mackinac359

The most recent-year KW is the Revell of Germany T600 or the AMT T600. Both dating to the early 90s. I would like to see a modern W900L or T800, PB 389, 386 or 367, A Mack Granite, International, etc... A model of a T2000 or 387 would be nice but as with the Volvo VN670 a very limited build kit. Tim

Very nice ! Tim

Dave The last 359 was built in January 1987, any of the '00 or '05 listings are incorrect and are usually mislabeled 379s. Tim

The Revell of Germany 359 kits have dual air cleaners. The Revell/Monogram snap-kit has a single painted air cleaner. Tim

Dave The truck left the factory white, no visor, painted rear 2 hole steel wheels, no LH fuel tank step, no horn snow-cap, white mud flaps, black exhaust elbow and stand pipe, painted Luberfiner and steering reservoir and no deck plating. The truck was restored to the original build sheet specs with the exception of the painted headlight shells and the later-year style chassis warning decals at the rear of the frame. Tim

My last 2 models were of Old Number One, the 1st truck the Denton, TX Peterbilt factory built in 1980 then bought back and restored 20 years later. My latest is the same truck, chassis #200000 but as looked before being bought back and restored. The frame: I weathered the frame using photos of the original truck as reference. The body: The real truck was in fairly straight condition with only the stepboard skirt panel (behind the fender) being bent. The paint was chipped and worn, with the blue being chipped on the hood and cab cowl. The finished truck: I swapped the aircleaner from a Revell snap 359, the air cleaner cap from a Revell of Germany 359. The front wheels and tires are from the snap kit also. I grafted the outer rim onto the AMT wheel. The tire was glued to the rim (blasted poorly fitting tires ) The Earle M. Jorgensen logos were hand drawn and text added on the computer, then printed on Bare Metal Foil inkjet decal paper. More photos are on my website under Recent Builds Thanks for looking. Tim

Kurt That dump body is going to look sweet on the Pete ! Tim

Shooner The AMT Watkins kit (Fruehauf reefer) is being pulled by a 1970-71 Kenworth W925. There was a matching kit to the box-art tractor. Tim

That's some high class sh#$ ! LOL

Always nice to see a Diamond Reo in any form.. wrecker, tractor, etc. Nice Tim

Lee These look really good. Tim

That looks great! The blue sky really makes the color of the model and the chrome pop! Nice work on the wrecker boom/body. Tim

Don't even ask how much I've spent on Italeri 378 kits ! If they ever reissue that kit I'll be able to buy a case of them for what I have in 2 kits. Tim

Here's a twist to this thread.. kitbashing the 359 kits. All three 359 kits, the AMT, Revell-Monogram and Revell Germany are great for kitbashing each other. The snap-kit can be used to update an AMT 359, and the older AMT parts used to back-date a Revell of Germany 359. Example: Say you want '76 359 with opening doors, take the dash from the AMT 359 and swap it into the Revell of Germany 359. Want a smaller sleeper for your Revell of Germany 80's 359? Cut off the bunk from the snap-kit 359, make a new floor and front wall and graft it to your longer wheelbase Revell of Germany kit. The snap-kit fenders are almost direct fit to update the AMT 359 for the right fender shape. These two 359's are on the AMT 359 chassis with the fenders and air cleaner from the snap-kit and the air cleaner cap from the Revell of Germany 359. The combinations are nearly endless. Tim

That would be an eye catcher on the highway ! Tim

KW was "all over the board" with the PACCAR white or engine-builder color engines. I've seen both.. but looking at the photo on my site it does look tan. Tim

KW's from that time would have the engine painted PACCAR white. The real Movin'On KW had a Cummins 903 in it. (at least one of the trucks did) Tim

In the mid 70's a typical Peterbilt 352 cabover was between $28,000 and $35,000. A 2008 389 with 63" sleeper will run around $120,000 in bare form. The most expensive factory Peterbilts are the highly spec'd construction trucks with heavy frames, suspensions, extra steerable axles and big powerplants. Go to www.truckpaper.com and look at the new truck listings for Peterbilt and you'll get an idea of the dealer asking prices. Tim

Which Revell 359, the Revell/Monogram 1/25th scale 359 with the small sleeper and non opening doors or the 359 with 63" large sleeper, dual air cleaners and opening cab doors? The small sleeper 359 is a nice kit, but the Revell (Germany) 359 with the 63" sleeper, dual air cleaners and opening cab doors is much better. There are issues with the early versions of the kit having bad chrome (runny, thin, flaked off easily). The later versions have more flash and need some careful removal of parts from the sprue/trees. Tim

The split-rims were the older Alcoa and other make rims. This 359 has Frontrunner style wheels (not sure if they are Alcoa's or not) This Transtar CO4070 has the older split-rim style aluminum wheels. These look like what AMT put in all their kits. The 5-holes (like the ones in the AMT Autocar A64B kit) are Alcoa Aluminum. Tim

Lets pinpoint things a little more.. in Tim style... AMT T500 - '68-69 as it has the fender DOT corner lights/reflectors and the 2 bar grille (gone by '69). (add a 3 bar grille and you're looking at a '69-72) AMT T501 (and the reissues along with T533 and wrecker reissues) - 1975-1978. The style of cab (1100 series) came out in November of '72 but had a smaller rear window. For '75 the back window was made 36" wide. The AMT kit has this window size. The kit has the original flat dash which was replaced for '78 with the Dash of Class. The sleeper has square doors, this means it is no newer than a '78 bunk as the '79+ had a newer rounded bulkhead style door. The Revell of Germany (formerly Revell of Los Angeles) 359 could be a 1978-87 going by the rectangular headlamps (first displayed in October of '87 on the 1st 359 with a 63" sleeper). The Revell kit has the Dash of Class which puts it at no older than '78. The copyright on the kit is 1981. Rectangular headlamps didn't become a regular option until 1979. They were always an upgrade option. The Revell/Monogram 359 snap kit has the rounded door 36" sleeper and Dash of Class. This means it is no older than a '79. The Alcoa wheels in question.. Frontrunners (like the Revell of Germany and Monogram kit have) first came out in 1970, the split rim style seen on the AMT kits were available well into the late 70s. Tim

Kurt Boy this sure is looking nice ! Tim

My first and second attempts at the new headlight modules are abysmal failures. I've finally got the shape figured out but the lense detail will be next to impossible at this point. Tim

Found it! The photos are on my old Peterbilt photo page at this address: old website on Angelfire. Scroll down the page and there is a brown 359 with dual air cleaners with the preheated air setup. Beware, Angelfire is full of popups, a big reason I moved to my current server www.timstrucks.com The paint job on the '79 brochure truck (the truck in the photo is probably a '78 as most of the '79 builds had newer all Peterbilt single round-bulkhead door sleeper like the Revell/Monogram 359 kit) Tim

The set up was starting to become common on trucks spec'd for cold climates. I have photos of several 359's with similar set ups but can't locate the photos. I thought I had them on my site someplace.. Tim