Force

I also saw that the other day. Sad for us truck modelers.

You nailed it.

Yeah the price can be the problem with 3D prints. As for the hood, I don't think it will be a big problem, if you don't want it to be functional you can do it as a lift off. Here is a link to the hood modification Tim did. https://public.fotki.com/mackinac359/peterbilt-model-gal-3/tandem-steer-353-ca/353-tandem-steer.html

I don't know if I like Salvinos JR's approach to these new Next Gen NASCAR Gereration 7 kits. Yes the 3 different makes share a lot of components chassis wise but some are brand related and that's no problem as Salvinos JR have addressed that, likewise with the bodies. But the engines are different and that doesn't Salvinos JR care about because there are Chevrolet R07 engines in all of the kits regardless of make, even Revell didn't do that on their last Ford and Chevrolet NASCAR Generation 6 kits, the Ford FR-9, the Chevrolet R07 and the Toyota TRD NASCAR engines doesn't look the same at all and Salvinos JR could at least have made new top ends with heads and valve covers that look tight for the Toyota's and Ford's. I know it doesn't show much but I like to be able to build correct models.

1. If you look at the pictures on Tim's page for the 353 you will see that the 353 front fenders aren't the same shape as the Kenworth fenders, the Alaskan Hauler fenders are also diamond plate wich the 353 fenders aren't, maybe the Kenworth fenders can be modified but It's most likely easier to make them from scratch. 2. The butterfly hood on the Kenworth Alaskan Hauler is not right for a Peterbilt 353, it's a different shape as the Kenworth hood is more pointed at the top and the Peterbilt hood top is flatter, the layout is not the same, the 353 butterfly hood looks the same as the 351 hood but it's wider at the front, study the pictures and compare and you will see what I mean. I know Tim himself had modified a 359 tilt hood to look like a 353 butterfly hood on one of his builds, it's in his Fotki albums of Peterbilt builds if you look around. If you don't care about functionality it's a quite easy job with some sanding, filling in the cutout for the air cleaner and scribing in some new panel lines.

I don't think the flat angeled fenders of the 353 would be a problem to scratch build from sheet stock, but the 353 also has a butterfly hood like the 351 has but with a wider radiator and grille. The Revell Germany 353 is not right as the fenders are attached to the flip hood, the fenders on a real 353 are not as they are separate and attached to the chassis, the fenders in the Revell Germany 353 kit also is wrong shape and in diamond plate, but after what I can see the fenders should be smooth on the surface. Here is a link to our friend and Peterbilt guru Tim Ahlborn's Fotki site with lots of pictures of 353's. https://public.fotki.com/mackinac359/peterbilt-motors-cl/peterbilt-353/

You are right there. Sometimes it's unavoidable.

Very nice. But Miller Lite...naah it's Miller High Life wich is stronger. ?

Nice start. I have a tip for you. When I put together parts like engine, trans, axles, tanks and other stuff with the conecting seam in the middle I use regular styrene glue like Revell Contacta Professional or similar cement style glue wich solves the plastic, first I cut off locating pins and sand the parts so they are completely flat where they join, then I put the glue on and let it do it's work for a little while so the plastic softens up slightly at the seam, I put the parts together and adjust the seam so it looks good, and I press slightly so some of the plastic and glue ooze out of the seam and let it dry. Afterwards when it's dry I take a thin liquid brush glue that also solves plastic and brush it over the seam and on the surface of the part, this solves the joint some and blend it in and I let that dry, when dry I sand down the seam and it gets invisible...I seldom need any putty for this kind of joints.

See, it wasn't that hard was it, I had faith in you and thought you could pull it off when I saw what you did with the trailer wheels.? This looks way better than the old wheels. So you did a good job Steve I do not like the wheels in Revell-Monogram snap kits, not in this scale nor in the 1:25th scale, they are awful representations of truck wheels that doesn't look realistic at all, they look more like wheels on a toy than on a model.

Looks good.

I would try if I were you, the wheels are much too shallow to look good. You don't have to destroy anything, just hold a ring on the outside of the wheel and look, I promise it will look better.

Not good news. Jerry has noce products and good service.

Those modified wheels looks a lot better, maybe you should do the same with the drive wheels on the truck, they look way too shallow now when the trailer wheels got a more correct depth. These things bugs me with the Revell/Monogram snap kits, the wheels doesn't look good on them, not in this scale and not in 1:25th scale.

