Rockford

A nice old van trailer for the 351?

Looks brilliant that mate, excellent scratch building. Well done.

Impressive stuff. The operable suspension is excellent. You cast your own stuff then?

Too true. I must be mad.

Short answer, no. Long answer: not yet. No aftermarket for me, not a caster, might try my idea from the W900 Aerodyne, but not sure. ?

I was going to try to get away with a kit suspension but you've pointed out the elephant in the room now haven't you? ?It got me thinking though, and I think I've got an idea on that one. Watch this space.

Thanks Gary.

I know it's been done so many times that it's become a cliché but like many in our hobby, my love of American trucks sprouted from the series Movin'On. In GB in the 70s Sonny's truck looked like something from another planet! With no internet it was a real quest to find out more about this stunning vehicle. I've loved that KW ever since and built poor copies from the AMT W900 in the late 70s, working from memory and the odd photo. When I built my 1/32 W900 Aerodyne I realised that this kit would make a good Pruitt motor but wasn't prepared to take the risk on that kit. However, a week or so ago three built snappers came up on eBay for £30 starting bid, one was another AMT 1/32 Snap-Fit. Mine was the only bid so I got the kit for £10 all in, at such a price, I am prepared to take the risk! I stripped it down and set about cutting the Aerodyne cap off. I used the rear section of a Monogram T600 cab to make up the roof. I also used the sleeper roofs to start forming the sleeper roof cap. I need to replicate the dome of the sleeper roof but wasn't sure how to achieve it. In the end I measured the sleeper on the kit, 43mm deep. Then I put some masking tape on my tablet screen and blew a picture of the real truck up until that measured the same, then I traced the roof cap profile onto the tape and produced a profile on card. This I can use as a template Monogram wheels added, stacks built and mocked up, different truck! Before I carry on, gotta to strip the paint. Many thanks to Force for his help on this already.

That'll look great when it's done.

I think you need a medal for even considering it, I'd run away screaming! It'll be real achievement.

Very clean and sharp. The details do become almost endless don't they?

I'm really glad to see this back on the bench.

To me it was a time when American vehicles were American, not the same as the world over. Excellent job on this.

Looks really impressive that

Nice looking rig mate.

That looks excellent mate, well done.

Looks tasty, well done for hanging with it. It would be in the bin if it was me m

Not a patch on yours but it's only a Snapper.

Left the cab as per the kit @ 110 inch and cut the chassis just behind the stacks, then moved the battery box and air filter up to the front axle, worked out how much space I needed to fit the fuel tanks in, and cut the rest out of the frame. I didn't want it to become another marathon project but I had to do something with the chassis length, it was getting on my nerves. The truck looked awkward and the 5th wheel was in the wrong place. I didn't even want to paint the chassis so I mixed some Tamiya blue and white to match as close as possible for the slide plate and the hubs. I like it much more now, it looks business like, ready for work, not just posing.

This was a 2020 lockdown, 12 year hiatus, one eyed, no shops build. Here he is in raw form, too much space between the tanks and the fenders, and the battery box. I just wanted to add a sliding fifth wheel but I snapped a fuel tank off and butchered the fifth wheel mounting so I had to go further. I removed a scale 30in. New quarter fenders. Built a catwalk using 1mm extruded aluminium sheet. Added rear axle hubs. Pulled the stacks closer to the cab. Looks much better. The whole point of cabovers was to save space so the smaller the better. The shot next to the single sleeper demonstrates the efficient use of space. I tried amending the chassis whilst keeping the length but it just didn't work, had to shorten it. It looks so correct now.

Thanks, that's very kind of you.

Great job. I'd love to build one of these in 1/32 but I think it would finish me off!

Nice custom rig.

Great looking Pete. I like the chunkiness of it.

Thanks everyone for the generous comments. I am really pleased with the finished product, I don't think I could do it again! It was worth it though. If I was more adventurous I'd have de-aerodyned it and made a 1/32 Movin'On replica but I couldn't risk spoiling it, opening up the hood was scary enough.