The Big One

[Romell R]

Ah, shouldn't this be down in the Truck area? That is where mine is located at.

Well the way I see it this is a truck build , thats on the work bench so what I'll do is post the build here but I will post certain aspects of the build in the trucks forum.

[Romell R]

Well I decieded that if I was gonna build a more modern Kenworth I have to make some changes right off the bat, so in this installment I was able to modifiy (not scratch build) the cab and sleeper. The resin cab i bought fell short of being Kenworth correct so follow along as I make some corrections......enjoy

this is the resin cab as it came....the windows are wrong and the cab hieght is also wrong so we'll fix that now....

here the window has been corrected , I removed the post in the window and I also reshaped it i also added 5 scale inches to the bottom of the cab. Not quit done yet but its better

the front window had a seperator in the middle also so i removed it , here I have the sleeper that came with the kit ready to be modified

This section had to be cut out because the more modern sleepers are intergrated onto the cab.....

See where Im going???

Edited August 31, 2010 by Aftashox

[Romell R]

Heres where the fun starts I need to reshape the roof of the cab and the sleeper so they are more in line with a modern cab/sleeper please dont laugh ....well feel free to laugh I did when i looked at what I was doin LOL! enjoy

This is how I went about getting the shape I need.

ok laugh now while you have the chance....

I know you guys are like what the heck is he doing!!!???....

Ok you can stop laughing now! LOL its starting to come together....

Edited August 31, 2010 by Aftashox

[Romell R]

Heres another small update.....the wheels dont fit the kit spindles so I had to make brass fittings for them.....enjoy

Stay tunned to the Pro Modlers Channel for more to come....

Edited August 31, 2010 by Aftashox

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Well the way I see it this is a truck build , thats on the work bench so what I'll do is post the build here but I will post certain aspects of the build in the trucks forum.

Well in that case, and seeing on how you have a point there about it being on the work bench area also. It can fall into both places of the forum I guess. I will make a thread link in the Work Bench area also for my build. LOL

Remember, I said "link" my thread there as I'll just route it to the thread in the Truck area thread of where my build originally is taking place at.

Hey Romell, thanks for the idea man. I always thought the Work area was for the cars, and the Truck area was for well the trucks LOL.

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Well your off to a good start man! keep the good work up, and I'll be staying tuned to this channel for the duration of the build.

Oh yea, I was laughing at the photos you said we could laugh at as I know just what you was thinking mostly when you was working on it and what we would be doing also. Us model builders sure does some down right strange things when it comes to building a model. Like Fred Dryer would always say "It works for me" and that is what I mostly say to. If it works, go with it.

[Smart-Resins]

I always figure the "on the work bench" was for any model that fits within the forums guidelines that you are currently working on was for. Then the break downs were for the finished models! However, I always see poeple do it all sorts of ways and well, thats why I dont look just under certain catagories, but hit the "view new topic" button and read the names. If it looks interesting, I click it! if it dont, I dont! I would have passed this topic by completely if I had not noticed who the builder was. But after watching the chevelle, I just had to absolutly check it out! Aftashocks work is so exsquisit that I have to watch it no matter what the built topic is! Never know how many things I might learn!

[Foxer]

I wasn't laughing .. I wanted to see it chopped 5" and sectioned seven!

The cab looks awesome!

[chrismooney]

WOW great work!!! I love how you made a Pete into a kenworth... amazing!!!!

[pharr7226]

"It's big one. I'm coming to join you honey..." Fred G. Sanford. The G stands for gigantic truck.

You should call it Elizabeth. I'm enjoying watching the mods. Nice work on the suspension and cab. I never built a truck, even in my glue bomb teenage days.

[GrandpaMcGurk]

Yep, that's a big 'un for sure......close your eyes for a moment and imagine the size of that puppy in 1/8th scale, LOL.

[Romell R]

Yep, that's a big 'un for sure......close your eyes for a moment and imagine the size of that puppy in 1/8th scale, LOL.

YIKES!!! that thing would be big enough to ride on!

[cazxr2]

Awsome. I'm not a big truck fan but after seeing who's building It I had to stop

I'm by.(glad I did) ps I laughed haha looked like a school teachers hat lol. My eyes are on this one for sure, and still watchen the nova. Ur the man!!!!!

[Romell R]

Ok Fellas heres the next installment remember I said I wanted to model a more modern wrecker?? with a body like this one

but the kit is like this.....

notice the wrecker I want to model has a longer rear end that has two large doors and about a foot of space between them. So guess what my next mission is? you guessed it I need to scratch build that extra door and space, and at the same time I have to strech the frame. alrighty then! heres what i have done so far.....enjoy!

I decieded the easiest way to do this was to copy the section for the big door directly from the instruction sheet. So i pulled out a sheet of styrene and traced the parts from the tree and made a whole extra set.

new parts from styrene.....

