purepmd

Alan is right, makes a very cool day cab. Got me thinking about what to do with the leftovers from my 110. Attention span...what attention span, lol

Doug, you are right, the doors took a good bit of time. Forming the hinges, building thr latches, and getting the 120 degree bevelled edge on the inner panels was about 3 weeks worth of work. I do not have one of those miniature miter tables they sell in the MicroMark catalog, so I used a 3 sided metal file and a metal straight edge, as the table top, to hand sand the bevelling. As for the head light surrounds, including the detail on the backside, to be seen when the cab is raised, there are 8 pieces in each of them. Again,Thanks to everyone for all the comments and views. They provide a great deal of motivation. Mark.

The people who have responded so far are right on target. You have an excellent skill set base to move forward from. Paint work is very solid, assembly technique is way ahead of the game for a build at this point of experience. It is good to see a younger modeler take up trucks. Do not let the skyrocketing prices discourage you. There are ways around that. A lot of the Round 2 rereleases can be had on Ebay for less than $30.00 + shipping. Sometimes places like Hobbylinc or Tower Hobbies have reduced or free shipping specials. When the White Freightliner Cabover was rereleased, my favorite truck model for my childhood days, I scooped up a case of them, (6), with no shipping, and they were only $26.99 each. The first one I ever laid my hands on cost $3.95 at Kmart. It was a first run kit, that goes back a ways. A lot of Ebayers are parting kits out now. Look for a wrecker body by itself, combine that with the Revell W900, and there you go. Use the creativity you obviously have to obtain your kits as well as build them and you do not have to go broke to keep this as your hobby. Sometimes, combining various kits produces some intersting results. These are both conglomerations of AMT cabs and interiors together with Revell of Germany frames and engines. The basic building blocks to these 2 models were obtained from kits parted out on Ebay, with a cost of under $25.00 each. It can be done on the cheap. With your skills, I would hate to see money be the determining factor when it comes to building what you want, and have a knack for. PM me about KW parts. Best of luck to you. Mark.

That is a whole lot of cool for just 10 tires. Very well done JT.

Thank you Tony. Once the door jams are fashioned, the doors are aligned, and attached to the cab, I will make striker plates, with a small detent, for the spring action latches in the doors to catch on. Combine that with a small bump stop and they will be kept in proper alignment with the cab sides. Here you can see the latches in the doors. To bad they will be covered by remaining inner door skin and some photo etched widgets that resemble the 1-1 mechanisms.

First, thanks for all the great compliments, I really appreciate them. Second, Doobie, I found a set of Beading Mini Pliers, used for making beaded jewelry, and I use those to, first fold the metal strip over a piece of steel rod, the same size as the pivot the hinge will ride on. I use straight pins used in sewing. The chrome plating is very smooth for the hinge to move on. Then use the pliers to pinch the fold tight to the rod. Then I remove one side of the metal strip, just below the now circular fold, then finish curling the strip around the rod to form a complete circle. I made a small jig to form the bend in the hinges, so they would have all the same curvature, at least be close enough to work with out binding. In the picture, you can see some early attempts that, when left double layered, were to hard to get a gentle curve worked into them. In the foreground, you can see a very short, single layer, fully rolled hinge. It is really not all that difficult, it does take some practice. The hardest aspect is keeping the rolled pivot point at a 90 degree angle to the rest of the hinge. It is very easy to get them a little crooked, but if you leave the pin in the roll, you can straighten them out without colapsing the hinge. As i said, it is not that tough, it took me longer to type this out than it did for me to make one, not counting the dozen or so failures first. lol. Thank you for your interest, Mark

Incredible! A scratchbuilt work of art.

This is simply awesome. Your weathering and detailing skills are second to none.

Pavel, JT hit the nail on the head. Your builds are some of the 'must see' posts on this forum. Great paintwork and color combination. Looking forward to more pics. Mark.

'Shaker, thanks for the tip. It really has the same effect as the 1-1 wheels. Definately going to try that out.

This is slick! Modifications are so well done! Single headlights look like they were always there. The design and color choice of the paint is stellar. Period perfect, Well done.

