the middle of the suspension (red arrows):
Not sure why the manufacturer would go through the work of depicting the brake drums, only to cover them with another part. I guess you could do a repair/maintenance diorama (likewise, the hood also covers a well-depicted engine):
Different colors and metal hues are airbrushed:
The engine sub-assembly is ready:
Parts that will be red are given a gloss white base to better show the color:
Red color airbrushed. As mentioned before, the engineering -and therefore the assembly sequence- are not particularly modeler-friendly regarding painting:
The other side of some parts is also painted, as well as the tires:
Assembly can proceed now that all involved parts are painted:
Proceeding by steps, and letting the cement dry between them:
More parts are added:
Once the decals have set and as weather would allow it, the completed model article will be posted:
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