Jim B

Amazing details, Kurt. I like all of the little touches like the pine tree air freshener. Great work.

Tim, Very nice. You really know your way around Peterbilt kits. Sometimes the slicing & dicing you do simply amazes me. The cab iterior details are very nice. Adds a touch of realism. I did notice that the A/C unit on the 1:1 truck looks like it's on the sleeper, while yours is on the drom box. Would there be a reason why there would be an extra A/C unit on the sleeper (other than to save fuel)? Aren't they usually cooled & heated from the cab?

Your KW looks very nice. I like the color combination.

Snoop around here, he sells the Mack spokes. http://sourkrautsmodeltrucks.com/ Dave sells the Mack spokes, too. http://www.aitruckmodels.com/pages/kitsparts.html

Looks nice. Like the colors.

Nice little tractor. What would a truck like this be marketed toward? Beverage or local delivery? Box truck or light dump?

Aaron, nice truck. Are the roll-up doors individual pieces, or are they scribed?

If you want to be totally accurate, you'll need a GMC Topkick conversion kit, too. Like this one: http://sourkrautsmodeltrucks.com/?page_id=...p;product_id=28 I've seen people use PVC pipe to make rear fenders for tractors, so that might be a place to start to get the curve. Then use plastic sheets to make the box. Worth a try!

I bet the fuel mileage sucks. Neat idea, though. Didn;t Jim Etter make something like this on an old Mack B61 chassis? Built on a dump bed? Makes it easier to get the kids out of bed in the morning!

Sweet! Are you cross-eyed yet? I know I get that way after working on 1/700 photo-etch railings.

I don't remember the glass not fitting, but the hood to cab joint can be a little finiky. You really have to play with the cab mounts until you can get the cab & hood to sit nicely.

According to the Wikipeda site, the color was Coffee Brown with Gold trim.

No, they're regular dump trucks. Construction types. We don't grow a lot of grain up here. Corn, potatoes, onions, dairy.

Looks good, Ray. Question on dump bodies: I see around here (Central New York) that many dump bodies have two or three small door on the bottom of the main tailgate. Is this usual? Are they just used for salt trucks?

Right here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_%26_the_Bandit Look in the Production section. It talks about the truck there. It references a thread over at Hank's Truck Pictures.

The answer is: it depends. The Revell T600 represents a 1986-1989 truck while the AMT/Ertl T600 is a 1990-1994 body with a 1970s chassis, engine, & suspension. I have never built either kit, so I cannot comment on the quality; though I assume the the Revell kit is better. There are some good articles here on correcting the AMT T600: http://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thsca...s/car_modeller/ If you can find/afford a Revell T600, get it!

Dylan, There were three trucks used in the filming of Smokey & the Bandit: (1) 1973 W900, and (2) 1974 W900s. The 1973 W900 had the gold emblem in recognition of Kenworth's 50th anniversary. Here are some decent references: http://www.smokeyandthebanditmodels.com/Home_Page.php And here are the stripes: http://www.modeltruckin.com/movie.html

Any idea which one?

That looks like a truck show to me!

Bill, Who are you offering the Alaskan Hauler to, if anybody?

Tim, Absolutly amazing work! Where do you get your plans? How do you go about starting something like this?

Yes, the W923 is a suspension thing. A W923 has a spring tandem rear suspension, a W924 has a 6-Rod suspension, and a W925 has a KW torsion bar rear suspension. So it has the older cab (1969-1971) in the kit, but the real trucks had the "newer" cab (1972-1982)? I'd still like to build one of these kits. I think it would make a nice logger.

Somehow I knew Tim would know. So is it a W900, or is it prior to that designation (W923)? Does it have the same Cummins NTC350 as the W925 kit?

This one was semi-scratch built, but take a look here: http://sourkrautsmodeltrucks.com/?page_id=...p;page_number=3

I like it. Looks really nice. My only critique: the chains are way out of scale. It looks like each like is about 1ft scale long. No one would be able to lift them. They're for chaining things to a flatbed, not anchoring a battleship. Of the drivers out there, what size chain is usually used in the trucking industry?