mackinac359

Here's a truck that I photographed at the Peterbilt factory in September of 2005. I knew as soon as I saw the truck that I wanted to build it. The build sheet said it was destined for a Canadian customer as a dump truck. That is me standing next to it.. the inset is the finished model. I started with an Italeri Peterbilt 378 kit. The hood was reworked to make a 379-119 short hood. To do this, cut the top of the hood off, remove about 2 scale inches from the rear of the hood to remove some of the slope, reattach the top, add a panel seam, lower the cab mounts and presto-379-119. The frame was cut at the rear and the wheelbase shortened. The big front tires and Alcoa wheels are from www.kitformservices.com. Note the "Detroitopillar" engine Here's the finished truck The kit fuel tanks were too large so I used the smaller tanks from an AMT Peterbilt 352. I covered the fuel tanks with Bare Metal Foil. I painted them to match the chassis first so that the mounting brackets would be yellow and all I would have to do was cut the BMF around the brackets. This is Part One as my plan is to finish it as it was photographed by Hank Suderman and featured on his website www.hankstruckpictures.com on the Lunchtime at the Overpass. To accomplish this I had to assemble the 379 knowing that I would be replacing the visor, exhaust and headlamps. I attached those items with double sided tape. Once I snapped a bunch of "factory fresh" type photos, I removed the parts. Lots more work to go. Thanks for looking. Additional photos can be found on the Recent Builds page of my site www.timstrucks.com Tim

Scott Very cool ! Tim

Looks good so far. Keep us posted on the progress and anything you run into that might help in building it. Tim

Jason Nice trucks! Tim

Just wonderful ! Tim

BEAUTIFUL! With the backdrop and the weathering.. ! Tim

The blue looks nice. Is that Alclad on the grille surround ? Tim

Those are beautiful ! Tim

This will be great! What are you using for the rivets? They appear to be metal. Tim

Ooooo! That is nice! Tim

Beautiful ! Tim

Good lord! That thing will be huge ! Tim

After seven years of hosting the website (formerly known as PlasticCowboy), I have run out of time to work on it. Some months I found myself choosing between working on a model truck or downloading/editing and building a webpage. My free time has dwindled considerably in the last 2 years. I couldn't let the website just sit idle and rot away to nothing. Starting 8/12/07 I will be passing the torch to Dan Poulin. Dan's new version of the website looks great, and I think everyone will enjoy it. I'd like to thank everyone who sent in photos over the last 7 years. Good golly, I have seen tons of them! I won't be going away, now I'll have workbench time again and will continue with TruckersCorner as long as Gregg wants and of course my personal website Tims Trucks.com will continue to feature my latest builds and real Peterbilt truck photos. Tim Truckmodeler.com

Lindberg/Hawk has just released the old IMC Dodge L700 with the "Big Rig" flat bed trailer. The trailer is very generic and basic, but makes a nice platform to convert into an outside frame flatbed or some short doubles. Tim

Thanks Albert! Tim

Jim I have no idea what gauge wire I used, I got the wire from a box of computer "guts" that a computer tech gave me. Tim

I'll chime in.. the Ford brochures I have show manual transmissions, I have never seen the automatic set-up in person like the AMT kit has. I have the L-Series brochures from 1970, 75 and 80. Tim

Hospital ? Everything okay ? Tim

Chris The Pete is coming along nicely ! Tim

Italeri totally screwed this kit up. The new box shows a Western Star Constellation with the old Bro wrecker body. Not a Peterbilt. Not a correct wrecker body. Hmmmph! No purchase of these by me! Way to go Italeri, show one truck and deliver something way off. Tim PS: Thanks to the guys at the Dutch Model Truck Club for the information.

THAT one is a 377. And a snazzy one at that! Italeri would need a battery box cover, fuel tank and step, daycab panel, bumper, air cleaners, lights, etc. Tim

I hope they really mess up and make it the 378 instead of the 377. BUT.. my prediction is that the LAFD recovery truck will be the good 'ol 377 kit with some extra parts added to "freshen" it including a battery box cover, smaller fuel tank with step, bumper with molded in lights, a rear daycab wall and the wrecker parts, and of course LAFD logos. We shall see ! To be proper, the kit would have to be updated to a 385 with the more pronounced sloped hood, new grille and bumper. Tim

Going for the sinister look I see! Tim

The grille is the kit grille. The original T500 kit had the 2 bar grille (used 1967-1969). I only added the panel seam between the top crown and the side piece, and sanded the sides to eliminate the molded in distortion to the sides. I then covered the crown/sides with Bare Metal Foil. Tim

Looks good! I like the load. Tim