Old Albion

Josh, What a great looking truck!! The green paint certainly looks superb. Dave

The can do wrecker kit being a 359 119" BBC would look great with a 3408 Catterpillar under the hood. The block on the 3408 is shorter than the 3406 so should fit OK. Either way this is a great project with excellent details. Dave

Aaron, The two engines will be Gardner 6LXB (180) and the 8LXB (240). I must admit I never thought of the Perkins 6354. Its possible sometime in the future. Perkins engines were very common in Britain in both trucks and Agricultural tractors. Jarda, As for the make and type I'll let everyone work it out for themselves. I think my opening post expains everything. Mark is right it is no Clatterpillar 3406. Earlier than that!! Dave

This is an exceptionally well detailed build. The weathering is perfect. Dave

Well the engines has now been cast and is available from Howard at KFS (www.kitformservices.com) Howard sent me some sample units and I have assembled one so far. The quality of the castings is very good indeed with very minimal cleanup. As you can see from the photo's it goes together very well. It is painted white because it will be fitted in a 1972 Peterbilt 359. The weathering helps to bring out the detail and gives it a more realistic appearance. The quality of the photo's is not good they were taken inside and I'm no expert at photography. When the sun comes out I'll get some shots outside. This then for me brings this project to a finish. There are other engines planned for the future. I have a couple of British engines prototypes to do for Howard and then maybe an Allis Chalmers 25000 series engine (The purple one). Anyways thanks for looking and if you get the engine have fun building. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Thanks for looking. Dave

Dennis, This looks superb. Great work. Dave

Chris, Its good to see this one finished. Ertl's 4300 is a great kit certainly one of my favourites. The 3408 fits like a glove and looks right. Nice work! Dave

Jim, Looks like your off to a good start. The colour is perfect! Dave

There is a very practicle reason for fitting the exhaust up in the air. I read an article on Clessie Cummins sometime ago. When he first built his Diesel engine it was fitted into a truck (Obviously). The exhaust ran under the frame as was the norm in the early days. But apparently on testing the trucks performance on some winding mountain roads. The engine produced a lot of black smoke. A poor unfortunate driver in a car following could not see where he was going and ran of the road. I don't know if he was killed or injured. Anyway as a result of this the exhaust was stuck up in the air behind the cab so the black smoke would be dissipated up in the atmosphere and not blind other road users. Hope this helps. Dave

Dennis, This looks very impressive indeed. I like the colour scheme it looks just right! Also those front wheels look great. Their position to sit under the cab looks perfect. Dave

Jim, Very nice indeed! I like it. Dave

Rob, If thats the look and finish you get from rushing. Then rush the next one. It looks perfect to me. An outstanding standard of workmanship on a great looking truck. Dave

Ray, Great progress! This project is coming along very well! The headlights are a bit awkward to move. But with patience the result has a big impact on the overall appearance of the truck and well worth doing. I'm surprised that non of the aftermarket guys have not made a cab with the headlight positions corrected also with some options for single headlight etc. As for using Tim's web site. I agree an invaluable source of information. Tim built an excellent Freightshaker in orange and yellow a while back. This build inspired me to build my blue and orange WF. (Thanks Tim!) Keep us posted with progress. Dave

This looks superb. I like the green paint it works well with the weathering. Nice touch! Dave

Tony, These are excellent. Let us know what you have and when you have things available. I'm interested. Thanks for letting us know what your up to. Dave

William, An outstanding piece of model engineering. Thanks for sharing this superb model with us. Dave

Matt, Thats a great looking engine. This gives truck builders an interesting alternative to the 3408 for the 1/16 scale. I have some engine builds planned for the future in 1/16 but not for a while. I have to finish a couple of truck builds and then have a couple of British engines to do for Howard at KFS. How did you get on with the extended hood for the 359? Best Regards Dave

Sergey, This is an extraordinary level of Model Engineering. Fantastic attention to detail. Thanks for sharing. Dave

Check the link below. These are scans of the old Commercial Truck Modeller magazine, I don't know who hosts the Fotki site, but I'm greatfull to them, for the time and effort they have put in, to record so much extremely usefull data. There is a great article on the KW Alaskan Hauler and a very interesting article on the Pete 353 on page 22. http://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thscale/model_magazine_articles/commercial-truck-mo/ctm-volume-04-winte/ Dave

Jim, Looks great so far. Red with a black frame looks good on an old Mack. Dave

Questions about the accuracy of this kit have been raised before on the forum. But I cannot remember who or when the posts were made. One of the most noted authorities on any Peterbilt is Tim Alborn. Check Tim's web site he builds a real 353 and describes in detail the differences between the kit and reality. Tim's web site: http://www.timstrucks.com/ If you go to about 2/3 of the way down this page you will see Tim's version of a 353: http://www.timstrucks.com/2010bench.htm Hope this helps. Dave

Paul, Very impressive. I like the colour scheme, it suits the old Freightshaker well. Great work! Dave

Ray, This is quite a project and will certainly be a challenge. I have seen this posted on another web site and was impressed with your concept then and now. The WF photoetch kits are great. I bought 3 or 4 of them expecting just a few parts. Instead there was enough parts in each kit for about 3 Freightshakers. So needless to say I have plenty of surplas stock for future builds. Anyone interested in a photoetch set for a WF a Kw W900a or an Astro check out this web site. The quality is exceptional. https://ssl3.world4you.com/modelmakershop/index.php?cat=c126_Czech-Truck-Modell.html&page=3&XTCsid=1d5aa4bigu4i1j2qk3o4d5nuc6 Good Luck with the rest of the builds. Dave

Tony, Many Thanks for posting that link. Very interesting and looks quite simple once someone tells you how to do it. Dave

Bill, An excellent addition to your fleet. Thanks for sharing. Dave