Really cool diorama ideas for truck modelers!

[SpreadAxle]

I love this topic, and every post I see here displays beautiful work. I see one of my fellow truckers has been here. I know models of 18 wheelers take up more space, but simple ones can be done. Any ideas???? Here are subjects I've kicked around myself:

1.) Truck stop fuel island

2.) Truck shop(maybe just 2 or 3 bays)

3.) Truck at a weigh station. Many of the older scalehouses are still in use, and they are structures no bigger than the garage at your house.

4.) i love the "going down the road" look. a highway scene. I did one in HO scale years ago and I had so much fun with it, I knew I would someday enlarge it to 1/24-1/25 scale.

5.) Truck at a loading dock. this could be done on a bookshelf if done right. Design Detail has a wall with two loading dock doors on it. that's a simple one I will do.

6.) Flatbed being loaded/unloaded. Or you can have the driver wrestling with the tarps like I have to for many of my loads.

Any other ideas?? I just posted this one for fun. Tim ahlboorn did a great highway scene many of you might enjoy. You can see it at Truckmodeler.com . Look at the 4 lane road link.

As for those of you who don't build trucks, but posted your work in this forum, I love your work. Very inspiring.

[Barbo]

Hi.......flatbedkw........great truck diorama ideas...I do not build trucks , but admire the work . A good truck theme , for me, would be a Nascar track scene with the Nascar truck and work shop....I am a Nascar fan........Barbo.

[SpreadAxle]

George, you're very welcome. Barbo, that was a cool idea about the Nascar truck. There were 2 0r 3 Nascar trailers released by AMT in the early 90's. I know one was a Kodak Film Racing trailer(I believe they use Kenworth trucks) and the other was Bill Elliot's #9 Coors trailer. I browsed thru all the dioramas and loved them all. The ones I listed are the ones I've thought about doing the most. I would like to do a fuel island scene with a few pumps. Especially with most truck kits representing 1970's trucks, I would try to do a 70's style fuel island. I was wondering if this would generate a response. Thanks for looking.

[SpreadAxle]

The blue Peterbilt in the center of this pic is my last truck. I know you are wondering about the giant yellow tube coming out of the passenger window. that is a system called Idle Aire. I get heat-a/c, high speed internet, 4 electrical outlets, cable tv hookup, and phone hookup all thru that tube. I thought a diorama of about 3 or 4 trucks next to each other hooked up would be really cool. When I'm online, I'm usually hooked to one of these.

Simple plastruct could make the overhead support structure. Every 2 or 3 parking spots there is a pole with a concrete base holding it up. I've been kicking it around for awhile now, as more and more truckstops have it. Different, huh? Here it is again. That's my new truck, hooked to it in this pic.

I know I have a pic somewhere of the inside of my cab showing menu screen and all the hookups.

[Barbo]

WOW.........flatbedKW , it looks like a big diorama project. Maybe you can get some details from the company that service the trucks, this can be a starter.......good luck...........Barbo.

[dptydawg]

Many years ago I built a weigh scales dio/display shelf for my truck models. I used a half sheet of plywood and built and old brick scalehouse and added a DOT cruiser. It was a bit crude but worked well as a display shelf.

I like the idea of a fuel dock. It gives the oppertunity to bunch a lot of trucks close togeather and still look natural. It will take up a lot of real estate though. It would probable have to be about 20"X42" minimum size to pull it off.

Go for it

Carl

[SpreadAxle]

I will post a pic of what the Idle Aire unit looks like from the inside. Theres a door that opens at the end of the tube, and on that door is the menu screen. Next to the vents is 4 electrical outlets, an Ethernet connection, phone jack, and a cable tv plug that you connect the cable to your tv. Oh yeah, they thought of it all. I go out of my way to use this service whenever possible. It's worth it. the heat and a/c work too good. You will wake freezing in the summer, and ready to join the Polar bear club in the winter. lol. No matter how big your sleeper, it heats/cools very well. these are popping up everywhere. this one in the pic is in Baytown, TX at the TA(east side of Houston). They are making their money for sure.

[SpreadAxle]

i like the scale dio dptydawg. Today's weigh stations are really big, with inspection barns out back, so I would definately do what you did with building an older version. As for the fuel island, i've been kicking that one around for years. Since so many of the kits are of 60'/70's/80's trucks, i thought an older style with the hoses coming down from the roof of the canopy, and the windshield washing ladders(all but gone from truckstops now) would be great. Still in the works, but even if I just do one pump and truck on a shelf, it can work. i just have to get a good backdrop.

[SpreadAxle]

This is what it looks like from inside the cab:

The screen to the left is the menu, the white wire is the ethernet cable. the cable tv jack is next to the bottom electrical outlet, below it is the phone jack. Now you know what those big yellow tubes are.