Rockford

The kit exhaust stacks are passable when new but these were faded and I wanted to replace them with aloominum. I hollowed out the kit pieces so that I could slot a piece of 3.2OD ali tube into them. Then I took 7mm tube and cut a 4mm slot out of it. This allowed me to sleeve this over the original heat shield mouldings. The air intake is pressed onto two plastic pins on the passenger side heat shield. I removed them and drilled through the new ali shield, the new stack and the old kit pieces, then used 1.5mm brass tube to locate the intake in the old holes. Looks much better. I can polish it all now!

Shorter chassis definitely looks right, especially with an Aerodyne. Looking great so far, you're a braver man than me opening the doors.

Tasty piece of kit! Such tidy work.

Weathering looks very true to life. The 'rust' builds up and blisters like the real thing. I think rust is about 6 times the volume of the original metal. I didn't understand this kit when I was a kid, in the UK we had nothing like this. It was only when I started buying books from the US on trucking that got a grip of doubles and triples.

Gorgeous!

Returning to the 352, added rear dampers, 2x relay valves, plumbed in the brake chambers, added a levelling valve and piped it to the airbags and added a torque arm to the rear axle case. I added a rudimentary gearbox lid and shift housing too.I've tried to establish a pattern to the introduction of the torque arm on air suspension but I can't get anywhere. There's very little difference between air suspension systems over the years.

What a comprehensive review! Your affinity with this kit shines through in your text. It is a fabulous kit for its age and size. It was this kit that gave me the AMT truck virus. It was mid to late 70s when I got it. I didn't have a clue what the thing was, I just knew it looked absolutely fantastic with the stripe job and the chrome. I didn't know what a conventional was, a luberfiner, or a supercharger; and the box art mentioned something called a "reefer" - what on earth was a reefer!? I had to develop a whole new vocabulary. Our trucks were dismal by comparison. I got it together somehow, painted as per the box art and had for years, but I was smitten with American trucks and it was overshadowed by its bigger brothers. Interesting to see that AMT state it's a downsized version of the California Hauler because they do indeed share a certain amount of box art. I recall seeing the Heller versions in model shops when they were current but never connected them with that original little Peterbilt. Didn't Heller buy Airfix and all their moulds, and Airfix were bought back to GB by Hornby but they only managed to get a percentage of the moulds back off Heller so the 1/43 must have gone astray, such a shame. I recently obtained the K-Mart rig from ebay for a sensible price because the box was dust. That's as far as it's going for me, I'm in enough trouble from 1/32 addiction! Would love to see more on the history of these great little kits. Well done and thanks Lee.

Well done on your find. I know the kit you're talking about. I've bought the trailer separately as a dry van and a reefer. It's the AMT Trailmobile unit. It needs the rear axles respacing as they're too far apart and the track of the axles is way too wide. The actual box and reefer are excellent but I've said in other builds of this trailer, the running gear is made out of cake so it takes a little fettling. If you get it right it looks great though. The wheels on the Volvo are very good, worth using, I know what you mean about the cab though. Hoep to see the build soon.

Be my guest mate! I feel privileged.

I know, someone had a serious issue with it. Just glad they didn't mangle the grille. I think they only read Snap and not Tite.

I suppose one of the sites that supply software files for 3D printing will be able to assist. They can generally go to any scale.

That's really something you can be proud of Jürgen, it's unique. Great work. Each new build just gets better as you build on what you've learnt. It's obviously the future.

Excellent work, I'll head over to UG now.

SQUIRREL!!!! 🐿️ Look what I fell over on eBay! Got it for 12.50 Euros from France. It's as complete as I need, trailer is all there and the essentials of the tractor except someone has done a number on the front bumper, the stacks, headlight units and quarter fenders. They're actually bent and snapped, odd. Nothing that can't be sorted. Someone was asking £99 just for the Pete on its own so I didn't do bad getting both. Just shows you, they're still around.

Unbelievable! Your speed puts me to shame. Fantastic looking trailer, so professionally presented. Excellent stuff.

Very realistic and very credible. Excellent job.

Very hard to tell on the extra bolts scenario, but the ones that you can see appear to be captive T heads in the top plate, so I suppose a similar arrangement in the middle would be nigh-on invisible with the dried mud that's on there. There would have to be something between the springs otherwise they'd start wandering around and ultimately collapse. There's no binding straps towards the ends either, which would make the need for something in the middle of the leaf pack all the more necessary. You can see one of the rear leaves has started wandering out of alignment. On the detail front, although each one isn't immediately obvious, the overall effect gives a sharper, more complex impression and adds to reality. You also have extra hours of quiet escape from the pressures of life, which helps your blood pressure. Great work you're doing. Keep it up.

What a big job this is! You're making serious progress now though. Those brake shoes are a nice feature.

That engine builds up beautifully, will look great in the frame rails.

Just amazing stuff. You couldn't get me to be part of the crew of that thing though.

Excellent scratch building, as ever, very clean work.

Clever stuff. Going look great.

The detail is off the scale. Unbelievable.

Wow that's nice.

Great work mate. Looking good. You're recreating one of the unsung heroes. Really looking forward to seeing how this comes out. The tractor you used as a mule looks great too, great colour combination. That kit is just so right, I understand why you like it so much.