mackinac359

I've been working to get these two finished before they go with me to the open house at Peterbilt in October. First up: A model 389 heavy hauler The inspiration: Next is the aero tractor from the Fox Valley of Wisconsin, a 2010 386. The inspiration: Many more pics and the build info is on the Workbench page of my site www.timstrucks.com Thanks for looking! Tim

A COE wrecker would be cool. Tim

That Aeromax is a beauty !! Tim

Dave, According to the build sheet, the lift axles are not steer axles. Tim

Nice DR Tim

Jeff, The model companies are very reluctant to change or modify anything on the toolings. I'm sure it's a return on investment thing. On the humongous hubs, I grind off the end and cover it with a craft-store-find button cover. This also means the inner wheel hub has to be cut down and the axle cut also. Tim

You're not being picky at all. Italeri did several weird things on the firewall.. you'll note that the cover for the wiper motor is on the wrong side. The 2 access ports for wiring are on the wrong side.. it is as if they were making a mirror image of the firewall. The cab in the photo from my site is a newer cab - the washer fluid tank is no longer mounted on the firewall. Tim

I'll bet I still have the pics someplace.. Tim

Nice combination. Tim

I started this in '06, modifying the hood and sleeper. I decided to work on it again in July. The inspiration: Built in the old Madison, Tennessee factory and sold to a customer in Ohio steel hauling. My version: The Italeri Peterbilt 378 is the base kit, the sleeper was sourced from the Italeri 377. I modified the hood to look like a 379-119. The cab roof is resin from P&P resin. I cut the 63" sleeper down to a 48" size. Below you can see my famous "Clatterpillar" engine (A Detroit painted Cat yellow). A clipboard is on the dash, along with a clipboard and pencil on the seat. Maps and books are in the cab too. The red pin stripes are LineOTape. The yellow accents are from a Kit Form Services pin stripe sheet. Some of the red accents are from a Revell CanDo decal sheet. More pics and build info is on the "workbench" page on my site. Thanks for looking! Tim

I scratchbuilt this 320 a couple of years ago. My cab is out of proportion - too tall. It wasn't too difficult to build - if I had measurements instead of eyeballing photos I could have gotten the shape better. I haven't seen a 320 in resin. Tim

Nice work ! Tim

Now that's a coach! Tim

Wow! Really nice. Tim

Nice work on the Dodge. Very typical of what the truck was meant for. The WalMart editions of the kit were molded in a funky gray color. Tim

Nice color scheme. Tim

This is gonna look cool! Tim

Nice KW! Tim

Not all were white. The majority were white. Looking at the 70's price book I can't find anyplace where there was a published option to have the engine in engine-builder color rather than white. None of the 'old timers' can recall any rhyme or reason for non-white engine installs until the early 80's. This will always be one of the great mysteries ! White Engine Tim

Cool ! Tim

Ertl included this paint scheme sheet with their 1st kit - the International Transtar c/o4070A. Tim

Kostas, Slow but sure progress.. I like your headache rack. Tim

Something else I thought of when installing the interior, make sure the sleeper curtain (either optional full curtain or open curtains) clear the sleeper bunk and the back of the seat or you will have trouble installing the interior tub. The tracking rods on the suspension also needed to be trimmed in length to fit. I'm not sure if I did something wrong or not when I assembled the rear suspension, but the rods were too long. Tim

Bryan The fuel tanks and bumper are painted with Duplicolor high-heat engine paint "Silver." "1200 degree" The grab handles are "Killer Chrome" from Alsa. Tim

I'm building a Titan/90 - GMC Astro/95 right now. The Inspiration - a 1976 Astro/95. Mine is close to out-of-the-box, but I've stretched the chassis using chassis parts from a junker kit. I've assembled the entire frame, minus the engine, radiator, fuel tanks and wheels. My chassis is white. The engine should be GM Alpine Green, but my can has gone bad, so I used a light green. Here's the cab on the chassis. Note that all the components such as shock absorbers, springs, etc are all one color. From the factory, most trucks have the frames assembled and painted. If you see shocks and springs a separate color, this usually means the parts have been replaced or the owner decided to paint them. Frames/chassis do not have to be black. Black is common, but most brands, including Chevy/GMC offered colored frames. Even the black was not flat black, more of a low-gloss. The transmission should be black or rust red. The radiator black. The fuel tanks can be painted to match the cab, or the frame, or left dull aluminum or polished aluminum. Wheels can be any color you want. I removed the chrome as the chrome looks toy-like on spoke-type wheels. Some things to watch for while building this kit: There are some mold-injection marks on engine piping and parts that need to be removed so the parts fit better. If you opt for the single exhaust, be sure to mount the crossover pipe when building the frame. If you wait until you've assembled the frame and mounted the battery boxes and air cleaner, you will never get the pipe to clear the frame. The mounts for the round fuel tanks don't fit snug against the chassis and need to be carefully positioned so that the tanks are level. The kit comes with parts for the "cheaper" or older version with low-mount round turn signals, fleet-style roof lights, small air horns, a roof air deflector, single exhaust/air cleaner options. For the roof lights and horns - don't open the holes in the roof until you have decided what type of horns you want to use. Tim