Big Scale "BigCam" Pete 359

[ReduitRetro]

Hello again gang! First of all let me apologize for the state of my workbench, but if I clean it off I'll never be able to find anything, lol! I originally started out on this project about 3 years ago, but other projects kept leaping in front of it. As you can see, this is Monograms 1/16 scale Pete 359 I originally purchased some 20 years ago, and also in that time I acquired an Ebay junkyard built up for spare parts in preparation for the build I had in mind. I did not want to build it box stock, and I definitely didn't want to build it with the supplied CAT 3408 V8 engine. So, since I had an old 1/25 scale AMT Pete 359 with a Cummins engine, I had good parts to actually "scale up" the build. I started by cutting the transmission off the CAT motor, and begin taking measurements to scratch build the Cummins. The engine in the AMT is the Cummins 350 BigCam 1, so I had to make a few changes to better replicate the Cummins 855 BigCam 2 that I wanted to scratch build. The block was made up of several thicknesses of sheet styrene, lots of sanding, shaping, and looking at lots of photo's and spec sheet's. The cylinder heads, rocker boxes, and valve cover's, were cast from scratch built parts that were later made into molds. With the exception of major engine parts, such as the exhaust manifold, coolant manifold, and after-cooler, most of the other components can be sourced from the kit supplied engine with a little modification, but that's the easy part. Other modifications to the kit includes a scale 4' frame stretch, steerable front axle, larger fuel tanks, corrected battery boxes, and adding storage boxes. I have also lengthened the stock hood (119" bumper to back of cab) version supplied in the kit, to the 127" extended hood version available at that time (1979). If interested, please follow along with me on this build, and I'll occasionally update you as I go. Thanks for looking!

 

 

[chuckyr]

Nice!  Following.

[Mopar - D]

I’m following to! Nice work so far looking forward to seeing what’s next. 

[Rockford]

That Cummins is impressive. I love the old Cummins engines, went like the wind and seemingly lasted forever. 

[ShakyCraftsman]

Hey ReduitRetro

  Sweet build! Hey you should turn that Cummins into a NTC-475 twin turbo! A lot of Petes ran those back in the day, and you can get them to put out 800 hp!

they sure look wicked!

Ron G 

Edited August 22, 2020 by ShakyCraftsman

[chuckyr]

I have several resin 1/16 scale engines from an Australian company that went defunct years ago.  I've been told told that they were not accurate.  However, i plan to use them any way in future projects

.  

[chuckyr]

[ReduitRetro]

17 hours ago, ShakyCraftsman said:

Hey ReduitRetro

  Sweet build! Hey you should turn that Cummins into a NTC-475 twin turbo! A lot of Petes ran those back in the day, and you can get them to put out 800 hp!

they sure look wicked!

Ron G 

Hello Ron, That's a great idea on the twin turbo Cummins. I kind of forgot about the NTC-475, partly because you hardly see them. Since I still haven't made my mind up on exactly which engine after-cooler design I'm going with, this is definitely a possibility. I happen to have an unbuilt 1/25 Revell Pete "Can-Do" wrecker that happens to have this exact motor in it, so I'll have a good base to scale up from should I decide to go this direction. Thanks again for the suggestion, and I plan on posting more progress pics soon. And Ron, if I decide to do this engine, I'll give you all due credit sir!

[ReduitRetro]

3 hours ago, chuckyr said:

I have several resin 1/16 scale engines from an Australian company that went defunct years ago.  I've been told told that they were not accurate.  However, i plan to use them any way in future projects

.  

Hello Chuck, yes I remember these engines for sale on Ebay years ago, that's what put the idea in my mind on changing the engine in my Pete. I definitely remember the Detroit 8V-92 , but I couldn't remember if a Cummins was available by this seller. I did look for it on Ebay, but with no luck, so I decided to build my own. I wish I would have made a cast for the block after I scratch built it, so I could reproduce it for someone wanting to do the same thing for their build. Anyway, thanks for following, and I'll be posting more pics soon.

[Mr mopar]

Here is the Cummins I got off Ebay 8 years ago !

[ReduitRetro]

10 hours ago, Mr mopar said:

Here is the Cummins I got off Ebay 8 years ago !

This resin engine kit definitely could have saved me a little time. Generally the casting is close, although somewhat simplified when it comes to the cylinder head(#2) which is pictured on your instructions, but I didn't see it in your parts layout. Cummins engines of this era used three separate heads dedicated to two cylinders each, but the rocker box/valve cover combinations are close enough. Still, would have loved to have gotten my hands on one though!

[Mr mopar]

The casting is not the best but with a little work it should be ok and just to let you know I have two of them ! 

Edited August 24, 2020 by Mr mopar

[SpreadAxle]

That Cummins is outstanding!

[ShakyCraftsman]

Hey Reduit

 Any updates on this build. Your doing a great job and I really want to see that big Cummins finished and painted.?

Ron G 

[ReduitRetro]

On ‎8‎/‎26‎/‎2020 at 7:07 PM, ShakyCraftsman said:

Hey Reduit

 Any updates on this build. Your doing a great job and I really want to see that big Cummins finished and painted.?

Ron G 

Hey Ron,

I'm currently scratch building the water pump, water manifold, and the twin turbo 475 exhaust manifold...again, that was a great idea on doing that engine variation. I'm hoping to be uploading more pics within the next week, and definitely within 2 weeks. Thank you for your and others interest in this build, as it helps drive me forward this project.

[ShakyCraftsman]

Hey Reduit 

  Do you have any plans of marketing this for all of us...yes, yes, yes...please! Great work and check out my build of the Revell Peterbilt 359 4 axle heavy haul tractor, it has the big 475 twin turbo in it, and I added a whole lot of oil, air, water and fuel lines to it based off of the old Model Car magazine articles on how to detail model trucks. Have some pictures posted of it, if you need more let me know.

Ron G