Now what I did was put the first box together using kit parts and one of the sides i made so that the kit side could still connect to the wrecker rear.

heres the two seperate door boxes, one scratch built and the other kit build or kit modified.....

once the two boxes were built I had to connect them as one piece with a scale 12inch center piece....

heres what it looks like connected to the wrecker rear.....

Edited August 31, 2010 by Aftashox

[Romell R]

OK well i added about 49 scale inches to the wrecker body so that meant i had to add 49scale inches to the chassis so i cut the frame in half and grafted in 49 scale inches of frame from the extra frame that came with the kit....enjoy

Stay Tuned for more to come...

Edited August 31, 2010 by Aftashox

[Clay]

Great progress so far Rommel!!!

[crazyjim]

Doing your usual excellent work and it's interesting to watch. Why though, would anybody need a sleeper cab on a tow truck? They don't do long, multiple day trips, do they?

[mikemodeler]

This should be another "Must Watch" build and I can only imagine what it will look like when finished! There are not that many wrecker builds and having watched how Rommel has started this one, I know why- they are not easy. I have complete confidence that this will have many custom features and innovations like his other builds.

To echo Jim's question- Why would a wrecker need a sleeper cab? Is it for the longer wheelbase or the occassional trip? In watching the show "Wrecked", I only see the one truck with a sleeper, the rest are day cabs and they never show them towing long distances.

Thanks for the build, I will be amongst the "watchers" !!!

[Romell R]

Doing your usual excellent work and it's interesting to watch. Why though, would anybody need a sleeper cab on a tow truck? They don't do long, multiple day trips, do they?

To answer your question ....Yes they do make long muliple day trips. I have seen wreckers pick up a load and haul it across counrty. If your truck breaks down in Texas and you live in Michigan would you just leave the truck in Texas and say forget it? or would you bring it home and fix it? There are companys that specialize in long distance retrival

Edited August 28, 2010 by Aftashox

[pharr7226]

Very interesting fab work. I dig this. Keep it up Bro.

[mikemodeler]

To answer your question ....Yes they do make long muliple day trips. I have seen wreckers pick up a load and haul it across counrty. If your your truck breaks down in Texas and you live in Michigan would you just leave the truck in Texas and say forget it? or would you bring it home and fix it? There are companys that specialize in long distance retrival

With what these wrecker companies charge to fire up a rig like this I would be surprised to see them tow farther than the nearest shop or their storage yard. I have seen trucks being towed down the interstate but more likely they are the exception and not the rule.

Sweet build going, any ideas on a color scheme yet?

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Dang Rom, your doing some good work on this build man, keep it up man. I love watching this stuff take shape! I can't wait to see it finish, if it's anything like your truck model you did before, man this will be a killer for sure.

[Jim Gibbons]

Holy cow! I blink, and you have a new project going full tilt boogie! I think I'm going to have to change my user name to Lethargic Snail Builder. I'm especially interested in seeing how you do the LEDs to light it up.

[Scalper]

Wow the wheels look really cool.. I also like what you are doing to the cab.. great stuff.

[highway]

With what these wrecker companies charge to fire up a rig like this I would be surprised to see them tow farther than the nearest shop or their storage yard. I have seen trucks being towed down the interstate but more likely they are the exception and not the rule.

Mike, actually both you and Romell are correct. I drove heavy wrecker here in WV for a couple years around 2000, and unfortunately in trucks not as nice as O'Hare's, but our workhorse of the fleet was Freightliner FLD 120 very similar to this one, except with a single rear axle.

Even though I personally never took it on any long tows, it had been on a few over the road trips. If I remember correctly, around 2000 it was something like $75 or $100 an hour and something like a minimum of 2 hrs just for it to leave the lot. The over the road trips are few and far between, but it does happen.

Now, of course, of the four wrecker companies in my area that have big wreckers, all but one have sleeper cabbed wreckers. The non sleeper models, like the big sister to O'Hare's truck 317, which is the sleeper cab Romell is basing his build on, is truck 903, which is the truck in my avatar and better known to all us "Wrecked" fans as the "Mistress". In the case of the company I worked for, and is probably the case with O'Hare as well, our biggest trucks were ones with no sleeper, and only went out for recoveries and rollovers. If you've ever watched "Wrecked", you'll notice that the "Mistress" is usually only out on the recoveries and rollovers, she is seldom actually towing trucks. The biggest reason and the biggest benifit of the sleeper on the wrecker is if you are towing a truck with either someone riding along with the trucker like my better half did when I drove over the road or you have a team operation where one driver sleeps as the other drives, the sleeper gives you more or less a back seat for someone to sit.

I had many tows where that was the case, and if the wrecker didn't have the sleeper, someone would have been stuck along the side of the road. I even had one case where I had to tow a motorhome back to our shop, and I had a family of four in the wrecker, the mother and two kids sat on the bed for the ride. The kids justed loved riding in a big truck, by the way!

Sorry for being so long winded, but at least this should help explain why big wreckers have sleepers.