what you do not want to see in your rear view mirror

[happy grumpy]

I wanted to build this kit since I saw the movie in 1977 as a double feature with Airport 77. Fun thing is I thought that Duel which was supposed to be the B movie was way better than Airport 77 but I guess it is a matter of opinion. I waited years for AMT or Revell to come up with the truck or the valiant. Fast forward to 2015, I saw a YouTube video showing a build done from the AMT California hauler and the Lindberg dodge tanker. So I decided to do exactly that. Took me about 4 months to research and build the truck while trying to do the valiant at the same time. I plan to re visit the valiant as it not as good as I wanted, being too absorb by the truck. So, here it is, my favorite piece of my whole collection, I tried to reproduce as much as I could the real thing. Note that the hero truck is reportedly a tag axle, mine is not but the second truck they used for the extended shots for the movie version is supposed to have double axles. Not sure if it’s true but the truck you see has elements of both trucks. Not 100 % accurate but anyone who has seen the movie will recognize it. The last photo shows how it is set up, Simple but effective.

And if you made it so far, thanks for looking

[the goon]

Truly amazing.

Mark

[vincen47]

Your photography, not to mention your models, is amazing.

[angelo7]

Awesome job.  Who's the truck driver?  ?

[slusher]

Impressive models! Fantastic work!

[peteski]

Excellent modeling, and superb photography!  With the natural lighting and backgrounds, the models look like 1:1 vehicles!  The weathering is also excellent!

[ChrisR]

AWESOME!!!!

[DRIPTROIT 71]

Excellent weathering! You are truly an artist!! You have captured the look of the real thing! Excellent work!!

[Jim B]

Absolutely fantastic all around!  Extremely well done.

[Mopar - D]

Fantastic build and photography! 

[crazyjim]

Very impressive build.

[Ace-Garageguy]

VERY nice. I honestly thought I was looking at shots of the real truck initially. 

That says a lot about the quality of your craftsmanship, realistic finish and weathering, and photography.

I really love those old Petes too...trucks that look like "trucks".   

[1959scudetto]

Excellent build and phantastic photography, Mario ! The weathering is also spot-on - if it was not for the front wheels, I couldn't tell this one from the movie truck: very intimidating !

The pics under the burning sun - as it was on the screen!

I remember the cinema poster back in '73 saying: "When you see this movie, you won't overtake a truck anymore!"

[PappyD340]

Extremely nice build!

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Superb builds Mario! ?   I remember watching this movie at the time and sitting on the edge of the couch trying to push that poor little Valiant.?   A great movie for the fans of the genre, you have successfully reproduced the main elements, great work, you can be proud of it!   You have described very well all the elements to make the truck but what did you take as a basic model to reproduce the Valiant?

[happy grumpy]

Thank you all for your kind comments. I really appreciate it.

Francis,

the Valiant is the combo of the AMT duster for the front and the Revell Dart 68 for the rest.The front grill is from Harts Parts. The rest is scratch built and bits and pieces from the spare parts box.

I want to go back at it to correct a few things and repaint it.

[gotnitro?]

Fantastic work and photography 

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Looks really good! Nice photography as well .

[Rockford]

That's got to be one of the best renditions of the Duel truck I've seen, so realistic with the weathering too! Marvellous work. 

[Oldcarfan27]

Bravo!

Your pictures make it look intimidating even though it's not moving.

For me, this is a family movie that we like to watch many times throughout the year and you've captured the essence of the beast!

I keep looking under the truck trying to see if there are cowboy boots walking around, kicking the tires.

Edited November 18, 2021 by Oldcarfan27

[Gramps46]

I really like the truck and the photos.  Thanks for sharing them with us.

[spencer1984]

Awesome job on this! That's one of the fun things with building movie subjects - there's always a little room for interpretation thanks to the mix of hero and stunt vehicles.

[grodudulle77]

It looks like the real, very nice work !! ??

[steveracer]

WOW

[Bugatti Fan]

That is a very nice rendition of that iconic truck Mario

I had a lot of fun building a model of the Duel Rig way back in the 80's and I wrote an article about it that appeared in the November 2015 edition of MCM.

Number plates were hand painted at the time of my build, but I think I have have seen copies of the plates somewhere on the internet. Not sure if they were to download for printing or if someone has produced a set of decals for it.

Edited December 7, 2021 by Bugatti Fan