BigBad

Hey Chris, check out Truckabilly's Peterbilt 377 in "on the workbench" column, he's got all kinds of pictures of his build and up to now, he's pretty much the most thorough detailer here! Nothing short of amazing.

Tamiya clear red, then wiped from the top of the logo. Easy!

Simply beautiful!

I think we're on to something...

I bought a lot of photo etch stuff from them, they are as easy to deal with as anybody else and they send your stuff in a quite reasonable timeframe. They have good quality items, I bought only photo etch parts from them up to now. I have almost all the American truck photo etch they have except the kit for the White Freightliner. Everything is nicely detailed, you have some frets that are made of brass though so you'll need to paint them with chrome paint. They are a pretty classy outfit overall. Their english is so-so but they understand pretty quickly when money is einvolved! So I think you may proceed with confidence with them!

Wrong! ALL Detroit 2 strokers sound awesome! Even the 4-53! But I agree this one sounds pretty healthy with the straight pipes!

Well you know, if you remove the extra exhausts, the "cowl induction " hood scoop, the ridiculous rearview mirrors and the too long rear hubs, it doesn't look half bad. I kinda like the mean looking front end. The headlights, the grill, the bumper and the visor look pretty good imho. Those are pretty good ideas to modify the italeri Western Star.

That frame is smoooooth! I like your connector box and the rear fenders! Nice resto-mod!

Don't worry about your english, it's very clear! I understood what you ment before seeing the pictures. Nice job on the lights by the way.

Like somebody said, "ready for work" I think it already did work! Love the weathering and rusting!

Yeah, casting the steps would be great, along with aluminum rod for the rail itself, but you still have to get the correct brackets to mount them to the cab. If someone decides to cast them as a whole, I'm sure he'll get some business. I have a set from my Revell K100, but I don't want to use them on another truck... There is tons of parts for Peterbilts and Macks, there might be some interest for retrofit parts for the K123 (probably more than some actually...)

Hi guys, I don't know about you, but after building my own AMT K123, it really bothers me that I can't find these parts elsewhere than in other rare and (now) expensive kits such as the Revell K100 Aerodyne and the ones in the AMT Aerodynes. Does someone make these items in the aftermarket? These handles are really distinctive on these trucks and a must have on later model K100s. At the same time, why not include the gullwing bumper, lower cab door handles and square headlight panels in a retro-fit kit? Anybody??

Whoa, this this looks like a torture machine! It also reminds me of that wrecker they used in Terminator 4. I think it was a Freightliner FLC or FLD conventional. (not the black cabover from T2...) Or even something that's out of Mad Max! Pretty cool truck you have there!!

There you go! Sometimes, inspiration comes when you're actually working on a piece, just like sculptors!

Excellent stuff, doesn't get much better than this!

Oh! Lets keep an eye on this one!

Wow, you used the decals from the standard kit??? Nice! It's going to look good with them! I like the rear fenders too, they look good in "polished aluminum". You also added extra ribs to the front grill, very cool!

Lookin' good there Chris! I see you installed your front mudflap at the correct location on the air filter canister, I put mine on the retainer strap for some stupid reason... Oh well, I'll do the next one better... About the grill installed before the cab, no doubt about it, it really helps. It has to be installed really straight to get the cab on straight too. I'm almost but not quite finished on mine, still have some minor details to add on along with the grab handles. I'm working on a 48' spread axle flatbed for it! Keep on truckin' with this one! By the way for the stripe decals, you might want to keep the front face curved ones together to keep the width and correct curvature. Leave the clear material between the two as it will almost not show once applied. Start with those curved lines to establish the face first, then apply the straight ones. You probably planned it that way already, it's just to confirm. The fun really starts with the thinner pinstripes that end near the roof... Modeltruckin' has really good decal material, it's thin, the clear material almost disppears once applied on the surface and conforms pretty nicely with most contours. Have fun...

They're all super nice! Excellent details on all of them and painted with good taste too.

I like this! I also like those convex mirrors! very nice!

What a shame. Mack was one of the oldest American truck companies and this is what's left of it. I know they're not the only ones to have been bought by foreign interests, GMC and Freightliner to name some. Which ones are still mostly American now? Navistar and Paccar? Mack is now a division of Volvo...

Thanks for the tips and also for the compliments Richard and all my forum friends, it's appreciated!

Just incredible stuff! Love the plow details, very impressive!

Alright! The cab is installed, door surrounds sleeper vent and wiper arms BMF'ed, front bumper, front cab handles, rear view mirrors, clearance lights, door handles MCA aluminum air horns, photo etch Kenworth nametags, sun visor... Still have some other details to add though, the grab handles are mostly complete except for the mounting brackets. I was aiming at making a 1976 truck, so I got rid of the upper door handles and changed the grab handles for long dual ones with integrated steps. I used door handles from a generic photo etch tree. I they look wrong, not the right shape and they're too wide. but that's the closest I could get with what I had. The trailer connections are not on yet. I'll add some license and other detail decals. I'm on the last stretch. Here are some pictures to show: Here is a view showing the very nice MCA horns, one peice plus the stands, no parting lines! Available with bug covers or open : In this build I used a lot of custom parts made of metal, resin and photo etch. I'm very happy with them, they are of very high quality and set off the model nicely. It's my first experience with photo etch and I will be using custom parts for all my next builds. In this view you can clearly see the cracks in the decal stripes that happened with the clearcoat application... You can also see I used the gullwing bumper from the Revell snap Aerodyne Kenworth W900. In this view, you can clearly see that the door handle is wrong... The Kenworth name tag is very nice though. Overall still looking pretty good in spite of the little defects here and there. Not show material in my opinion, but I like it and it will fit nicely in my collection.

This is good info Richard, how could it be too much? I for one do not know much about Mack and their trucks, I built AMT's R685 and the Cruiseliner, all I know is that they sure have different looking components compared to the other manufacturers! That and the fact that they were the only American truck manufacturer producing all the components for their trucks... They were always different. Too bad they're not a US company anymore. Not all of it at least. Correct me if I'm wrong!