truckabilly

This is one of the nicest snappers I ve ever seen.

Another beauty rolls out. Just ready for a customer. The paint job is sweet.

Nice and clean. Great build. I like the details in the cab like the fans and the deployed low pressure tag.

Nice, nice, nice.... What else is there to say? I just love it. Nice build and nice photos.

It looks very good. I appriceate the details. You must have put a lot work in it.

Wonderful! Nice little truck.

Thanks a lot for the kind words, guys. I managed to trace down the main tubing circuits and tried to replicate them on my trailer. The big electric motor drives three horizontal cylinders which I believe are compressors or pumps of some kind. The three vertical cylinders on the RH side of the trailer are probably heat exchangers. Another heat exchanger is the muffler type thing on the tractor. The small metallic tank is probably an expansion vessel. Two pumps powered by the smaller electric motors drive whatever is inside through the circuits. The tubing is made of aluminium K&S tubes and steel wire. The elbows are made of plastic rod bent above the candle flame. The flexible metal hoses are made of vinyl insulation wrapped in a rolled PE part by CTM. There is even more tubing to be done when the big tank is decaled and weathered. Meanwhile, there are some other details that I have to work on.

Looks very nice.

Nice work, Tom. The better knowledge you have about a certain part, the less you are satisfied with the kit rendition. That´s how it is. But it´s nice if you are able and willing to do something about it. It´s not everone´s cup of tea, but I like this approach. Good luck with your further progress.

Very nice build! I like the combination of parts and I have a great respect to your scratch building skills. This is very inspiring. If I ever get my hands on building a KW T800 I´ll be peeping quite frequently at your build thread.

The few free days between Christmas and New Year´s Eve I spent working on the tubing and heat exchangers on the trailer. It is not the exact replica of the system unknown to me. I tried to get as much details from the pictures as I could. Maybe the details on the model are pronounced a little too much compared to the real thing. Besides that I finished the two work lamps. They are made of milk coloured diodes, but they can´t be turned on. There is no real electricity incorporated in the model. I´ve done some more plumbing. Not much but I go towards the finish bit by bit. Best wishes for the year of 2017.

How come the good guys leave us so early? Condolences to Gino´s family and friends. R.I.P. Hope you meet the Greatest Modeller up there.

Thank you all for your kind words. This project is really beyond my league but I´ll keep on fighting. The progress seems to be slow now since I am working on some small details. But I´ll have more pics when there is a real visible difference on the model. NASA should have kept the real truck on display somewhere. But they don´t seem to be intersted in anything but spacecraft. Hopefully at least one of the remaining trucks gets in the hands of a private collector. But they (NASA) already deprived some Peterbilts of their special equipment and they´re destined for auction as regular trucks. That´s why I am building this model. For after decades of service the real trucks may vanish just like that.

You´ve done a fabulous job replicating the real truck. Awesome build!

Another way of creating one´s own parts. Excellent idea. Looking forward to seeing a further progress on this one.

Nice work so far. I envy your ability to make a cab of your own.

Nice work with BMF. It improves the looks very much.

I don´t seem to take logical steps in this build. Instead of finishing the chassis, cab, trailer equipment and so on, I am jumping from one thing to another and back again. Adding a detail here and a sub-assembly there, this build has still a long way to go. But I´ve finally taken one big step - the white painting. I sprayed white GSI over a black surfacer and then I added a layer of gloss clear to get a smooth skin for decals. They are in the making, can´t wait to get them. I added some details in the front section of the trailer. The smaller electric motors and pumps are in place just as the tubing on the trailer side. The big electric motor with the three pumps is just sitting on the frame. I made a pair of glad hands too. After I get the decals I can continue with the weathering. Till then it´s just details and details and yet another details.

This is awesome. The bags, the shoes, the torn bar stool..... Incredible work!

Stratomodels (Pavel Behensky) sells the Page & Page suspension as a separate set. But I don´t know if there´s any left. He produces only limited batches and they are usually sold out very soon. He also created KW torsion bar suspension including the top feeded drive axles.

This is gorgeous. Nice details, decent weathering. Beautiful truck.

Nice collection! This would make me happy too. It looks even better under those guitars.

Thank you guys. I´ve got a little bit of progress again. I attached the anti slip layer on the fenders made of sand paper. The problem with the sand paper is that it collects the dust. So I brushed it with a layer of Sidolux - something like Future Wax. As it appeared too glossy I had to add yet another layer of matt varnish. Still it was too black so I used white oil color to fade it. It´s a bit complicated but I hope it works fine. Yeah, the fifth wheel is its place too. It took a while to install it because the the holes for pivots were not aligned very well. These are the real anti slip "carpets" as photographed by Jeff Lakaszcyck. I also attached the exhaust piping under the frame. I chipped the silver gunze off the rusty base color using the AK Interactive chipping effect. And the view on the real thing. I just hope that my piping will meet the smoke stacks behind the cab without any serious problem. All for now.

GMC Astro of AMT comes with 8V Detroit. I know some were gas turbine powered. I wonder what other engines could be placed in the Astro. I´ve seen a brochure with Cummins in it. I need the 8V Detroit for another project. But what engine can I use for the Astro instead? Would twin turboed Cummins of RoG work? Converted to a single turbo maybe? Thanks for any info.

Terrific! Just like real.