Athearn Mack Trucks Have Arrived!

[cfritschle]

This information was also posted on the Atlas Forum, but since there may be a few people on The Railwire that do not follow the Atlas Forum, I will repeat myself here.

I received a couple of Mack R cement mixers arrived in the mail today, and even though I had the opportunity to inspect the pre-production samples last August in Denver, the production models have exceeded my expectations.

I cannot see anything on this model that is not new tooling.  The tires and wheels appear to be separately molded pieces, and the etched metal West Coast mirrors are taller than the ones used on the Ford C.  The air horn, fuel tanks and exhaust stack all appear to be chrome plated.  The under body detail is all there, including at least the lower portion of the engine.

Athearn has created a truly incredible model!  ;D

Carter

[Catt]

I saw these at my LHS last night.They are very nice.I'm waiting for the Roadway doubles with the model R two axle to show up.I have both sets ordered already . ;D I have no use for the concrete trucks as that style hasn't been seen in my neck of the woods for many many years.

Don't need the coal trucks either.It would be nice if Athearn would do a lowside version for sand and gravel hauling.(but then again I can always use Mark 4's version)

[up1950s]

Got 4 tow Athearn trucks and 2 MTL scale test cars today . Nice additions that I thought I would never see .

[Atlanticflier]

umm.. The Mack dump truck cab seems small to me, maybe the proto was a smaller type cab. It looks small next to the Atlas tractor, which ....is a smaller type tractor. The Mack tractor just seems too small connected to the Atlas 45' trailer (yes, I had to take apart - took the dump bed off )

Anyone else notice this? Maybe I'm just too used to seeing today's big(er) rigs....

[daniel_leavitt2000]

The Mack R and B cabs were notoriously small. The interior of the B cam Is about the same as Nissan Frontier.... slightly smaller then an F150! While the Mack R was a lot bigger, the cab IS smaller then an L9000. One of the reasons is that these Mack trucks were very narrow above the wheel well. If you ever seen one without a wind deflector bonnet, you would be suprised just how skinny they are. The bonnets on these trucks not only extends up, but also sideways as well to deflect wind off the trailer.


A 20' container dwarfs this Mack R


The cab only stands about half the hight of this 13' trailer.

[Mark5]

Dan, those Rs you posted look really weird to me - like snoot noses!

This is what I'm accustomed to:


http://www.macktrucks.com

[Wlal13again]

That`s a photo of a DM. The DM and U models had offset cabs and short hoods.. The trucking company I worked for back in the mid 90`s had a few R Models left and they did look small compared to the Mack CH`s and the Peterbilt 377`s and 385`s that parked next to them.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Not all DM/U has small hoods:


This model sports the "Mack Green" colors. This truck was the basis of my DM800 heavy equiptment transport.

[Wlal13again]

you`re right Daniel. The DM had the sheet metal front end as an option (your picture). Usually saw it on the DM 800. But the DM, U and R shared some of the same cab parts so they are from the same "family".

[Mark5]

velly intellesting! thanks!