BigBad

That's a good looking rig, you even managed to customize the Pete too. Everything is color coordinated, nothing's crooked. What's fun of reading this forum is you learn new things and see what can be done to a kit so it looks more realistic. Welcome to this place!

Just a question like that, do you think Peterbilt headlight pods would fit on that front end?

Will you look at this thing! Museum quality, definitely! Should be exposed at the Science & Technology Museum.

Honestly I don't see any flaws! It looks really good. The only weakness (if I could call it that) are the headlight lenses. I don't know what it is but they don't look right. It have anything to do with your skills, it's more the kit parts that don't do the rest of your truck justice. But otherwise you did an excellent job. Great job on the detailing, really good looking hood. And the exaust pipes, no seams!

Lookin' good Chad! i like that weathering. I see you removed the fenders and changed the wheels. Did you have to do other stuff to americanise the trailer? Nice 379 too... Too bad this trailer kit isn't available anymore just like the Volvo 670-780 and the Freightliner FLD.

Good Idea Chuck, I like the black on that bumper. I think the Lonestar begs for mods,it's like a huge '34 Ford! There should be an option for full sized baby moons for the front wheels! Wide whitewalls, flames on the hood, flat black paint, lakes pipes... Oops, pardon me. But then again...

Pretty good detailing overall, I like that Cat engine. Good dash detail too, very nice.

Yep, that looks about right! Huge pipes coming out of those mufflers!

Of course, you'll have to show some pics first...

Albert, this is a very nicely done International I like the weathering and the connector hose and wire details in back. Truck looks really good.

You mean that fat guy with the hat and glasses? You can't do that! That's Jackson, he's a truck driver for a small scale truck fleet that owns a whole fleet of Peterbilts and he's a Peterbilt addict. He usually hangs around another well known workbench. He visits other places now and then to get a feel of what's going on in the business, that's all...

LOVE the paint! This is n-i-c-e! Makes all that chrome stand out. Nice detailing by the way.

Cool paint scheme! Suits that Chevy just right. I'm lucky to see a real one regularly in my area!

"...a real sweetheart..." is a bit of a stretch! With a face even a mother could slap is more like it.

While you're at it, watch for the thickness of that license plate support on the front of your cab. It's so thick it will prevent you from tilting that cab properly as well! I removed mine for the time being. You might want to use a thin sheet of styrene (.010-.020) to replace it. It'll look better too! Just my 2 cents. By the way, I really like those stripes! Well done.

Nice custom!

Very nice! What have you planned for the door handles and the grab rails? Are you using the kit parts or updating with newer items similar to the parts on the Aerodynes?

Cool, this is going to be different!

Simple enough to duplicate if you don't care much about the small step on the tank itself where the fifth wheel pin is located. most of the tank is supported by a 12 inch thick C channel. Sorry, the driver didn't have much time for me to take more detailed pictures of the frame. So this thing could be duplicated with some work and a lot of bare metal foil! I'd probably start with the air suspension from the upcoming Moebius trailer, a PVC pipe and some .040 plate styrene for the taper at the bottom of the tank and I beams from Evergreen for the framework. Some tool boxes from AITM some scratch build for the conical tank ends and valve and connector box at the back. Add some aluminum fenders from KFS... Sounds super good! I have some scaling to do! Thanks for the interest guys! Milkman, by any chance, would you happen to have pictures of tank inlets at the top?

A little more: More:

Milkman! What better reference! Thanks for the info Howard, it's a lot of information but explains a lot of things. This morning, I came accross this big beast getting its fuel for the day, I went to the driver and asked him if I could take pictures of his tanker for reference to build a scale model and he said no problem. So I took these:

It looks great man! You don't expect to see one of those when opening the hood! Thanks for the info on the build. I have a couple V12s from AITM I bought last year and seeing this is very encouraging! I see your front axle steers, did modify the kit part or you replaced it with an aftermarket piece?

Hey Billy, I know ehere you're coming from! My first build was the same kit. Yes that front axle was and still is too wide, the cab joint is almost impossible to get rid of without killing some of the rivet detail, the headlights sit too high on the front end, the step are clunky... The instructions don't say much about the rear suspension and the cab lifting lever is not at the right position on the frame. Oh, and nobody really knows how and where to put the cab grab handles. Else from that? It's not so bad. For the exhaust pipes, may I suggest a standard 3/16 diameter pipe, in scale it comes up to a little more than 4 1/2 inches. It should look good without looking customized unless that's the look you want and go bigger. I had some trouble keeping those stacks parallel on mine so I put a brace between them at the top, it helped a lot at keeping them straight and vertical. For those pesky steps... I don't know what to say, they look stupid even when you get them right. By the way, the top step is boxed into the cab, you could make them a look a little better if you stick a body colored panel behind that top step up to the top of the step mounts,the kit doesn't provide any. You talked about front wheel opening flares earlier, a lot of real Freightliners have them. Plastruct and or Evergreen have the right size quarter round materials to make these. Another suggestion, find pictures of the real truck such as Hanks truck pics, that should help a bit in figuring out how to build this beast. Hang in there, it looks good once its built! Oh, and show us pics of that progress too.

Hey Chris, where is that V12 from? Is that the one from AITM? Was it much work to adapt to the KW? It looks right at home under that hood.

12V71!!!! Yes sir! Nice custom build Chris, I like it a lot! Spokes, wide fronts, weathering working front axle, headache rack... Nice!