I don't know of any source for Doug Kalitta decals. One problem with this is that Revell started doing the "modern era" Top Fuel kits at a time when the evolution of the Nitro cars was very steep, and they stopped issuing Top Fuel dragsters in the early 2000's, so nothing new after that has been done, they also got competition from the Die Cast market who started to do die cast models and sell many of the popular drivers cars and many of the larger teams licensed the rights exclusively to them. The Revell kits are updated some over the 12-15 years they were offered but never enough to be up to date for the versions they issued except for the first kits wich were pretty accurate when they came, if they had done all necessary updates when they did the last issues wich were the Kenny Bernstein Budweiser King and Tony Schumacher ARMY dragsters issued in 2002 the kits would have been pretty much up to date even today as not much has been altered on these cars since then...maybe the DSR canopy for some and a few other small things but most things still looks pretty much the same as back in 2002. Same goes for the Funny Car kits, they were updated some over the years they were out but never enough, but if they had at least the chassis would be up to date even now, not the bodies as they have change a lot. So building an accurate 2023 TF Champion Doug Kalitta dragster would need a lot of work updating it to todays standard...except for the decals wich I don't think are available. Some of the parts needed to update the TF kits are available as 3D prints but you have to do a search for things like engine parts, wheels, front and rear wings and other stuff from several different sources as some are out there, and they are not cheap. I think that if Revell would do an up to date TF kit now based on the kits from 2002 it would sell, they have to change some parts to do a correct one but do it as a generic kit and decals for these kits might come from the aftermarket.

The Model Car Garage one is the only one I know of and it shouldn't be that hard to put on. https://www.modelcargarage.com/eshop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=121&idcategory=18

Nope, too much difference in size. A 1:25 scale kit is 25 times smaller than the real counterpart and 1:32 scale kit is 32 times smaller so 1:32 are 7 times smaller than 1:25. If you take a measure on a real car or truck and divide it by 32 you get the scaled measurement for 1:32 scale, do the same and divide the same real measurement with 25 and you get the 1:25 scale measurement wich are a lot larger, and of course the other way around, if you take the measurement on the model times 32 or 25 and you will get the real measurement. 1:24 and 1:25 are so close so it's not that big a difference.

That's the later 426, he asks for a 392. The Chrysler 331 Hemi came for the 1951 model year, it grew larger and the 354 came 1956 and the largest 392 came 1957 and was available through 1958. The 426 Hemi wich was based on the B/RB engines came 1964 as a race engine only and was put on the street 1966 and was available until 1971, so it's all different.

It looks to be a F16 truck so it could have the TD162 engine wich is the predesessor to the current D16 and the first 16 litre engine Volvo made.

They look nice, but they are 11.00-20, the Sundance trucks had 10.00-22.

Interesting build, I'm following this. Here is a picture I found of Billy's car, I don't know the year tho', but it had coilovers And here is the Sox & Martin Don Hardy built 72 Duster wich replaced the 72 Duster they built in shop after it was crashed.

Yes they did, at least on the truck used in the "Life Line" episode 4 1974 wich the picture below is from. For information, Moluminum has a nice pintle hook.

Well I have picked up things here and there...just kidding. ? I have gathered all information and all the photos I have found on the subject and watched all the episodes of the TV series several times closely as I have both seasons on DVD, lots of times frame by frame to see details like the license plates and some other stuff. I have the VIN numbers of the two 1974 trucks from the first season and also the build sheet for one of them, it's the one now owned by Mark Stracener now under restoration, formerly Paul Sagehorn's truck. I'm planning to build one of these trucks myself but I gladly share the information I have to help other builders.

First you have to decide from wich season you are going to build your model as the trucks from season 1 and season 2 are slightly different. At least the Crooked KW bug hood emblem was changed 1973, the doorhandles and vent window was changed 1972 and the AMT W925 kit is from 1971. When it comes to how many trucks were used I can answer that, the studio ordered 2 new 1974 W925 VIT trucks for the first season and 2 new 1975 W925 VIT trucks for the second season, they might have used one or two more, one was for sure used in the "Big Switch" episode where they used both green 1975 trucks and one black truck with the same arrows except that it had the rear part of the arrow on the doors. Some say they also supposed to have used a 1973 truck in the first season but I haven't found any evidence of that in my research, both 1974 trucks have gold emblems like the 1973 50th anniversary trucks had but they were listed as 1974 and the VIT package was new for that year and wasn't available before that.

If you thought Orange Crate was bad you should try this one...it's even worse. This is a modified version of the Orange Crate and I bought one as a teenager back in the late 70's as I thought it looked cool, I didn't know it was based on the Orange Crate then tho'...started to build it, the chassis and drive train is the same as the "Crate" but the body was supposed to sit on the chassis permanent and had a floor so it was not flip up body and the front fenders was added, nothing fitted like it should so I finally gave up on it...the only kit that has beat me so far. This is a couple other versions of the kit. I do have a couple of the Orange Crate reissues from 1999, my modeling skills has improved some over the years and I will give it a go some time in the future.