Semi Trailer Mechanic

What's goin' on... "######" I'm impressed.

What's goin' on... Here's an AMT transmission I've modified as a 13 speed fuller. On this I sctatchbuilt the air lines,slave cylinder,regulator/filter,vent,bell housing bolts,vent,and top cover/bolts and a PTO. Also on the bottom of the bell housing I cut a hole that represents the access hole to adjust the clutch and grease the throw out bearing. This is going to be used on a 359 Peterbilt that I'd built a few years back that recently sustained minor damaged when I moved. These pics are distorted that blurs the detail. Later on I'll retake pics. http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex...32604598&f= Here's an old picture of the 359 Pete being rebuilt. http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?...&p=66655042 Thanks for looking !!!

What's goin' on... WELL DONE!!!

What's goin' on... I've used dept. store red oxcide primer in the past. Most of the time I'll use "rust" color paint Testors, Model Master, ect... As for new most of the time they're black. Unless the companies' color for their trucks chassis' are different then black. The tranny might end up getting painted that same color as well. Go to Tim's site and look at some of the pictures he's taken at the Pete factory. That might answer your question. I'm sure there are some pictures of chassis' on the line where the trans is in view. Good Luck!

What's goin' on... Jim (I answered this in the MTDG forum but ya might see this first) transmissions are black,semi gloss black,gun metal,red oxide. Here's the color I prefer http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?...&p=74695245

What's goin' on... Following up on what the others had to say there are a few misc. conversion kits out there. I got one from Griffen Designs. ( Not sure if STS has them or if you get them from GriffenDesigns? I was passing thru Bobby's neck of the woods "literally neck of the woods!" LOL" stopped by said hello and picked up the Areo cab W900L ) Also Plaskit has several KW conversions. I cut the cab down and made it a signle bunk W900 painted it and then lost interst in it! Here's how it looks... http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?...&p=75605476

What's goin' on... Wasn't that the AMT T500 359 little window Peterbilt?

What's goin' on... I like that kit alot. It's a well detailed model. Since you haven't built any semis lately I'd say tinker around w/ the Revell snap tite 359 kit. Don't be fooled thinking it's a cheap snap tite. This has the 3406 cat rectangular headlights (unlike the AMT 359) and the bunk is still used todate according to Tim.

What's goin' on... A few years ago I built a GMC Astro w/ a scratchbuilt drom. I used the GMC General chassis,engine,driveline,and suspension and it worked well.

What's goin' on... ***WARNING*** This may take a while to read go get ya a cup of coffee or a soda pop. so being the curtious fello I am (HA HAAAA) I broke this post into paraghaphs so ya don't go crosseyed. (Or maybe that's just me) Funny you bring this topic to the table. I just made several decals for various prjects. Bare Metal Foil makes decal paper for both ink and laser jet printers. The paper is availiable in white or clear. I reccomend using the clear unless you have an ALPS printer that'll print white. Try taking Gold Bare Metal Foil and carefully make your logo on a sheet of printing paper. The letters can be large if that's what it takes to get them accurate. When your done for example the logo may be 3 inches tall by 4 inches wide. No bigdeal. Scan that to your compouter. Go to WORD bring up a blank file. Click "INSERT" then picture and choose the file which contains your logo. That'll open up and it will be outlined w/ circles at all points around the logo. Click one of the corners and drag it diagnally so you reduce the size of the image. BEFORE you print it on your decal paper print it on standard paper. I like to reduce the clearity of the printer and print it in gray ink for the trial and errror process so it doesn't waste ink. Go ahead and print your logo then have your model right there w/ ya. Compare the size of your logo to the door of your truck (model) IF it's too small then go back to you WORD file and then click the logo so again it's highlighted. Click on one of those circles around the logo and drag it so it enlarges the logo and repaet the above mentioned process untill it's the right size. Now reset the printers config to the high resolution color and print it this time so you see it's full potential. Now you got your logo PERFECT click and save the image as is. Now how many logos do you want? I like to have 7-10 logos made up in case I screw 1 or 2 up. Now reset your margin on your printer so when you print the logos are near the edges of your decal paper so you don't waste space on your decal sheet. Say you want 10. Go back to your WORD file bring up your logo which you saved as a file. Just click the logo and hit copy (CTRL C keys at once) then paste (CTRL V keys) and repeat how as many times as you want copies of the logo. My printer is a HP Officejet 6210 (ALL IN ONE) that prints photographs. When I set it to print I set the config to print "high gloss photopaper and it looks GOOD! Something I almost forgot to mention. For the logo on the truck. IF there's not white in that use the clear Bare Metal Foil. Now you printed them I let the ink dry no less than 10 hours. As a matter of fact I printed some off last night that I'm still letting them dry. Once you do this use clear coat the decals. Depending on how you want them to look depends on the gloss,semi gloss, or flat. If you're gonna weather the truck I'd say spray it w/ flat clear coat. If you haven't done this before it might not turn out right the first time. If you want to make other logos for other projects do some looking around the internet. Making decals is something I do when I get the builders block virus. Here's a few ideas I use go to one of those photo websites and do a search for trucking company logos or something like that. I've found several images/logos either others made or I cropped from the picture and saved. If you're looking to make money off this make ###### sure you don't ###### in your backyard so to say. The fella that owns and operates KFS model truck accessories got a 10+ page nasty gram from Catapillers leagle department about selling CAT decals he made. Say ya wanna go that route you can rub the letters directly to your trailer or transfer them to the clear decal paper scan that to your computer and repaet the above process. This link is a WIP picture of a project I used dry transfer letters on. The unit numbers 762, company name on the flaps and the door are all dry transfer letters. http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?...6832564&f=0 No pun intended but using dry transfer letters is pretty much a cut and dry process. Good Luck

