Revell's Peterbilt 359: WIP

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

As many of you may know, I'm currently building Revell's Auto Transport Trailer.

 

 

 

As a companion to that trailer, I've selected Revell's Peterbilt 359.

 

 

In just a couple of build sessions I have the basic chassis assembled with a test-fit of the engine.

 

 

It's time to get some wheels under this mamma-jamma. For kit chrome I usually spray a dull coat first then do some detail painting and washes.

 

 

I finished the wheel detailing and started to assemble the wheel sets for a photo. There's a little problem. The tires are warped which is causing a wobbly bent-rim looking effect. I can mount the tires without the center spacer but then they're too close together. It looks like I have a few choices at this point, I'll wait to see how it all looks as it comes together before I decide what to do.

As always, I'm open to suggestions

 

Thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post any comments.

David G.

[trick my mixer]

I invested in a Mobius wheel and tire kit. It made the world of difference on how the truck looked. I have built 4 of those snaptite kits and I do not use factory tires and wheels. Revell dropped the ball with wheels and tires otherwise a pretty good kit .

[David G.]

21 hours ago, trick my mixer said:

I invested in a Mobius wheel and tire kit. It made the world of difference on how the truck looked. I have built 4 of those snaptite kits and I do not use factory tires and wheels. Revell dropped the ball with wheels and tires otherwise a pretty good kit .

Thanks for your suggestion Lucas, I'll certainly keep it in mind.

David G.

[Gary Chastain]

Glad to see someone build one of these kits, I have three of them just sitting and have put off building them. Will be watching closely, might steal some ideas😉😉

[David G.]

22 hours ago, Gary Chastain said:

Glad to see someone build one of these kits, I have three of them just sitting and have put off building them. Will be watching closely, might steal some ideas😉😉

Thanks for following Gary. Please feel free to use any ideas or techniques I show here, chances are pretty good that I stole them from someone else anyway!     

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

I took a week off building to allow my fingers to heal up a bit. I've been having trouble with my finger tips drying and splitting due to the cold & dry winter weather. They're not completely healed but they're getting better. So to celebrate, here's an update!

Test fitting the cab and hood so they can get used to their future homes.

 

 

The wheels are assembled and look pretty good, at least from this angle.

 

 

I'm still working to find a way of getting the dual tires to align properly. At worst, if I mount the wheels with the gap on the bottom it'll be less noticeable. But to me, that would seem like cheating. 

So... onward!

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to share your thoughts and impressions.

David G.

[BK9300]

David, its hard to know for certain without having a tire in hand, but would a carefully placed cut(s) in the warped area, where rim meets the tire, help alleviate the warp and allow the spacer to function properly?  If they are all warped similarly, might just be bad molding and another set of tires are in order as suggested earlier!

[Jürgen M.]

Looking pretty good! Concerning the tires, I think they're terrible! I built a few of those level 3 kits. The tires are hard and warped. 

Meanwhile I've exchanged rims and tires on all of them! Makes the difference!

[David G.]

19 hours ago, BK9300 said:

David, its hard to know for certain without having a tire in hand, but would a carefully placed cut(s) in the warped area, where rim meets the tire, help alleviate the warp and allow the spacer to function properly?  If they are all warped similarly, might just be bad molding and another set of tires are in order as suggested earlier!

Yes indeed Brian! That's exactly what I ended up doing.

After a few days of fiddling about, I came to the same conclusion. I cut about half of the circumference of the webbing and packed the warped areas of the tires with paper napkin. Once mounted, I massaged and smooshed the tires into a more realistic shape. I'll post all that in a future update.

Great minds, eh?

Thanks again,

David G.

[David G.]

19 hours ago, Jürgen M. said:

Looking pretty good! Concerning the tires, I think they're terrible! I built a few of those level 3 kits. The tires are hard and warped. 

Meanwhile I've exchanged rims and tires on all of them! Makes the difference!

Thank you Jürgen. Yeah, the tires aren't great but they're certainly not the worst I've worked with.

I did consider replacing them with some aftermarket units but I want to keep this build as OOB as I can. And honestly, I'm not really a truck builder. This is likely the only road tractor I'll ever build and I plan to give it only as much love as it needs to live.  

