mackinac359

Yeah, What Charles said! Getting it right is more important than getting it released quickly. I'm waiting patiently for an accurate kit.

Did Freightliner shrink the cab? In the early 70's they touted that the cab was 96" wide. TIm

Looking good (dirty?) so far. Tim

Wild stuff !

Yup.. 352 kit with the cab cut down to a 54" daycab. Single drive making it a model 282. The body is from the AMT Ford Short Hauler kit. Tim

Here is a bad scan of a bad copy of the plumbing. It is quite out of date - accurate to the 80's and maybe early 90s. Tim

To add to the Detroit Diesel and Freightliner/Daimler ownership - Peterbilt and KW dropped Detroit from their price book (option list) at the end of '02. So, aside from the instrument panel, the Italeri 378 can be a '87 to '03 model year truck. (triva: 378 didn't debut until '87, several months after the 379, 377, 357 debuted.. there never was a 378 planned - the 379-119 was the highway and the fiberglass hood was the vocational 357. A dealer spec'd a 357 hood on a 379-119 chassis and the 378 was born). Tim

It's a nice kit. Tim

I used to have one that Ken Smith sent me years ago - but it is very outdated. I'll find it, scan it and post it.

On the front axle - the springs are already quite beefy - for some reason Italeri molded the rare "progressive" multi-layer leaf spring, instead of the typical Peterbilt long taper leaf spring. Tim

Knowing this kit intimately... The photo (from a Cat add for Peterbilt dealers) on the box was provided as a reference for the decal stripe and was originally planned to be retouched into a 378 - but that never happened. The box also ended up with the wrong parts layout photo for the sleeper requiring them to print the correct layout photo as a sticker and apply it to each kit box after printing. Oops. Enough of the box... Assembly is straight forward. Assemble the frame/suspension as a unit and paint it (just like the factory does). Assemble the cab as firewall-sides,back with the floor taped in place, or the roof taped in place. If you are going to paint the roof a separate color, it is easier to leave the roof off and glue it in place later rather than mask it off. Same for the sleeper. When setting the cab and sleeper on the chassis, I like to temporarily install the hood first - then line up the cab/sleeper (already mated together) and making adjustments to the cab/sleeper mounting rather than fighting with the hood fit when the cab is cemented in place. The cooling overflow reservior on top of the radiator can foul out with the underside of the grille and hood, so careful positioning is needed here. The molded on rubber flap that surrounds the front of the radiatior also sometimes fouls out with the grille and may need to be trimmed if needed. I like to install the glass by temporarily holding the glass in place with low-tack tape, applying the Testor's clear windshield glue, letting it set-up, then removing the tape and letting it cure. No smudges, no fingerprints, no mess. Interior colors can be gray, red, medium blue and tan. I have boatloads of detail photos if you need. Tim

There are several issues with the AMT T501/T522 sleeper box. When Peterbilt increased the cab and sleeper height, they added a 4 inch filler panel to the top of the sleeper doors and to the front and rear panels. AMT made the panels taller, but made the doors taller too, without the 4 inch filler panel at the top (a grab handle could be optioned on the this panel). The roof cap is way off on the shape. AMT made the roof almost squared. (The original 359 kit T500 sleeper cap is the correct shape). You can sand down the corners to reshape the sleeper roof to look more like the real thing. Here are a couple of pics of the real sleeper that AMT was trying to make. This style of sleeper was used from '72 through early '79 when the round-corner door sleeper for the 36" size debuted. Sidenote: Look at restored pre-72 Peterbilts and check the height difference between the cab and sleeper - if the sleeper looks too tall, it's the later year taller bunk - and doesn't fit well with the shorter cab. Back in the day, Peterbilt sourced the shell of the 36" sleeper from Kenworth, adding their own roof corners, skin and doors. The roof from an AMT Kenworth W925 kit sleeper is close to the right shape too. Tim

Looking good so far. Tim

The longer wheelbase is much nicer looking. Tim

Cool build. Tim

Nicely built. The color scheme is very appealing. Tim

Oooo, nice weathering ! Tim

You're off to a good start. When you go to install the interior, the sleeper is a tight fit - I like to leave the sleeper floor out, install the main interior, then trim the sleeper tub section to fit. Somewhere along the lines the part "grew" and causes a fit issue. Test fit several times before comitting yourself to the install. Tim

I've made my own Ink Jet decals with BMF's paper. Not bad for dark text, but colors tend to look grainy, no light colors and no silver or white, so basically black, green, blue and brown. I never seem to get the BMF paper to lay flat at the edges, battling with it constantly. It is much easier to buy from the decal guys when I want the logo done right. Tim

Looking good !! Tim

Beautiful build. Tim

Nice choice of colors. Tim

Great weathering. Tim

Looks like a wireline unit ? The photography and colors are such that it almost appears to be a model. Tim

Nice clean build.