highway

Where should I send the flowers to?

That thing looks like, oh wait, I can't say that word here!!!

Yeah, I haven't been quite right since then, and was actually a little happy when I lost my job in June of last year. It's been hard finding something not involving driving, but I'm thinking about going back to school and actually LEARN something! The few months between the line accident and losing my job, I'd spend more time looking at the power lines than the road, and noticed lines in my hometown I never even knew where there! The people who lived in that neighborhood said about 2 days before I hit the line, someone else had crashed their car into one of the poles near there, and being in the 70s in February, I think it may have been a combination of all three things you mentioned. I'll keep watching for the Titan and your livestock trailer, sounds nice!

Hi, wagoneer, thought I'd find you here! I think the prototypes don't sag because I think the frames are a little thicker than normal and LOTS of crosssmembers. I'm working on some extra strength right now (waiting for the glue to dry ) by adding some retangular tubing to the top of the frame where my extention is. I'm going to hide it under the sleeper and headache rack. The trailer goes together very nicely execpt for the roof, mine had a slight warp and that's why it looks more like clamp storage in this picture: There is also not much to glue to, the roof sits on top of the side panels and the thin lip there and the side ribs are all that hold it in place. The way I glued mine in place was first I applied some Model Master Liquid Cement to each rib, laid the roof in place, and started clamping front to back. After I had the roof in it's final position, I used some Zap CA (the really thin stuff in the pink labeled bottle) and found a small depression where the roof meets the side panel in the back, put three or four drops in the hole, then slowly rotated the trailer so the Zap would run along the seam to the front of the trailer. That worked fine and the roof stayed where I wanted it! Also, the headache rack, even though it's from the Revell AG's Pete 359 (and it's also in the "Can Do" wrecker), I modified it with some square tubing and closed the back to make it a true box. I originally made it as a master for a mold I made experimenting with casting my own parts. A friend of mine has an old Western Star I had bought for him to give him something to do while he was laid up after knee surgery, which he never finished, and he finally gave it back to me to finish for him. Since he used to haul steel, he wanted the AMT flatbed on the Star, and he wanted a headache rack on his, so I made that one to cast. Finally, color and graphics are undecided as of now, paint may be DupliColor "Mirage" purple to red flip-flop and possibly a complementing or contrasting "Mirage" set of ghost flames on the hood. The only color I know for sure is the trailer, and it's Krylon "Original Chrome", since it gives it a nice new aluminum look. Well, back to the model desk!

I'll see you there!

Ok, I had no intention of you hijacking your thread, just thought you might like it in case you hadn't seen my thread!

Sounds like a moment of insanity I had! I bought a "N" scale mid 90s Ford tow truck that is not much bigger than my fingernail!

I say real, the dirt on the tires is just screams "I was drove here!".

I'm impressed by your work, and real nice jobs on the strectched sleeper and lowboy. My current project is also a stretched sleeper on an Italeri Ford LTL 9000, but mine is stretched a little bigger. I stretched it to 180 scale inches, and the wheelbase is almost 350 scale inches. This is what mine looks like so far: Keep up the good work and I'll be watching for more pics soon!

I really don't know if I can help or not, but I'll try! Anytime I've ever heard of anyone using BMF before painting is if they are using for masking two tones or sort of like you said, protecting trim from getting lost, or masking small details. I would guess most paints shouldn't hurt it, since it is basicly very thin aluminum foil. I assume the trim you are trying to protect is the window frames, another solution would be using a scribing tool to better scribe the lines around the trim so it doesn't get lost under the paint, then put your BMF on the trim after painting. One other trick I've heard of with using BMF before painting is for small scripts and emblems, and that is putting the BMF on the script before painting, then after painting, CAREFULLY sanding the paint from the script to show the BMF underneath. I would use very fine polishing cloths for this, just enough to remove the paint but not damage the BMF underneath, and would do this before any clearcoat. I have never tried these before, all I have ever done is window trim and emblems after painting, but have read these tips in the magazines, so I hope they may help you.

Thanks Tim! There are a few parts missing from the 352, a couple engine parts, some frame parts, and other things here and there. I can send you a PM later after I finish going through the kit.

Tim, those look great as always and I've admired your skills for quite a while now, really ever since I started reading the magazine. Your knowledge of Peterbilts is just as impreesive, and that leads me to a question. Yesterday while digging though a couple of my truck kits looking for parts, I had gotten out my 377 A/E and my wife to be asked me something I couldn't answer. What does the A/E stand for? I know some of the model numbers, but not that! Also, by chance, would you have spare parts for AMTs 352 Pacemaker? I have one I got off a friend of mine years ago, thinking it was missing a hood hinge (which is there!) but missing many different parts. Thanks for the help.

Hello from the USA, Sergey! I'm happy to see that, even though you're from Russia, you have fine taste for our American trucks! Here's a couple websites that may help you in building your sleeper: http://legacysleepers.com/ http://trucksleeper.com/ They are both companies here in the states that build custom sleepers and have nice pictures of both the outside and inside of the sleepers. I found them while researching my latest project. Here's a couple pictures of mine: And here it is with some primer on it and the livestock trailer it will be pulling: I look forward to watching your build!