Thanks again,

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

While I worked out the details on correcting the warp on the tires, I turned my attention toward prepping these chromed fuel tanks to install on the chassis.

 

 

I stripped the chrome plating and assembled the tanks. They'll need much filing and sanding to remove the seams and flash.

 

 

Filed and sanded smooth then painted with Tamiya TS-19 Metallic Blue, the color I plan to use for the cab.

 

 

With some detail painting and BMF for the tank straps, the tanks are ready to mount to the chassis.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to share your thoughts and comments.

David G.

[Rockford]

Like the job you made of the fuel tanks! 

[Jürgen M.]

Too bad you're not planning further trucks! You're doing a great job on this one!

[David G.]

21 hours ago, Rockford said:

Like the job you made of the fuel tanks! 

Thank you Steve. I'm quite happy with how they turned out.

 

21 hours ago, Jürgen M. said:

Too bad you're not planning further trucks! You're doing a great job on this one!

That's most kind of you to say Jürgen, thank you.

I may not be planning any... but I'm also not ruling them out. I'll build just about anything that strikes my fancy but I do tend to stick to model cars, mostly.

David G.

[Jürgen M.]

I'm sure those are the same high quality as this build! Maybe I should take a look at some of your threads? 😊

[David G.]

23 hours ago, Jürgen M. said:

I'm sure those are the same high quality as this build! Maybe I should take a look at some of your threads? 😊

Thank you Jürgen, I would be honored. I also have a dedicated Facebook page called Model Cars, Mostly. It's linked in my signature.

David G.

[Jürgen M.]

Thanks for the info David! 

[titino]

Very good

[David G.]

2 hours ago, Jürgen M. said:

Thanks for the info David! 

My pleasure.

 

2 hours ago, titino said:

Very good

Thank you kindly Germán.

David G.

[Gary Chastain]

Wow, those tanks look outstanding, doing this kit justice. 

[David G.]

17 hours ago, Gary Chastain said:

Wow, those tanks look outstanding, doing this kit justice. 

Thank you kindly Gary. I remember the amazing work you did on a couple of the rigs you built, so thank you.

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

I've worked out the tire problem!  ....mostly.

As I'm sure you all remember, the kit tires came with a significant warp that caused them to seat incorrectly on the wheel sets. All the tires had this though some were worse than others.

 

 

 @BK9300 and I seemed to come up with the same idea at about the same time, thanks for that! Cutting along the webbing about halfway around the tire help alleviate the warp . When mounting the tires to the rims, I stuffed the warped sections with some rolled-up paper napkin to help round them out a bit.

 

 

The cutting and stuffing, along with some smooshing and massaging of the tires corrected almost all but the worst of the warps.

 

As always, thanks for taking a look and please feel free to offer your tips, comments and questions.

David G.

[TopherMcGinnis]

Looking good! I bought aftermarket wheels and tires for this stretched/lowered girl. 

My finger tips do the same thing during the winter. I've found that putting Neosporin into the cracks with a bandage over it while sleeping helps.

[Steve H]

This is looking really good David, especially considering you are not a truck builder. I’ve got 2 truck kits to build one day, hope I can do them the same justice you are here. The tire issue looked like a bunch of no fun, good solution you found. The BMF straps on the tanks look very nice! 

[David G.]

22 hours ago, TopherMcGinnis said:

Looking good! I bought aftermarket wheels and tires for this stretched/lowered girl. 

My finger tips do the same thing during the winter. I've found that putting Neosporin into the cracks with a bandage over it while sleeping helps.

I think I remember seeing that tractor before. I especially like the wheels you selected for it.

Yeah, I do the Neosporin and bandages or "mummy fingers" almost every night. It seems that as a couple of the splits a few new ones start in other spots. It's an ongoing struggle for many of us this time of year.

 =D-

15 hours ago, Steve H said:

This is looking really good David, especially considering you are not a truck builder. I’ve got 2 truck kits to build one day, hope I can do them the same justice you are here. The tire issue looked like a bunch of no fun, good solution you found. The BMF straps on the tanks look very nice! 

Thanks Steve. You should crack into those truck kits! They're fun to build but make sure you have a large work area, especially if you plan on building any trailers. 

Thanks again, I'm quite pleased with how the tanks turned out.

David G.