7 replies to this topic

[BigBad]

This is my latest project, the Revell W900 Aerodyne. I got the inspiration from "Cool Hand" Luke with his Revell Pete 359. It won't be as elaborate, but I picked up some of his ideas to modify my truck. Some of the mods will make some of you cringe, I don't really care 'cause this one is for fun and practice only and not meant to be accurate. The kit is cheap (inexpensive) and doesn't include any brakes anyway...

So, first to be modified is the suspension. I filed away some 3 mm off the mounting point on the front leafs cut the rear mounts and ground about the same off the rear airbags as well. By the way I think it's easier to do this on the Kenworth than the Pete. I wanted to lower the cab on the frame as well but I didn't want to mess with fitting the hood again with the cab. So now it sits pretty much where it's supposed to anyway.

After some thinking... I decided to lower the battery boxes and fuel tanks a little and add some cab extensions at the bottom. I also lenghtened 5 cm (or 5 scale ft) the frame right behind the cab with some evergreen stock. I got tired of playing with the kit's tires and I broke an axle so I got rid of the back ones. Though I tried fitting some Italeri tires on and since they fit better than i thought so I still might use the kit rims with them. The front ones fit pretty nicely so I kept them.

I will fit the DD 8V92 from the GMC General, since it's supposed to be a "show" truck, I tought it would look better under the hood. I got some green and gold Peterbilt "half arrow" decals from Modeltruckin and tought of painting the body black with a decal matching green frame but it might just end up black as well. I ordered some rear fenders from Eric at P&P so those will go on with a custom rear bumper and brackets. The frame is boxed and I cut the back end off as I found it a little too long at the back.

So it's a start. Positive or negative and constructive comments of interested people welcome...

Now, the pictures:

Overall look and lowered stance



Front wheel to fender gap and press button hub cap



New frame lenght



step cut on frame



Temporary wheels from Freightliner, notice cut airbags



Kit bumper to be replaced with wider Texas style based on kit bumper shape



Showing lowered front suspension mount



front axle was filed at the mounting points. This makes the front end a little weak for my taste but this truck won't be working very hard anyway...



Another view showing the front wheel with the button cap. I cut off the prongs from the cap with Xuron shears and ground them a little. Then I glued them on the wheels with epoxy 5 min.



More to come later...

Edited by BigBad, 13 October 2012 - 12:27 PM.

[truckabilly]

Looks like a beginning of a cool build. Nice job so far.

[Bennyg]

The stance looks awesome! Would love to see a lonestar done like that.
Ben

[camarofreak82_427]

Im workin on the same truck n a few of my mods are like urs i would like to see it when its done

[Cool Hand]

Great start so far Robert.
Good job on all the mods,really look foward to watching this progress.

(Im currently side tracked with a few car builds,so once they are done il get back to working on the Peterbilt)

Edited by Cool Hand, 13 October 2012 - 08:21 PM.

[BigBad]

More pictures of what I want to do here Picture this in black. Or in white, looks good too. I added the cab skirts, the stripes, the rear fenders and an exhaust stack. So I could see how it would look. I also lenghtened the back of the front fender to match the battery box. Don't mind the white strip at the bottom of the battery box, I was trying something here.



So this is a modified picture with a lenghtened bumper. It would be about 2-3 mm lower than stock. I was thinking of square headlights instead of the stock round ones to make it look like a W900L... Not done yet though. The two lines beside the bumper show what was added. I used the "paint" program to do these so they are a little rough.

Edited by BigBad, 14 October 2012 - 04:08 AM.

[Fat Brian]

Daniel Gallioux casts the dual square lights with the chrome surround, they are about 3 or 4 bucks a pair, using them on this hood would make it a late production Mexican A model.

[BigBad]

Daniel Gallioux casts the dual square lights with the chrome surround, they are about 3 or 4 bucks a pair, using them on this hood would make it a late production Mexican A model.

I have some coming in from P&P to go with other trucks, but I'll mock them up on this one just to see how it looks. If I like it I'll probably reshape the fenders to look like a later model.