RoninUtah

Thanks, Steve!

Thanks, David!

Among old-truck nerds, the Dodge Big Horn has a special mystique. I don’t mean the trim package on the Ram pickup, I mean the big one: The last (and least successful) semi tractor that Dodge built. It was in production for only three years (1973-75) and only 261 units were ever built. A surprising number survive today, and they are much sought-after by truck collectors. They looked odd indeed, with a tiny ‘50s Dodge pickup cab mounted high above an enormous hood and grille, making the whole rig look even more massive than it really was. I’ve always wanted to do a model of it, but the only cast resin conversion kit I’ve seen wasn’t very authentically detailed and the proportions looked off, so I passed. One of my favorite 3D Truck designers goes by the handle Ditimaso147 on Cults, AKA Nahuel Customs. I’ve printed and built three of his designs so far, although the others were small in scale compared to this one. When I saw he had designed a Big Horn, It wasn’t a hard decision to try it out. I downloaded the files and printed them; after a few issues with warpage he agreed to reinforce the back of the grille, and I was happy with the result. Like most 3D designs, the interior is pretty basic, but it seems accurate, which is good enough for me. For a donor, I used an incomplete AMT/Ertl GMC General kit that I had gotten for cheap on eBay, along with a smattering of parts-box parts here and there. I used some very thin clear sheet plastic for the windshield, creased to form the wrap-around curves. The plastic clouded a little on the crease lines, but it blends in with the reflection and isn’t so noticeable. The paint scheme is a reference to Dodge’s Big Horn ads of the 70. This is a curbside model with a closed hood and no engine; there are some flaws as you can see, but I’m happy with it and it fills that formerly big hole in my truck collection!

Nice! Gotta love a Pete COE wrecker!👍

Beautiful build, this cab looks even better than the AITM cab IMHO. The B-61 was always my favorite Mack, and this one shows why!

Nice! I've got one in my to-do pile, now I'm inspired to move it to the top of this list! Great sleeper-to-daycab conversion, it looks flawless. Great work!

Thanks, Brian!

This is turning out to be an amazing build! Keep going!

Thanks guys, your kind words mean a lot to me! Yeah I lengthened the frame about 18 scale inches to accommodate the wrecker body. I think it’s pretty close now to what those Heins Union Body Works wreckers in the Bakersfield area looked like back then… I can almost hear KUZZ playing Buck Owens on the AM radio!

Thanks Steve! Actually, this wrecker, is fairly straightforward, especially compared to the big Revell Kenworth and Peterbilt wreckers. But like all AMT products, it takes some work and futzing to get everything to fit right. And stringing it is a bit of a pain. That said, you shouldn’t have any problem with it!

Thanks Brian!

Thanks, Jim! Yeah i was surprised too, but nearly all the examples in the WOT article (which were mostly from an old Heins brochure) were sleeper COEs. As the article said, Heins preferred COEs.

Thanks, Anderson!

Being the truck nerd that I am, I’ve been a member of the American Truck Historical Society (ATHS) for a number of years. One of the best parts of membership, for me, is their publication “Wheels of Time;” it’s been a great resource for my model truck builds as well as a fascinating source of information about old trucks. So, I was looking through the March/April 2025 edition and came upon an in-depth article on Heins wreckers, which were manufactured by Union Body Works, located in Bakersfield, California in the 1960s and 70s. They were a leading manufacturer of “big stick” style heavy duty wreckers, which utilized a single telescoping boom, very popular at the time on the West Coast. When I looked closely at the photos in the article, I realized that these wreckers looked familiar- they clearly were the inspiration for AMT’s Peterbilt wrecker kit of the 70s and later. I’ve bought a dozen or so over the years, typically as donors for resin kits of various sorts. The AMT kit originally used their “California Hauler” 359, and was later re-issued with the post-1972 “1100” cab, but the wrecker stayed the same. However, the article mentioned the fact that Don Heins, the builder of those wreckers, preferred COE chassis because “they allowed the boom pivot and winches to be mounted further forward, providing greater leverage without sacrificing maneuverability.” Indeed, most of the photos accompanying the article were of COEs, including a 1974 Peterbilt 352. It was a light-bulb moment: Why not pair an AMT Pete 352 with an AMT wrecker body to come up with something similar? So, I picked up a 352 kit, and I knew I had plenty of wrecker parts left over from all those donor kits to pull it off. It wasn’t too difficult, although if I’m given a chance to screw something up I always seem to take it; this build is far from perfect. It took a little work- I had to stretch the frame to accommodate the longer wheelbase required for the wrecker body, and I dressed it up a little with CTM photo-etched parts and Modeltruckers.com decals- I had explained to them what I had in mind, and they added stripes for the wrecker to one of their standard Peterbilt stripe designs at nominal cost. I added a little light weathering to the engine, but basically this build is box stock from the two different AMT kits. So, here you go: A Heins 30 ton big stick wrecker from Union Body Works, on a Peterbilt 352 COE chassis. I signed it for a fictitious towing and recovery outfit in Delano, California, just up Highway 99 from Bakersfield. It’s not unlike something you might have seen in that part of California fifty years ago!

Superb build of a problematic kit, very well done. Even if this is your first big rig build, you've got some serious modeling chops and it shows! Great work!

That's one beautiful truck, Brian! I'm drooling! I love those old sleepers from the 40s! Fantastic build, my hat's off to you!

Very nice build, well done! You are correct that AMT based this on the initial 1967 model, which had a 2-bar grille. Peterbilt changed it to 3 vertical bars late in 1967 and it's been that way through various iterations and subsequent models to the present day.

And a couple of rollers!

I've never seen a tack truck that didn't have black goo all over the place!

I built my first one when it first came out- 1970 I believe- and then another one within the last couple of years. Both turned out really nice, and I still have them on the shelf. Like the California Hauler Pete 359, it will turn out well if you take your time and keep it straight and clean. It looks like you’re doing just that- I’m looking forward to the results! Good luck!

I have the one from A&N; it’s to Australian specs with right hand drive, stone guard, giant bull bar, front mud flaps, the lot! I’ll be starting on it soon, I think, unless something else gets in the way!

It needs 3 53’ trailers with 3-axle dollies! Maybe I’ll but build the tractor…

It does, thanks! You’re right, that’s one heckuva long model!!

Hey, Jürgen, just out of curiosity, what did you use for trailers for your road train? I'm planning on building an Aussie Kenworth K200 one of these days, but I'm not sure whether I want to build the tractor only or the whole road train. I don't have a lot of reference material on Aussie trailers.

That looks amazing! Hard to believe that exhaust manifold isn't actually metal!