mackinac359

The 379 family cab is 72.6 wide at the back wall.

Glad to help. Here's a couple of other reworkings - these were on two Snap 359's that I widened the cabs and made new hoods and really reworked them into 379-127's. For the long hood, I added 8 scale inches to the back of the hood, and 8 inches to the frame rail between the rear front spring mount and the battery box.

If you are going for a 379 look, the windshield shape is different between 379 and the 1100-cab (359). You can "cheat" by reshaping the corner radius of the windshield and reworking the center post. The 1:1 cabs are much different, but with subtle modifications you can create the look needed. Also, the side-of-cab fresh air vent should be eliminated for 379. Also, the roof is shaped differently - the 379 has a more graceful shape where the 359 is squarer. Sanding the leading edge, rear and the shaping the outer ends will lend a 379 look to the roof.

Here's the Mack in lighter weight spec as the U400/U600 series in single drive

DM stands for "Dump" "Mixer" as the truck was developed for the construction market - as a dump or mixer chassis or something along those lines. There was the lighter weight DM400, the DM600 and DM800 (also in kit form from MPC). All three DM's were available with steel butterfly hoods and fenders. There was also the DMM which was the front-drive version of the DM line. The one in this attachment is the later interior. Tim

Chassis looks good. Tim

Nice build so far. As for painted 10-holes - I've seen that - in person and photos. For the colors - add a blue or white stripe and say it's a Gulf Oil tractor. Tim Here's a quick guide to the Peterbilt model numbers of old for conventionals (359/358/359/353) Wide-front tilt hood - available in 3 hood lengths 113" BBC fiberglass, 119" aluminum or fiberglass, 127" aluminum - 113 and 119 available as a set-back axle. 359 tandem drive. 289 single drive Narrow-front tilt hood - available in 119" BBC length in aluminum or fiberglass 358 tandem drive. 288 single drive Narrow-front butterfly hood - available in 117, 119, 123 and 127 aluminum. 123" available as a set-back axle with flat fenders 351 tandem drive. 281 single drive Wide-front butterfly hood - 117 aluminum and 123" BBC lengths. Set-forward and set-back with flat fenders. 353 tandem drive. 253 single drive. After around '77 they dropped the tandem/single drive model numbers and everything became the wide-front's model number.

Nice bedbugger.

Nice work

Coming along nicely.

A wonderful build! Tim

That's a nice color scheme choice. Tim

Looks good. Nice updating with the door handles and batterybox/air tanks. Tim

Nice job on the fenders. Tim

Looks good so far! Tim

Looking good. The air cleaner pipe to the air cleaner canister was always a unique piece depending on which air cleaner was installed. If it fits, it works! Tim

http://www.timstrucks.com/PB3.html

I hate to say it, but the crash gave us all another view of your excellent detail work ! You turned what could have been a disaster into just another phase in the the life of a truck. Tim

Nice work.

That's typical of this kit - a sharp Xacto blade and some careful trimming and a swipe with some sandpaper will remove that flash. Be careful not to remove the rivets along the hood panel seam. The fender mounting slots - you don't have to clean those out, you can reduce the size of the mounding peg on the fender as the peg/slot shouldn't be visible in the finished build. Tim

All of the AMT, Revell, Monogram 359 kits have an odd mold parting seam at the apex of the arch on the hood sides (this appears on the Monogram Kenworth W900 too). On the Revell of Germany 359's, the hood may appear to have a squared appearance to the arch between the hood top and sides. The arch should be smooth and free of lines or hard edges. There is also an annoying mold parting seam on the cab cowl that follows the contour of the cab. Tim

The Dodge is cast by Dave at www.aitruckmodels.com - sleeper and non-sleeper versions. The Big Horn stylists had planned a restyle to the COE - but Dodge killed the concept and soon got out of the Class 8 truck business. I seem to recall that the stylist/engineer who did the Big Horn had his hands on the Diamond Reo Raider too? Tim

Yes! exactly what Casey said !! Tim

Technically - the the entire Peterbilt portion of the kit with the exception of the frame rails and rear drive suspension is incorrect. The model kit is a 1980-81 model 359, the CanDo is a 1987-93 model 379. In 1986, Peterbilt replaced the 359 with the 379 which had all new hood, grille, bumper, lamps, fenders, cab, visor, cab mounts, battery box, radiator, air cleaner intake routing, cooling, steering geometry and gear, interior, sleeper interior, (exterior of sleeper doesn't had a right hand side door). The only items cosmetically shared between a 359 and a 379 are the cab doors and mirrors, the sleeper roof, left side skin and rear wall of the sleeper. Everything else was changed. The model kit could be as much as 10 years out of date when compared to the real truck. Revell could have tooled a new cab shell, interior pieces, visor, clear glass and hood, air cleaners and piping and "cheated" on the rest and would have better captured the look of the Stepp's truck. <sigh>. With all that said.. the kit concept and wrecker is fantastic, and with the right kitbashing and reworking, a perfect CanDo can be built. On a different note, looking at Claus' detail photos of the real 379 - the firewall appears to be a dark color - this tells me the truck was originally a different color, and not white. Hmmmmmm. Curiousity piqued! Tim

The real CanDo is a 379-119 (119 inch bumper-to-back of cab measurement). The Bill Drennen 379 is a 379-127 (127 inch bumper to back of cab) long hood. The truck could be replicated easier by combining the Revell Can Do with an Italeri Peterbilt 378 "long hauler" kit. The 378 hood will need to be modified slightly to resemble the 379-119 hood. Plenty of kit bashing and modifying between the Italeri/Revell and Revell snap kit (for the Cat engine) and you could have a pretty nice Can-Do. Tim