Hey Everyone, I figured it was time for an update. I have been working on some more of the cab details, like the footwells and the storage compartment doors. I used one of the deck plates that comje in the CMT Freightliner sets to make the perforated metal that forms the floor of the footwell. Should look okay once painted. On the doors, I used some of the framework of the fret to form the hinges, and stick pins, with the heads filed flat, to ensure they were narrower that the .060, some model railroad springs, and some beading clamp tubes to form the spring loaded latches that will keep the doors from flopping around when attached to the cab. They will be covered and some details will be added to simulate the real, cable operated latches. In the first picture are some of the prototype parts I made just to see if my ideas would work. The last picture shows the doors with some details added to the hinges. Thanks for all your encouragement so far, it helps when you are on the 8th or 9th failed concept. Thanks for looking. Mark.

Great save! Being an avid fan, and repeat owner, of early second gen Pontiac F-bodies, it is good to see you breath new life into this very cool piece. Sport is right, Starlight black was a no no on 'birds until the Black and Gold, 1976, Pontiac Motor Division's 50th anniversary Trans Ams corrected that, on any measurable scale. Then, in '77, Burt Reynolds turned it into the must have color. Well done.

Thank you all for the kind words. I got in a little bench time lately, so update photos are in order.I started to add some of the details back onto the cab, and not one to keep to the K.I.S.S. methodology, I figured it would be a good idea to make the service access doors on the front work. I used The Model Car Garage small photo etched piano hinges, some extra photo etched sheet to give them strength and an .005 sheet of styrene to make them easier to shape. I constructed the headlight buckets and fitted then to the cab. Just for fun. I threw some junk box bezels and a 1/16th scale enblem, which I will strip clean and reuse, to make the larger emblem.

I needed something for my 352H to be hooked to, so I have gt this in progress for just that task. I always liked the Ertl Great Dane reefer for having at least attempting to show some detail in the thermo king. I thought for a real nostalgic unit, (AMT), to be detailed would be fun. Having some H-O scale slot car stuff laying around promted me to see if I could not get the landing gear to work. I eventually was successful. After I discovered that the gears on the cross shaft had to turn the same direction, or the left leg goes up, and the right leg goes down, not the result I was looking for. I tried to upload a video I took, but it was to big to load. Look in the pictures and you will see the landing gear at both raised and lowered hieghts. As far as the reefer goes, the Isuzu 4 cylinders Thermo King used is just an AMT datsun 280ZX 6 cylinder cut down, with a bunch of spare parts thrown at it. Thanks for looking

Found this out by accident too. I was stripping some multi strand wire, looking for air line, and noticed that the outer sheath was very soft, flexible and would not kink. So I grabbed a metal straight edge, and cut it into strips, and there it was. works on K100s too. [

Hi Scott, FANTASTIC weathering. This is, so far the most unique Pete I've seen. I have to admit I don't like rat rods, so I was very biased when I checked your model out, but it is so well done, I can't help but really like it. Awesome job! Mark.

Had to look twice to make sure it wasn't the box art truck, very nice build.

JT, Nice paint work. Really makes an eye-catcher out of it. Sharp.

John, you're right. The norrowed axle does make a difference. Pretty easy fix too. Great start on this project. Can't wait to see more.

I am thinking of painting the Los Angeles stripes, Using Testors enamels and Pearl-Ex powders. I have already mixed a test batch of the black cherry main color an it was awesome.

David, from the reference pics I have been able to find, they are very similar. The differences, around the cab hinges and rear mounts, come from the cab being 4 inches taller than standard 352. Tim Ahlborn is THE Peterbilt expert, and could give a much better account. I am working from pictures found on the internet, and 30 year old memories of 1 I drove, and details get fuzzy after that long. Mark.

Thanks guys. This is the paint job planned for this thing.

Thanks guys for all the kind words. I am pretty sure I will throw this paint job on it when it gets that far. John, Sparkle wheels were so cool. Mark.

Travis, Welcome back to the hobby, and welcome to the forum. Very good choices as to your what to build. Enjoy. Mark.