mackinac359

Jason Welcome Tim

Here's number 5 for '07. Started in January of '06 as part of a Trucker's Corner column in ModelCars talking about Tamiya masking tape. There is absolutely NO bleed under with this tape. I used Duplicolor paint. Too bad my stripes aren't straight. hmmmph. This is a '73 Peterbilt 352 Pacemaker based on the brochure truck. Colors are Duplicolor dark brown metallic and wimbelton white. The springs are Krylon Orange, the axles are Krylon Old Equipment yellow. The accent stripe is from Microscale. I kitbashed the Cummins engine and air conditioner from a reissue Pete 359. The mufflers are from an old AMT T500 359 kit. The standpipes are polished aluminum. I used Bare Metal Foil "chrome" on the sleeper vents, battery box, fuel tanks, marker light surround, mudflap hangers, exhaust elbows (from a KW K123 kit) and the sun visor. More pics are up on my site at www.timstrucks.com then click on recent builds. Thanks for looking! Tim

Cool find! The original MPC and Ertl issues were molded in white. Was and always will be a great kit. The only problem is the axle-track is too wide. I remove 1/4 inch from the axle on each side to bring the tires in. Otherwise you're looking at about 9 feet in width. The DM600 and DM800 suffer from this too. Simple fixes. Tim

Both are nice books but don't have close-up reference photos. Any truck book is good! Tim

Mike Yep! The Denton factory for Peterbilt will be featured on MegaFactories on the National Geographic channel. 10PM eastern, 9 central the listing shows. You know what I will be watching! One of the few TV shows I can watch and say "I was there!" Tim

Cool !

Jim That's me in 1973 hanging off a brand-new Peterbilt 346. Here are several 346's. Only 10 of these were built from '73-76 And some models of 346's that I have built: Here I am infront of a 346.. 30 years apart from my avatar photo! The 346 was built for mixer and big dump truck use. The idea for the dumpers was a coal mine type, possibly a 6x4 instead of 6x6 set-up. There were also plans for 4x4 snowplow configurations that never were built. More Peterbilt photos at: http://tahlborn.web.aplus.net/PB.htm Tim

Chris Thanks! Tim

John Thanks! I bought several of the Plaskit grilles a few years back. They are quite nice. Tim

I say "Build-a-thon" because I am building/finishing trucks that I started and painted upwards of 3 years ago. I painted this back on March 23rd 2006 and put it back in the box. Until this week. It only needed assembly. I bought this Ford as a partially built truck from Tony Buck when he was thinning his collection. I reworked a few things to make a short-drum transit mixer. My inspiration came from the late Phil Jensen's Ford LNT-8000 Mixer. I swapped the kit grille for a chromed resin grille from Plaskit Resin from Quebec. The view below compares the Ford LNT8000 with a Peterbilt 357 6x6 with the kit-stock size drum. The view below compares the stock AMT Ford LNT-8000 with the mixer. The Plaskit resin update grille sure makes the model look better! The door signs are from the original AMT Peterbilt California Hauler kit#t500-500. The Later issue T500 had brown GS Carter Road Gravel doorsigns. Thanks for looking! Tim

I think the easiest way with this kit is to grind out a small portion of the springs to bring the axles up slightly. You might have to add some additional plastic or brass to the hidden side of the springs to keep them rigid. Most model kits sit a bit too high in my opinion and could use a tad bit of lowering. A 'low rider' type would need slightly more lowering. Tim

Nice! Tim

Weirich1 I'm curious as to how you knew to misspell my user name as "Mackinaw359"? Mackinac is the spelling, and Mackinaw is the pronounciation. Geography lesson: Mackinac is the county Mackinac is the bridge over the Straits of Mackinac (lake Huron and Michigan Mackinac Island Mackinaw City and all Mackinaw's with a W are in lower michigan. Mackinac's with a C are in the Upper Peninsula (although people misspell it all the time). Tim (oh, the spelling difference is a British vs French spelling of an old Ojibwa tribe (Chippewa) word.

