Semi Trailer Mechanic

What's goin' on... Chris Sure anytime. If you need any info related to trailers let me know. I'm not saying I know everything but working as a trailer mechanic for the last 15+ years it's kinda hard not to learn something here and there about 'em! I agree w/ your building abilities and that computer driven mill you can do some serious work. Alot easier than drawing the pieces on styrene sheet w/ a pencil then cutting it out w/ an exacto razor knife. Alot faster too!!! Having that you could cut enough pieces each time to make several kits!!!

What's goin' on... Looks Good! This will be a good looking contemperary OTR truck!

What's goin' on... Chris Great job on the Pete! The chassis for you flat bed is inaccuarte. You need to have two main peirs (beams) w/ the crossmembers. W/out those beams the flat bed would split in half. On a van trailer the under carriage is like this because the sides and the roof support the floor under load. Older van trailers would split in half if over loaded because the sides weren't renforced strong enough. I've worked w/ older mechanics in the past that back in the day they've had to rebuild van trailers because of that. As a matter of fact. There is a picture of an old semi (dated in the early 60's?) where that happened on www.Hankstruckpictures.com I'm not trying to be overly critical just explaining the the construction. To give ya an idea. Here are a few pictitures of a flatbed I scratchbuilt based on a Wabash. Here are the peirs (beams) I'm refering to. Note the crossmembers in the center. Instead of drilling out holes in the shape of the crossmember in the beams so the members can be installed thru like on a 1:1 I sectioned the crossmembers avoiding that butting them togather. http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?...&p=70800676 Here is the rest of the crossmembers are assembled including the side rails. http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?...0881305&f=0

What's goin' on... Uwe Can you post some reference on your tire rack? I need to build one for my W900. The background you choose to photograph your Peterbilt looks ###### good! Now all you need is a container chassis hooked to it! WELL DONE

What's goin' on... I wanna say Silver State Specialists make this resin conversion as well. (358) As soon as Tim reads this thread I bet he'd know.

What's goin' on... This company was out of Canon City,Colorado. I've found very little info regarding this company.

What's goin' on... Good Job!

What's goin' on... I'd posted this same question to another discussion group and a fella thought it might have been a Travis Mfg. Dave I appreciate ya taking the time to look. Like it was a chore..... If you're anything like me I can spend hours looking at Truck Paper at the trucks/trailers. My girlfriend can't figure out how looking at an online classified be entertaining if you're not looking to buy one. For the time being I'm gonna leave this alone and finish up the W900.

What's goin' on... Chris. A picture sayes a thousand words!!!!! Those trucks are tough looking. The weathering and detail is perfect. They look like they've had 30,000 miles on them since the last time thru the wash rack! The detail put into that diorama is worth a slap on the back an a "Attaboy" that turned out good. However..... I think a car or a boat on a trailer parked there would be more proportioned to a landscape such as that. Those two trucks would look right being fueled at the terminal (trucking company) fuel island. Having each truck on opposite sides. Add pumps, roll around ladder near by, the bucket of windsheild washer solvent w/ the squeegie. Maybe even a paper towel dispenser. That would look good.

What's goin' on... Ray To me it looks like he used round stock styrene.

What's goin' on... Looks like I'm starting in on this thread a little late. I was wondering why CFC is no longer in business. I can't blame the guy for his reasoning as well. It only takes a few for a better choise of words no good mother ******* to ruin it for the majority! I managed to grab his 9300 conversion kit. He'd discontinued that piece and I wrote him a few times to bring it back. Once it showed back up on his site I bought one. I too took forgranted thinking I'll oder some parts later on! Now I resort to scratch building. As for the Nuway lift axle which style were you wanting? Steerable w/ single wheel per side or a non steerable with duals?

What's goin' on... Chris. Give me a second to pull my foot out of my mouth. Reason being I'd mentioned that the W900 I'm working on is my first two tone paint job. Well I FORGOT ABOUT THIS... Seriously I just remembered that this picture was in my EPSON album. http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?...&p=67795845 This was a project I'd started a few years ago. I think it was the K100 areodyne.The chassis shown got thrown out w/ several other models. At that time I'd just broke up w/ my girlfriend and everything pissed me off. The cab however managed to survive . I stripped that and repainted it all orange. I found some YELLOW Freight decals in an HO scale trailer kit and the decal ment for the side of the trailer was a perfect size to fit on the door of the cab. When I soaked them in water they desenagrated after a few seconds being wet and this was put in the spare parts box forgotten until now. Maybe I'll get some Castrol Super Clean and let this cab w/ other pieces/parts soak for a week or so.

What's goin' on... Impressive! This definitly answers my question "How's that cab over of yours coming along"? I've always liked those old fleet trucks.

What's goin' on... Good job w/ the detail work!!

What's goin' on... VERY NICE!!! Instead of using paper for your mudflaps Evergreen Scale has black sheets of styrene (it's either .015 or .020) you should looking into that. I highly recommend it!

What's goin' on... Does anyone know what make,model,year this trailer is. I can't make out what might be the MFG. ID on the side. http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?...&p=74399230 Thanks

What's goin' on... Tim. You did a heck of a job. Back in 2001 I accidently found the Plastic Cowboy truck model website while sitting in front of the computer w/ a broken wrist and arm (curtousy of an 11R24.5 exploding in front of me at work). Looking at your past projects and others on that site so to say relit the pilot light sparking an interest in wanting to build models after a 15+ year absence from this hobby. I don't know how you managed to maintain your full time job,keep the home fires burning,continue to produce models at assembly line speeds and maintain the Plastic Cowboy/Truckmodeler web site as well as doing a few write ups in model car magizines. I can understand your reasoning for letting Dan take the wheel. I've taken a look at the site and it looks like he'll compliment your work.

What's goin' on... Tim. HOW"D YOU PERFECT A TWO BAR GRILL????

What's goin' on... Last week I pulled this one off the back burner. Here's the latest updates. Thanks for looking!!!

What's goin' on... Tim. Go get ya a 32 Ford coupe kit and use the headlights from that. Then what's left in the kit just use for odds and ends.

What's goin' on... Tim When I first saw this project for some reason I thought you'd paint this flat brown weathered w/ a black chassis. I have no clue where I got this impression??? Seeing it painted like this really threw me off LOL. That's going to look really cool when your done. I just may build a 289. I think that w/ single bulb headlights a tandem axle 28 ft rib side pup would make for an intersting project.

What's goin' on... Being on vacation this week I've had more time to build than I've had in months!!! So here's a couple pictures of that GMC General hooked to a loaded trailer. All I have to do to that is finish chaining down the load. http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=92...ream&size=o and http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=92...ream&size=o Thanks for looking!!!

What's goin' on... That looks too cool. That's a heck of an idea!

What's goin' on... I've seen 1:1 racks like this but not exact. As far as reference materials goes I just built and detailed it by memory. Thanks for the compliments!

What's goin' on... Jerry It's from the R/G W900 wrecker kit. I'm gonna use one from the Stepps towing kit for whatever truck I decide to use the wrecker assembly for. OR I'll look around for another Polar lights Ghost Busters Caddy kit if you can find that it's got two light bars in it w/ clear lens' so it can be detailed for several applications. Those are becoming tough to find these days.