truckabilly

Is anybody willing to share a pic of old stabilaire suspension? I think I saw a nice photo the other day but haven´t downloaded it and now I can´t find any. It would be nice to see the real thing since the AMT and Italeri offer this suspension in their kits.

Like the others said... fantastic work! A very realistic build. Not beaten to death but wearing some marks of hard work in the oilfield.

Arnd, I wouldn´t use any air suspension for a logging application of Peterbilt 351. Especially if you want a heavy set up. The Hendrickson rubber block would be a better choice. I am not an expert by any means but the air suspension of AMT´s small window Peterbilt 359 is one of the oldest types of air ride, called Stabilaire. I don´t think it would withstand the heavy work in the forest. Todays air systems are much more advanced but the 351 era is something else.

We re thinking the same way. I like the idea of seeing the radiator shutters through the grille mesh. Just like it works on a real truck. If only I can find the right kind of mesh. That may not be that easy.

Thank you guys for your kind words. I just realised that I put this thread to the wrong section. It should be in the "Under Glass". If I may ask administrator to move it to where it belongs. I´m sorry for my mistake. To Gordon: I´m sorry to say so but the whole batch of the cabs is sold out and there won´t be no reissue.

A few more pics...

I wouldn´t call this build finished but I came across the opportunity of letting my logger photographed with better photographic equipment than I have. It was on occasion of our regular model building weekend when a couple of model building friends get together without wifes and kids and spend the whole weekend building truck models. Here´s what I am talking about... The model still needs some touch ups but these pictures are the best I can offer. The cab, the engine with gearbox and aux gearbox, the drives and wheels and the fuel tank is resin stuff by Pavel Behensky of Strato Models. The frame, battery box, some of interior parts, the radiator, the front bumper and grille and the fenders are scratchbuilt. The headlights lenses and fenders skin is of PE parts by CTM. Peerless logging trailer is the AMT kit modified by Muleskinner´s tutorial. Painted with CAT equipment yellow rattle can and weathered with Revell colors using a sponge and old brush. Also the AK Interactive effects. The mud is by Sira Hobby. This is the photo booth... The model does not represent any particular truck, the imagination is involved a great deal. Sorry for any inaccuracies. The nearest parking lot with this kind of vehicle is a thousand miles from here or more.

I started to work on the same kit a few days ago. Just cleaned a few parts and assembled the engine and frame. My initial idea was going back to the roots and building a box stock kit. But even without any conversion there s too many parts requiring a special attention. Right now I have no idea how it turns out. I also stripped down a lot of chrome parts. I will gladly watch your progress.

I was trying to find such pic on the net but no luck so far. Those I found were much too modern for old Stabilair. I think I wont use it at all and replace it by something more realistic. Though not much accurate for given era. Anyway, thank you all for your identification of the part. Jarda

California Hauler by AMT contains this part which is supposed to be inserted in the rear of the frame. I wonder what it is because I don´t think I´ve ever seen anything like this in the truck frame. Is there a real counterpart of such a cross member? I would like to see a picture of a real thing. Can somebody help me? Thanks, Jarda

Check this site Sean. The pics I ve posted come from there. There s a lot more, a ton of pics, every detail possible. I hope you find what you re looking for. http://forums.justoldtrucks.com/2592/Project-Pete,-61-Peterbilt-281 Jarda

Very nice colors. Here is a detail of a steering box inside the frame of a 281 under restoration... Jarda

Check this. There is plenty of engines detailing and other things too. I find it very useful. http://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thscale/model_magazine_articles/car_modeller/

Excellent. I like the HD edition very much. And yours looks great.

I filled the hollows with scrap plastic and added a layer of putty. Then I let sand paper do the work. Easy but it slows down the progress. Revell probably saved a few cents... or feniks... whatever.

This is very nice model truck. Excellent paint job and marking. The color combo is eye-catching. Nice job with lowering the cab.

Wow, that´s huge. I like every single vehicle. And altogether it looks just awesome. Job well done.

Impressive build. The paint job is awesome. I also like the aftercooled CAT. Very nice.

Seeing these pictures I wondered what kind of bolts the the kit actually represents. I didn´t bother when building my model. Now, here we go... I don´t know of any manufacturer that would offer these inbus bolts in scale. The hexagonal Meng bolts look far better than the kit molds.

All been told. I can only add... Wow!

Nice work really. I like the welds and changed bolts.

The Peerless trailer kit includes a tray to be placed on the truck frame. But I made a simple wooden stepboard instead. Since I had no real wood at home I painted a piece of plastic sheet to imitate the wooden look. The catwalk on top of headache rack is also a wood-like plastic. The headlight buckets and brackets are kit parts. The lenses are CTM set for Volvo F10. The rims are made of sliced Evergreen tube. The air filter and exhaust pipe are finally glued to the engine and fender. The bracket is not yet in the picture as the color was still wet when I was taking the photos. I added chain hangers to the side of the frame. The silver jewelery chain is being painted. A single air horn is above the driver´s door. I will attach the door as the last item. Sorry, the horn is out of focus. Not much to be done on the truck, a little bit more work on the trailer though.

As a model builder (not kit collector) I want either a cat or a dog. Not a catdog. Marmon would be cool model. If it was Marmon. This is just another Peterbilt 359 with different decals and wrong grille. It´s a shame that the truck model sector is being so overlooked. Compare it with the other sectors of plastic kits modeling. How many new kits there is each year of armoured vehicles, battle tanks and such in 1/35 scale. The level of accuracy and details is just awesome. No problem in new tooling at all. I know, it´s about a trade share and competetion and maybe more important these days - licensing. But I still think that the kit manufacturers could do a lot more in our benefit than they do. While the war birds, tanks and subs are treated as models, the trucks are handled just like toys for kids who don´t care that much. Thank god for the few exceptions like Italeri´s Petes, Moebius´ Lonestars and Prostars and such. The idea of mainstream transkits doesn´t sound that bad to me. Provide me with a set of correct wheels, generic axles, a few kinds of suspension, a choice of engines and I am a happy man. I can make a frame of my own.

Well, the recovery goes well, I think. The new front axle is in its place. I just left the original brake chambers because it was impossible to rip them off the line and I didn´t want to cut the line. It was short already. I also changed the drag link because the new axle has differently shaped steering arm. For the first time I tried my luck with mud. I have never done that before so, it probably doesn´t look realistic very much. This is the hood with side panel attached. The problem is that I lost the other one and I am lazy to make it again. I hope I´ll find it some day. There is few more details to be added and I am working on them. Till then...

That looks nice. I have not seen too many of these built. I ve got one myslef, just cant decide if I should build it out of box (the real truck exists) or give up decals and make a version of my own.