leafsprings

The pride and joy of Red Ball Transportation, a '62 Pete 351. Has a Mercury sleeper, chrome sun visor, spot lights, road lamps, chrome air tanks, chrome deck plates, chrome fifth wheel and bumper. A lot more chrome than I'm used to using, but I think its appropriate on this one. 351 hood conversion from AITM, aluminum front wheels from Keystone, and tires from Double Take.

Thanks for all the comments. It was a fun build, I look forward to seeing other mini pumper being created, just about any 1/25 pickup cab should work.

Beautiful build! A piece of art! There is so much to see and appreciate in every shot.

Fantastic job on this '69 Ranger Bill! You once again captured the period look, tu tone paint, aluminum slot wheels, glass packs and very popular aftermarket goodies used in the 70's. Really like the grill detail work and factory stance and ride height, just the way it should be!

Thankyou Mobius for doing these long ignored subjects, was expecting these decades ago.' Would have liked them better if the side moldings were left off!

There is obviously a demand for these items, the problem is we don't have another quality company like Modelhaus to fill the void.

Maybe someone from So Cal. remembers who operated these gold tankers. The "TYCO" name on the side is obviously fictitious, but fleets generally use the same paint scheme for many years. I see no evidence of Union 76 dark blue and orange on the duel trucks, but do see evidence this gold color.

Was watching Emergency from season 2 which would make it around 1973, there was a gold tanker that looks like it could have been owned by the same company that owned the Duel Pete. Both in Southern Calif, both TV show and movie were created by Universal Studios. With some creative weathering by Universal Studios, maybe this was the source company for Duel's trucks. The tractor has a tag axle as well.

How about a Louisville mixer? Endless possibilities now made possible. Purchased 3 already!

This one keeps getting better, better and better!

Very impressive build! Great custom build work! It really does take many sources and creativity and time to get it right! Super job on the weathered road grime!

Combined the Revell '56 Ford with the Monogram Mack pumper to create the mini pumper. Went together pretty easily with a few modifications. Used the AMT Ford pickup 1 ton frame as the foundation and added Rookie Resin 1 ton I beam front axle with springs and shocks, and Scene Unlimited 6 lug dually wheels and tires. Extra left over parts were Allison automatic from a AMT Ford C 600 and siren, side steps and front tow hooks from the AMT ALF pumper kit. Fire extinguishers on rear bumper and hoses were from aftermarket resin sellers.

Looks great, can't go wrong with the no nonsense "fleet look". I would reconsider your wheel choices, aftermarket 2 or 5 hole resin wheels are worth every penny!

Turbine in a Titan!

Getting close to completion. Just a few more details.

Its probably best to study photos when the movie was shot, instead of my 10 later photos which aren't 100% accurate. Here a photo from the actual film, and shows the diamond style wheel on left front. This must be the '55 Pete, due to the way the mirror head bracket is shaped around the mirror.

The Dual Pete is always an interesting subject. Back in '71, it would have been difficult to recreate it with only using the AMT California hauler. The cab would be the same for the 3rd truck they used for the add on scenes, but would require a narrow nose front end. Most of the movie used the old style cab which was not available then. Luckily ATIM now offers the '59 Pete, and it would be the easiest for us with not so good fabrication skills to use. Then it comes to the details, the biggest detail, IMO, is using the correct wheels. The older Petes and the trailer used various style lock ring Budd wheels. In the 10 years later photos of the '60 Pete, the right front, it has the diamond style disc wheel, and on the left front, it has the D shape style wheel. Rear wheels of tractor and some trailer wheels are not correct, they have been swapped out to one piece rims.

It appears it will have the same wheels as the 4300, one piece 10 holes. Since this kit represents the '68-'73 4070A, not sure if the 10 hole one piece was even manufactured back then. These wheels seem to have come out around '74-'75?

X2! The longbed and the small back window were much more common then.

Excellent job on this rare kit! The factory paint job and details really makes this build look super authentic!

I like your plans! I actually prefer the looks of a longbed 3/4 ton over the shortbed 1/2 ton. The 3/4 ton really began to get popular in the mid 60's, thanks to the pickup camper boom. Chevy called their pickups custom campers while Ford and Dodge called them camper specials.

This is great news, soo many subjects that have never been covered by big plastic. The availability of very affordable donor kits, thanks to all the recent reissues, makes it a great time for new cabs or front end clips. Please have him look at my "resin wish list thread"

Thanks for the comments and contributions! This kit bash is actually pretty enjoyable to build. Both of these kits have been around for along time, and others have beat me to the idea a long time ago, and added great innovations to the build a long time ago. The 2 major reasons I waited until now, is first, the '56 Ford issue I'm using finally came out molded in a very similar red as the pumper kit, and second, appropriate wheels and tires finally became available from the aftermarket, thanks to Scenes Unlimited. The excellent 17.5" wheel and tire come as a package from Danny.

Chassis beginning to come together!

You would think the aftermarket resin truck vendors would kick into high gear and replenish their inventories and or add more products, now that so many affordable re issues are available for donor parts.