Dave Thanks! The color is from the craft section at WalMart. Delta Ceramcoat acrylic paint. The color is "Wedgewood green." It looks pretty close to Mack green to my eye. Tim

Growing up in Madison, Wisconsin in the 70s I always saw Neuendorf Transportation trucks. A few years ago I built a Mack R600 in Neuendorf livery and now have built a COE to match. This is my version of a 1960 (61?) Mack G COE. The cab started as an AMT Kenworth K123 and sliced and cut and sliced to make the Mack. I started this Mack in '06 (might have been '05..) and have occasionally tinkered with it, and finally finishing early this morning. Thanks for looking! Tim

Dave COOL! Having the original specs is always great for modeling. Tim

RNK didn't go 'out of business,' instead closed shop while reorganizing after a move to a new city. The company will return as IMD sometime this summer according to owner Rick Mark. Tim

The kit: Basic Revell Peterbilt 359. It includes a section of frame rail with Air Leaf/Trac suspension. The builder has to cut the frame rail and splice in the section for the third axle. I suspect the author of the review wanted a kit with a longer frame rail rather than the splice. The kit also includes a set of "pit fenders" which are not the right shape for a factory built set-up. The Peterbilt 359 is a tilt hood and did not come with pit fenders. Pit fenders (shaped differently for a Peterbilt) were used on the 353 not the 359 and were on a butterfly hood (steel). With that being said.. if you slightly recontour the fenders and rework the hood you can make a decent 353 out of the kit. AND.. who is to say the the owner of a truck didn't remove the round fenders on a 359 and put some pit fenders on a 359 hood.. anything goes on a truck once it leaves the factory. I say.. buy it. You can build it as a 359 tandem drive or a tri-drive. Make a new non-driven axle and the new axle could be a pusher.. all sorts of possibilities. Tim

Does anyone know who/where the trucks (wheels) could be purchased in G (Garden) scale? A Peterbilt railer would be most interesting ! Tim

Answers: Thanks for all the great comments ! The Mo'Luminum wheels are resin items that Jamie casts on a very-very limited basis. Tim

Here's the model that didn't want to be built. I started it in August of '06 intending to finish it. I became frustrated and put it back in the box. I brought it back out last week. I should have kept it in the box. This thing fought me every step of the way. Fit problems, paint problems, poor planning problems, I even had the left windshield glass pop-out (how??) after I had installed the sleeper and the roof. Reinstalling the glass was a real treat. The thing even has blood on it. Darned Xacto-knife-into-center-of-the-thumb. I combined parts from a bunch of partial kits I had, including: Revell Peterbilt 377, Revell snap Pete 359, Ertl Paystar, Revell Can-Do wrecker, Revell Alaska 353 and lots of scratchbuilding and resin. Here is Beast. I'm glad this one is done! 2005 Peterbilt 378 SBFA Tandem Steer Canadian Picker This thing challenged me.. I had to finish it. Thanks to Jamie Rahmoler for the excellent wheels and front tires. Check out the inspiration photos from Stahl Peterbilt www.stahlpeterbilt.com Thanks for looking! Tim www.timstrucks.com

Here's the 1st for 2007. I started it back in August. The above photo shows the truck with the frame assembled The finished truck, an '07 357 HeavyHaul with Ultracab roof, 70" sleeper and tridrive. The fuel tanks are CPVC waterpipe wrapped in Mylar chrome with scratchbuilt steps. The 357 started as a Revell of Germany 377 kit. I reworked the hood for the Vocational Hood/HeavyHaul. The frame was stretched and a 3rd axle was added. Number two for the year is on the bench now.. Thanks for looking! Tim www.timstrucks.com

Craig Great ! Be sure to post photos and send photos to me for the website. Tim

Dave is right, the Revell of German Peterbilt kits are not the Cummins NTC 350. Tim

The Italeri kits by far. Sure the cab comes in 5 pieces, but the detail and fit of everything is superior to the others. Keep in mind that the Italeri (and the Revell of Germany Peterbilt 377) were tooled using tremendously more modern techniques (1996) than the AMT (1975) tooled Peterbilt 359, or the Revell (formerly USA) of Germany Peterbilt 359(1981). The AMT/Ertl Peterbilt is using a 37 year old tooling. The Revell of Germany 359 kits are 24 years old and the Italeri tooling is 10 years old. The Revell tooling needs clean up on the several of the sprues. I'd like to see Italeri release a modern (2005-2006) Peterbilt, a 379-127 or maybe a 386. A Kenworth W900L or T660 would be nice too. Tim