Old Albion

William, An excellent project. Very interesting. There is a guy who lives not to far from me who has a D8 Caterpillar that took part in the Normandy D-Day landings. He has fully restored it, interestingly Caterpillar assisted with information from their archives and helped find parts for the restoration. When you see this machine up close you realise how simple it is but also how robust and well made these things are. The engine is big compared to modern standards and its very slow reving. I know someone who repowered a D8 with a Cummins engine (The original engine had seen better days). He had to run the Cummins at faster RPMs to get the power to operate the D8. Not very satsifactory result. Antways I have found a video of Youtube for the D8 which took part in the D-day landings. It is at a steam fair here in Britain. The guy is showing how to start it up using the donkey engine. Thanks for sharing this project with us. Best Regards Dave

Bill, This is looking great! The older trucks always appeal to me more than the modern ones and this beast is no exception. Dave

Ernie, Chuck is right! Scratch build them. Just measure up your existing battery and clamps. Divide the dimensions by 25, make a simple drawing and get building. Much more fun than just building box stock!! Dave

Kurt, I would be interested to see how this stuff is applied and the results. There seems to be a lot of interest in weatehring of models these days and the amount of excellent products available to the modeller is increasing. Good Luck with the product. Dave

I agree with Chuck. Scratch build one. Kurt (turbo590) built one very recently and was an excellent example of scratch building. dave

Mike, When you want to build something which is not box stock and requires a degree of modification to get the desired result. You have to consider if its more appropriate to scratch build the complete thing. The reason I say this is that the modifications to a particular kit may be considerable to get what you want. There may be just as much work in cutting and carving asd there would be in scratch building. The place to start is the prototype. Check manufacturers web sites, truckpaper.com or see if you can get some close up photo's. Maybe someone will let you run a tape measure over their trailer. Make sketches and plan. Check for such things as frame construction, suspension types (On a modern milk tanker this will more than likely be an air suspension as the tank may have a glass lining) and of course the shape of the tank itself. Once you have decided what you want to do then see if there are any kits available that would suit. Best regards Dave

Carl, This is a truly magnificant project. Being an Engineer I can relate to the things you mention. It has been a real pleasure to read through your description and seeing the photo's of the progress. Many thanks for sharing this with us. If you need parts and materials for building factories and such like. Try this company. They are based in the UK but there will be companies like this in the USA and Canada. http://www.ema-models.co.uk/ Best Wishes Dave

George, I don't remember seeing that chain drive on the old Truckmodeler web site. I have seen one or two chain drive systems used on model trucks. Lance Gregory used a small drive chain to operate the mixer drum on his DM800. To the best of my knowledge the type of chain required is an Instrument Chain (used on precision instrumentation). I found one company in New York which supplies tiny instrumentation chains. The company name is Stock Drive Products/Sterling Instruments. http://www.sdp-si.com/ Sorry I can't be any more help. Dave

Bill, Another great looking truck. That green and white colour combination works very well! Very Impressive! You be running out of storage space soon for you and your dad to put all your completed models. Thanks for sharing. Dave

William, This is superb! Bill was right to get you to put some pictures up for us to see. Magnificant!! Dave

Some more progress with the engine. Its almost complete. It just needs the Air Conditioning compressor mounting, an oil sump making and some details added such as plumming etc. Oh!! I forgot paint. The engine will be Detroit Alpine Green. I did think about painting it white since its going to be installed in a mid 70s Pete but decided to go with green. The reason for this is I have never come across any documentation, photo's etc to show that Peterbilt factory fitted a 12V71TTA in a 359. So I will pretend that the truck originally had a 12V71 straight Supercharged engine and was re-engined at a later date by the owner. Thanks for looking Dave

Ray, This is a superb standard of workmanship!! Very impressed. Good Luck with the rest of the build. Tony, Thanks for the info on those alternative rivet details. Very usefull. Best Wishes Dave

Tim, This is coming along nicely. I like the rain cap on the exhaust stack. Did you scratch build this? It looks very convincing! Great Work and thanks for the update. Best regards Dave

Tim, Ray Thanks for the comments. I have been working on the front engine mounting, fan, drive pulleys and belts. Haven't done to much since I have been busy on other things. but now they are complete so this leaves me time to get on with the Detroit. I'm hoping to have this finished within the next couple weeks. All I need to do then is to build the truck for it. I'm pretty certain that it will be a 1975-1976 Pete 359-127" BBC low boy tractor unit. When I get to building the truck I will start another thread. Best Wishes Dave

Another fine example of a very popular truck kit!! These re-release kits are great! Interesting colour combination. The engine looks like its done some work in its time. Good Luck with the rest of the build. Dave

I like the paint work! Great colour scheme. You don't realise how big this truck is until you spend some time studying the photo's. The sleeper is huge!! One question did Ford make an extended hood version? Just curiosity! Great Work Dave

Thanks for the kind words folks! I have made some progress on the front auxillary drive, water pump and water manifolds. This engine is starting to get quite large. You can see why you need an extended hood!!! Thanks for looking http://public.fotki.com/oldalbion/116-12v71tta-detroi/ Dave

Tim, Just had another thought. Maybe you should approach this from a different perspective ie What is the truck going to do? Is it going to be a Heavy Hauler? Then for me it would be the big Cummins KT or the 3408 Cat. important to think about your drive line to. Make sure its rated for the torque and diesel horses. Think about the suspension etc? Best Regards Dave

Tim, I would probably go with the Clatterpillar 3406A. Its important to remember that Cummins were popular engines in particular the NTC400 Big Cam engines. The NTC 475 was not common. I think Revell probably used it in most of their truck kits because it was state of the art at the time (And they had made the moulds). A stock engine of 855 Cubic inches (14 litres) delivering a whopping 475 HP was unusual. If you wanted big horsepower you had the option of the 3408 Clatterpillar at 18 litres or the Cummins KT450 to KTA 600. The numbers denote the horses available. The big Cummins had a displacement of 1150 cubic inches or 19 litres. Both engines had high torque output. The advantage of the NTC475 over the 3408 and KT was weight and the cost of not just initial purchase but repairs also. So a 14 litre engine reated at 475HP was an interesting option. But at the end of the day you cannot beat Cubic Inches. Oh I forgot to mention there was of course the 92 series Detroits'. Best Regards Dave

Jim, Superb!! Very Impressive. Dave

Kurt, Very impressive! I'm always impressed by the quality of your builds. The smooth lines, precision work and detail makes looking at your models a real pleasure. Good Luck with the rest of the build. I will be keeping an eye open for updates as and when you post them. Best Regards Dave

Ron, Check Chris at Sourkrauts. He has a whole load of stuff for converting, chopping, adding changing, scratch building etc etc etc. Make sure you have plenty of free time before you go to his site. He has that much stuff there it will take you a hour to navigate through it. Dave http://sourkrautsmodeltrucks.com/?page_id=3&category=6

Chris, Great looking truck! The colour scheme suits it well. Good Luck with the trailer! Dave

Bill, This is a great looking truck. The scratch building is superb and shows increadible skills. Did I read in you other post that your dad built the loading equipment? Very interesting model truck!! Dave

Bill, I like both versions. Never seen the Alaskan Hauler built as a logger. I must say it does have a very rugged appearance and looks at home in a logging truck guise. Dave