Rockford

I don't like the way the grille juts out proud of the cab shell. It doesn't do it on a real Pete. It's because of the snap nature of the kit. I cut the backing plate out, fitted two strips of plastic card either side of the grille opening and then refitted the backing plate with card behind to sink it in. Had to drop the locating tab on the chassis back too. Fitted the grille and it makes a bit of a difference when compared to the other kit I built out of the box.

Well you will be pleased to hear that I found your build on the interwebs and was inspired to do one of my own! The resulting daycab was a bonus.

I'm at that age as well.

Aye, I just put "short hood bison" into Google and this popped up. Hope it's legible.

I've just seen it in the Aftermarket section, looks good mate, would be good to see it completed one day.

What's the difference between a buffalo and a bison? You can't wash your hands in a buffalo! Couldn't resist the old joke I shouldn't start another build with one already on the go but I'm itching to dip into the scrapyard I've just bought off Ebay and I spent a snatched hour achieving nothing on my Peterbilt this afternoon so I wanted a fix. I got two Snaptite Chevy Bisons, (I'd prefer the GMC General but beggars can't be choosers). I'm going to do one as a daycab and the other as a double sleeper using the offcut from the daycab. I snatched a moment today to do the cut and the transplant. Not great pictures but I was a bit pushed for time. I'm going to do my usual rectification work on the chassis and running gear so I'll leave that out, hopefully just show the major mods.

I got two bites at the cherry this week. Wanted to sort this bumper situation. I laminated three strips of plastic card together and let them set properly. Then I shaped the basic bumper but I was hesitant about drilling and shaping the tow lug cutouts because they're very close to the top of the bumper. So I made it 1mm smaller than required, filed two notches for the tow lug holes and then put strip of card across the top. Rounded all the corners off and it looks ok. Then I decided I wanted the spotlights too, so I took the kit bumper and cut to the top off, then let the tow lug holes in again and put a strip across the top. Rounded the edges again and I think this is the one I'll be using. It looks a lot better than the kit piece, but the kit piece looks ok on the double sleeper because that's a more showy truck I think.

Absolutely brilliant scratchbuilding going on. Paint looks great too.

Really impressive, and at such a pace too!

Looking great, I really like real fabric on the interior.

Excellent job on a great subject. Love the bobbed front bumper, so many fleets did that.

Made some front shocks and rear hubs for the Pete today. Ditched the chrome stack and made one out of hollow styrene tube. Was most pleased that my exhaust pipe from the turbo to the stack fitted. Not bad considering it's a piece of sprue bent using a candle! It's actually was less trouble than some kit pipes I've tried to fit in the past. Decided I really don't like the kit bumper. I would prefer the thinner version too so I marked one out on a sheet of aluminium. I used a Sharpie instead of engineers blue. Sadly my 5mm drill that I used to finish off the spotlight holes was as blunt as could be, leaving huge burrs on the holes and distorting the piece slightly. However, even in a slightly mangled state it looked better than the kit piece. I will try again but I may just use styrene sheet instead. The ali is too thin.

I'd forgotten just how bad older AMT kits could be, and yet how we love the things! Looking good mate.

24hr build with a power outage! Impressive. Looking good too!

Looking good sir. I believe they're forecasting some drastic weather for part of the world.

Nothing major today. Made a sun visor out of sheet aluminium. Dead easy really, just cut a strip from the sheet I have, bent it over the cab roof, then positioned it where I wanted and tapered the ends to suit. Drilled two holes either side and will locate it with cutoff straight pins so they'll look like rivets. I've just wired it on for now. Decided to add an aircon condenser box on the roof. Just square rod and card. Found a custom chrome inlet manifold off the Mercury Park Lane kit that cut down to a decent grille. I'll add a strip of plastic to mimic the conduit for the AC lines down the back of the cab. Piped up my brake chambers, running from the relay valve to the quick release valve and the feed to the spring brake chambers. Oh, added fuel lines to the tanks.

I want one! But I can't.

Interesting subject. All the European trucks had that rounded look then didnt they? Saurer, Mercedes, Scania-Vabis. Nice that you've actually got a Krupp chassis too.

Fantastic work. You do have a clean bench, mine looks like something exploded (usually me looking for something I've dropped, but we've been there before)

This is inspirational! It's certainly inspired me to scratchbuild stuff. To think that started out as stock card and shaped rods, and your creativity, dedication and skill have turned it all into something so complete and complex looking as that carrier chassis! Just fantastic mate, a joy to watch.

Looking great.

This is looking great, cant believe how much you've got through in such a short time.

Great work dropping the cab height and good thinking on the duals. It will make all the difference to the finished product.

I've been hit by the red curse in the past, you have my sympathy. Got to say though, that's a brilliant looking build.

I remember Tonka toys though my parents could never afford them as presents ? but I remember Hoveringham and their Foden tippers. I Might have had that 8-wheeler in my toy fleet. I ended up working on the things for Tate and Lyle sugar refiners. We used to call those particular Fodens Mickey Mouse Fodens because the cab was the shape of his head (without the ears, of course). I'm sure your project will look great.