5th Wheel Detailing

[dieseldoc]

This was originally posted elsewhere in the forums by scottwp72

Paint the face (ONLY) of the fifth wheel silver. Do a light coat too much paint will fill in all the details. I prefer Model Master Aluminum Metallizer. Allowing that to dry a few hours. If you use an enamel let that dry overnight.


Normally I'll paint the underside of the fifth wheel flat (matte) black. Since the plastic is molded in black leave that black.


Now paint the face and sides of the fifth wheel the color of the chassis. In your case uhhh gumdrop purple (what kinda truck gets painted purple ) Just joking !!! Again if that is an enamel let that dry a couple days.


Now sand the face (ONLY) of your fifth wheel w/ some "FINE" sand paper you don't want any cuts in the plastic from a course grit. Do this until the silver shows thru.

Doing this is emphisizing normal wear that the fifth wheel is subjected to.


Now to lube it!!! You might what to do this after your 100% finished w/ the model.

Get a piece paper or card board nothing huge. You'll need some vasoline either black chalk or a pencil will work and a razor blade. Something else a damp paper towel to wipe your hands off from time to time. After reading this you'll understand why.


Put a small amount of the vasoline about the size of a quarter on the paper.


Take your chalk and crush it to the consistancy of powder. If you're using a pencil do the same w/ the lead.


Now mix the lead or chalk w/ the vasoline. This is to look like fifth wheel grease.


Now apply your grease to the fifth wheel.

Think about this.
As the driver backs under a trailer the grease on the fifth wheel gets scraped off ( towards the front of the truck )as the truck backs under the trailer.


Take your razor blade and scrape the grease off towards the front of the fifth wheel

[tiny]

Thanks for the tip!!

[voyager]

That sounds a good tip, must give it a go. As was mentioned in a reply to the original thread though, as the Vaseline will not dry then it could attract dust if the truck is not kept in a case. On my MAN I used black oil paint for the grease which is a similar consistency for making the grease effect but will dry eventually so that you can then dust it!

[Deleted]

I have a question about the "scale effect" of grease on the model. Yes, on an actual tractor, the fifth wheel is greased pretty heavely; but how does that scale down into 1/25? I've seen models on this forum where the grease on the fifth wheel would be about 5" thick on an actual truck. I guess my questions are: how thick is the grease on an actual fifth wheel, and how does that scale down? I'm guessing that it would be less than 1/2mm on the model.

[mountaindewd]

Jim,

Grease is applied in various ways. Most of that I have seen is squeezed out of the tube(bout the size of a caulk tube) and globbed on to the fifth wheel then smeared around somewhat thick with the empty tube. That will leave the thickness varying across the fifth wheel. Once the truck is backed under a trailer, the grease is forced into the recesses of the fifth wheel and leaves a very thin.......,very thin layer on the fifth wheel and kingpin plate of the trailer. If I were to replicate grease, I would probably use some kind of gasket maker silicone from the parts store and apply a small amount followed by dragging a piece of cardboard or anything flat across it, front to back, to smooth it out. You could have a "little" buildup on the front edge of the fifthwheel from the grease as it slides out from under the trailer.

Les

[Deleted]

Les,

That makes sense. So you really wouldn't see a lot of grease buildup on the fifth wheel it's self, just in the recesses.

[shuvlhd69]

Sept 19, 2009 16:32:31 GMT -5 mountaindewd said:

Jim,

Grease is applied in various ways. Most of that I have seen is squeezed out of the tube(bout the size of a caulk tube) and globbed on to the fifth wheel then smeared around somewhat thick with the empty tube. That will leave the thickness varying across the fifth wheel. Once the truck is backed under a trailer, the grease is forced into the recesses of the fifth wheel and leaves a very thin.......,very thin layer on the fifth wheel and kingpin plate of the trailer. If I were to replicate grease, I would probably use some kind of gasket maker silicone from the parts store and apply a small amount followed by dragging a piece of cardboard or anything flat across it, front to back, to smooth it out. You could have a "little" buildup on the front edge of the fifthwheel from the grease as it slides out from under the trailer.

Les

what if you were going for the "just greased look"? everyone assumes that it has to look as if it was already under the trailer. BTW, I use Permatex ultra "sensor safe" silicone. it has a nice dark grey color.

[mountaindewd]

Sept 19, 2009 20:56:10 GMT -5 @jimb said:

Les,

That makes sense. So you really wouldn't see a lot of grease buildup on the fifth wheel it's self, just in the recesses.

Pretty much. Unless, like (the other)Jim said, it is a fresh application. In that case, it would be thick. Thick as in about a 1/2 inch+-, which would be equal to .020 plastic or 1/2 mm.

Good point (the other)Jim, I didn't think of a fresh application. That isn't something the majority of people see very often. Out of sight, out of mind.

Les

[dieseldoc]

1/2" thick layer on a freshly greased 5th wheel is way to excessive and a waste since almost all of that will be puhed off when the driver backs under the first trailer. All the 5th wheel needs are the recessed grooves and pockets filled and then a thin layer (1/16" or so) across the 5th wheel plate. This would scale out to be about .0025".

[rotoruafireguy]

well I have to grease my truck about once a week. I get a big glob of grease from a 240 lire drum and smear it on one side, repeat for the other side and a small about for the kingpin jaw. first trailer smears it just nicely and after changing trailers four times a day for a week you need more.

[nikkih tilley]

all i do is take a fresh tube of grease open both ends and start tapping the 5th wheel equally on both sides untill the grease is all gone and the first trl i back under i set the trl a lil high untill u get the 5th wheel about 3/4 the way under the trl then i lower the trl onto the 5th wheel and connect that way you dont get that big buildup at the front of the 5th wheel