What's goin' on... Jim Looks good so far. What would really look good is if you'd put BUDD rims on it and paint the roof of the box Model Master Aluminum Metallizer.

What's goin' on... Craig Have you considered making your own decals? Companies like Bare Metal Foil,Testors,and Vitacal to name a few make decal paper. You can get it for inkjet or laser and it comes either clear or white. If you do try it make sure you spray the decal w/ clear coat before using it. I like to use Windows WORD to make them. Obviously there's several fonts in all sizes to creat the text from. For a picture you can use clip art from you computer or you can do a search on the net for clip art or go to www.microsoftoffice.com. If nothing pans out for you there download an image to your system and then when you're in word click on insert image and then choose from your system. From there you can adjust the size include the text and you got yourself a potential decal. Always print your decal on paper prior to printing on the decal paper.

What's goin' on... Dan Thanks for the reply! I was looking to avoid cutting off the bunk and making a rear cab panel. I did just that on another Pete project. Here's a picture of the R/G 359 w/ the rear cab panel from an AMT 359 cab. http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?...&p=74557123

What's goin' on... Has anyone tried to use the AMT359 cab w/ the Revell (snap tite)359 hood/chassis? I'd like to build the Revell 359 as a day cab w/out the headache of modifing the Revell cab.

What's goin' on... Absolutly. A U-model Mack has been on my to-build list for a while. My plan is to use the DM600 cab assy and the R model chassis.

What's goin' on... I started this project nearly over a year ago that got put into storeage when I moved back in w/ my girlfriend. This weekend I was at the storeage unit and I decided to bring this home to finish. This is the Revell 359 snap tite kit built far from box stock. The tires,suspension,and marker light lens' are from the AMT 359 kit. The headache rack is from one of the R/G Pete kits. Diamond plate is from several R/G kits. The mud flaps are Evergreen Scale .015 sheet styrene. The decals I made using BMF decal paper. Company placards (on the battery box/storeage box) are of a fictitious trucking company. The girl on the mud flaps I found on the internet and modified to size I have no clue who the artist is. Inside the cab I used Plastruct styrene sheet tiles for the upholstry. The seats were flocked. Thanks for lookin'

What's goin' on... Chris This Ford is beginning to look like a truck you'd seen on an oil field.

What's goin' on... Chris. That flatbed looks good so far. For an old school trailer look try using the dolly legs found in the AMT tanker kits w/ the large casters instead of the sand shoes you'd typically find on dolly legs. I remember vividly when you built the lowboy,377,paystar, 289,and the bottom dump plus a couple more if I'm not mistaken. That was interesting how you were going for a excavating company look. Crane parts would be a good load. OR you could scratch build a bucket for a trac-hoe excavator. It's common to see lowboy's and/or a flat bed to only have an excavator bucket loaded taking it to a jobsite where an existing trac hoe's already working needing a different bucket for a larger/smaller trench being dug or for demo purposes. What length bottom dump trailer are you planing on building this time?

What's goin' on... That looks good! I read in an article that a sewing pin needle w/ one of those plastic round ends makes for a good transmission shifter.

What's goin' on... That looks good as a day cab! Good job!

What's goin' on... See who sayes ya gotta spend 300+ dollars on the R/G W900 kit to get a dump truck and a transfer tag along dump trailer.

What's goin' on... Dave Here's a project I built a few years ago. I've been meaning to build a tandem axle jeep for this as well as make some diamond plate fenders for the gooseneck. Where to start.... At the time I built this Load King's web site had PDF file drawings of their line of trailers w/ measurements. What I did was adjusted the the file size (percentage) so as an example if a component on the trailer showed 50 inches I adjusted the image so it would be the same as 50mm on a ruler. At first I didn't think it would work but it worked out. http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex...30887151&f=

What's goin' on... Gary Looks like you're off to a good start. Is this one the reissue or an original kit? I picked up two of the reissues. Man it seemed like you'd see one of original kits show up on ebay once in a great while. Then when the auction ended it was always between 200 and 300 dollars.

What's goin' on... Jason Those builds look good!

What's goin' on... Chris This one was based on a trailer I worked on while working for Swift Transportation. Instead of it being a spread axle I made it a tri axle. I stayed after work took notes and measurements for this project. Unfortunitly I don't have those any more. Here's the album. http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex...1605346&f=0