"I still hold the CDL but it's 'Former Truckdriver" these days." You sound like me, Wagoneer81! I drove for 12 years and probably had close to if not more than 1,000,000 safe miles in the seat, up until Feb of last year, anyway. I had a slight mishap on a street (I was driving for a local company driving the same routes every week) I'd had my Mack CH daycab and 28 foot pup trailer down dozens of times, but that day, turned on the street and didn't realize that the electric and cable lines that went across the street caught the top corner of my trailer. That is, until a phone pole next to my trailer snapped and crashed into the side of it! I sat in the truck for 45 minutes until the electric company came and shut the power off, and those were the longest 45 minutes of my life! Thankfully, no one was hurt and the only damage was the pole that hit my trailer, it poked a small hole in the roof and dented the side and roof where it hit the trailer, and two other poles down the street that snapped from me pulling the lines. Anyway, "I'll get back on topic... You'll also notice the one-piece wraparound windshield of the newer daycab versus the two-piece flat glass of the Prosleeper cab" You noticed something I forgot about! "Also notice, like I said before, it's like International did some 'kitbashing' themselves when building different series'. The prototype picture of the black Eagle that chuckyr posted...notice that it has the same cab/sleeper that my pictured 9400 has BUT, a very different hood, I think that's a 9900 series hood? I am in nooooo means complaining, just trying to help keep thing clear and I've probably made them as clear as mud! I'm just gonaa sit back and relax and watch where he goes with these. Wherever it is, it'll be fun!" I agree, International liked to kitbash, too, and I also agree it will be fun! By the way, my favorite truck was a 2000 Freightliner Classic XL with a Detroit Series 60 rated at 470 hp with an Eaton Super 10 transmission, imagine this one with a two tone blue paint job, and yes, it was a major company's fleet truck, but other than the 65 mph governed speed, on a hill, it would even outpull many owner operator trucks. It passed many shiny Petes and Kenworth (and don't forget Western Stars) up those hills, even fully loaded at 80,000 pounds!

I don't know what cargostar's planning either but these pictures show a newer model 9400i like the picture that chuckyr posted, look close at the door window shape. The picture you posted wagoneer81 is of an older 9400 where the bottom of the window frame is flat, not like chuckyr's and cargostar's pictures where the bottom is sloping downwards towards the front of the cab. The cab for the one you pictured wagoneer81 is the one cargostar used in his picture of the 9300 hood. Leave it to a trucker to notice the little details!

I got more done today on the truck and trailer, I spray painted the inside of the trailer and got the roof of it glued in place. The roof have a slight warp, thank gooodness for super glue and clamps!! I also tackled the priming of the cab and sleeper, along with the frame, and mocked the truck up again with a few pieces of rectangular tubing between the frame and sleeper that will later be glued in place for extra strength. The extra tubing to strengthen the frame will go past the sleeper, so I decided to see how a headache rack I modified from Revell AG's Pete 359 would look on the back. This will hide the extra tubing where it extends past the sleeper and the tubing will tie the original frame back together. I also laid the fuel tanks beside the truck to get an idea of what the side will look like, as well as the 5/16 diameter aluminum tubing I'm going to use as the stacks. Of course, the stacks will not be that tall, I just haven't cut them yet! The tanks laid out may not be the final design, but close to it. The front two per side will be fuel, the next water, and the last (the square one) will be tool boxes, one of the tool boxes (probably the passenger side) will be representing the APU generator. P.S. The nose of the trailer gives you a hint of the trailer color, some Krylon "Original Chrome" I had sitting around.

It wasn't today, but last week I got a factory sealed Midnight Cowboy wrecker from ebay for only $25.00 ($35.00 counting shipping), not a bad deal considering I've seen them going for $50-$100 sometimes, and some of the open kits go for more than I paid for the sealed kit.

I like those, too. About what size do they scale out to be?

Thanks, kurt, I was thinking the same thing!

Maybe, but I'm really not going for the heavy haul look. I bet the cows would like that, but I wouldn't!!

I'm planning on maybe four for fuel, one for clean water storage, one for dirty water storage (since these sleepers have kitchen sinks and bathrooms, and sometimes washer/dryers), and two frame mounted toolboxes, one for tools and equipment, one for an APU generator.

I've been hard at work on the sleeper, and attempt #2 is DONE!! I have also done some work on the frame tonight and added some crossmembers for some added strength: I put the rear axles together and mocked the driveshaft up so I could add a carrier bearing, which I scratchbuilt from a couple old MPC wheel hubs I had from some wheel parts pack? that I got from a friend of mine and some rectangular tubing: I'm going to still have to add some strength to the frame, probably with some I beam attaching the sleeper to the frame. I mocked it up again with the Bondo on the sleeper, and the frame started bowing from the added weight!! Anyway here she is mocked up again, and hopefully tomorrow I can get the first coats of primer on her:

Mike, just think before you cut! I knew a guy that hauled loads for a company I used to work for that has an old International 4300 that is very similar to the recent reissue from AMT, complete with the small 36 incj bunk found in the kit, but his frame was long enough to have a sleeper like this: His truck is a working show truck (and show winner) and pulls a 48 foot van. I have the "Papa Truck" issue of the kit, and plans for my build of it include making it a show truck as well (since I don't have the drag truck) but it will serve double duty. I'm planning on making the race wedge removable so I can also have a trailer on it when the wedge is not in place. Just because you didn't see any stock trucks with the long frame, doesn't mean you can't build a custom show truck. In the show truck world, anything is possible!!

Me three!!

Here's a couple pics I found, hope they may help you: http://usaquip.com/parts/Caterpillar-Motor-428650861.htm http://diesel-dynamics.com/Product.aspx?uc=1 The second link you will have to scroll down the page to # 1006 for the pic, then save the pic in your pictures.