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1973 Road Commander Aerodyne


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I've been lacking motivation to start on the Highbinder, so after Terry, "Superpeterbilt" was nice enough to send me an aerodyne sleeper I started to work on this project. (Thanks Terry!) This is another project that I've been wanting to do for a while. The cab is fiberglass. It's very thin, but very hard. I've never worked with fiberglass before in scale, but here goes. This one will be a moving company. I'm leaning toward Mayflower, but not sure.

Here is the inspiration for this build:

White Road Commander 1 by Brian Smith, on Flickr

Here is my progress thus far. I removed the roof from the snap sleeper and sectioned it.

IMG_2089 by Brian Smith, on Flickr

IMG_2091 by Brian Smith, on Flickr

IMG_2092 by Brian Smith, on Flickr

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Brian, that is friggen Awesome! I have never seen one of those. Your work so far is spectacular. I have several of those road commander cabs stashed away in WFL boxes. Two Story Road Commode is just plain hilarious! Keep up the good work my brother, I cant wait to see this unfold.

Thanks Terry! Thanks again for the sleeper. With a little trim the roof worked perfectly!

Question? You said that you have several of these, are they all right hand drive?

Interesting I have never even heard of one of those . Who did the casting of the cab?

Thanks Dave! I'm not sure who cast the cab.  I've seen fiberglass cabs from a company called Jaymar which became North Coast Hobbies that looked extremely thin like this one. As far as the original caster, I'm not sure, but it is from the same casting as the back yard shed cabs. It did not take me long to figure out why fiberglass is not popular for cabs. This stuff is like a brick.

Man, that looks really good....I don't think I've ever even seen one of these things....Cool.....I'll be watching this one....

Thanks JT!

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No problem Brian. Only one of mine came with a dash, and yes its right drive. I was just going to modify a FL dash. 

Early Road Commanders had basically the same interior as the 7400. The ones that I've seen were just nicer (more upholstery). That is why I saved the interior out of the one that I made a daycab. This one came with a fiberglass copy of a 352 bucket and an Astro dash. I was just curious as to how yours were made.

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Early Road Commanders had basically the same interior as the 7400. The ones that I've seen were just nicer (more upholstery). That is why I saved the interior out of the one that I made a daycab. This one came with a fiberglass copy of a 352 bucket and an Astro dash. I was just curious as to how yours were made.

Wow, 352 and an Astro.....thats quality. Good to know about the 7400 interior. I have a few of those cabs also, so I can use that as reference whenever I get around to the Road Commanders.

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Thanks for all of the comments guys!!

What a cool model subject! The aerodyne roof changes it from a "plain Jane" to a sharp looking unit. Do you plan to use the paint scheme on the 1:1? 

Thanks Dennis!! I haven't settled on a paint scheme yet. I plan on a moving company, probably Mayflower.

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verynice , wil be a great build , wil see how its go,s , think that mayflowercolor  looks great on this one

i have somewhere a mack f-type from yamar , its from australian  , and i use a dustcap when i work on this cab , that dust is very bad for your healt [  every dust of  plastics is bad ]

i put that cab away , its not workin fine and its very fraggile

buth i follow this one

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Thanks Jacobus!!

This cab is extremely brittle. It is hard as a brick. It was a major task just to get the flash out of the windows and from the back. The flash was even as hard as a brick. The only benefit that I can see to fiberglass is that it is very light, unlike resin. Here's my progress so far. I hope that I can finish it without breaking it.

IMG_2095 by Brian Smith, on Flickr

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Im working on a bubble nose Pete 350 cab that is the same way. Its 3/4" thick in some places and it keeps breaking on me. I keep having to epoxy the pieces back in as they break, so I can keep working in it. Eventually it will all be epoxy!

The cab looks great. What chassis are you going to use on this?

Thanks Terry! I haven't decided yet. I considered the 359 for the air ride, but I may just use a Freightliner. I've been repairing spots myself. The window flash was thicker than the cab in some places.

 

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Thanks Terry! I haven't decided yet. I considered the 359 for the air ride, but I may just use a Freightliner. I've been repairing spots myself. The window flash was thicker than the cab in some places.

 

I think I may have extra 352 chassis with air suspension. Or if you just want air ride to put under the freighliner, I can do that also.PM me if your interested.

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