Long Hauler 379 - 119

[eizzle]

Ok, nope, I've never seen one. Well, it looks like truckabilly has a great start to a lowboy to. Regardless, it's beautiful work!

[Truck parts]

Great job.and looking forward to seeing it done.

[catd11rpusher]

Jarda you have a gift, the frame is beautiful!!! Your off to a great start. I saved pictures of your bills trucking. I started to just run the airlines and the other stuff. I will post some pictures soon You did a great work with your detail. I REALLY MEEN THAT

[truckabilly]

A Holmes DTU (Detachable Towing Unit) turns a truck with a 5th wheel into a wrecker.

 

 

Exactly right! I am sorry Colin, it was not meant to be a lowboy. Here is another picture of a real thing.

This picture shows the unit standing on its own. A truck sneaks underneath it the same way as when coupling a trailer. The 5th wheel and four other mountings make a tight connection.

There is probably more systems on the market from more manufacturers. I haven´t seen neither of them except for the pictures. The Holmes units (or similar) can be found on European trucks too.

I found this picture on some Dutch model web sites but there was no comment on it. I don´t even know the scale. Maybe it´s a diecast model, I don´t know

 

I hope I make mine just as nice.

Edited July 20, 2017 by truckabilly

[eizzle]

Im sure it will, it's looking very nice right now!

Edited September 8, 2012 by eizzle

[truckabilly]

Thank you, Colin.

Now I am looking for some info on the wet line kit. I guess I need one for a truck with the DTU. What do I need to replicate?

1. PTO - it is located on the bottom side of the transmission, right?

2. Hydraulic pump - is it attached directly to PTO? Or do I need a drive shaft? If so, where is the pump located?

3. A tank - sometimes it is mounted behind the cab, sometimes on the frame side, just like a fuel tank. Is there any rule for that?

Any other important things? If someone has any knowledge about this, would you please share with me? I´m all ears. I tried to find a picture of those components mounted on a truck but all I found was the tanks. Thank you for any info.

[eizzle]

I think it spends on the truck, we have trucks with front mount pumps, others are located in various places, I think it will basically come down to your truck and how it's configured. The hydraulic fluid tank on our trucks are frame mounted behind the cabs, on the drivers side.

[modeltruckmafia]

Here is my version of the uickswap style wrecker http://www.way2manyhobbies.com/peterbilt_377_NRC_Quick_swap_wrecker.html

[truckabilly]

Thanks a lot for your comments. The progress on the DTU is slow but steady. I have the boom assembled, the winch bed and the winch itself. Still a few details to add, though.

 

 

 

 

I have two of the three telescopic parts of the low lift. They are simlified a bit and the end with the hole will be reshaped to match the real deal better.

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by truckabilly

[Truck parts]

That's very nice unit.

[Tony Bryan]

Jarda

Nice work on scratch building the DTU, truck is coming along great, look forward to more updates

[truckabilly]

Thank you Gordon and Tony. Now I have all the main parts ready, so I tested them if they fit the way they are supposed to. Well, they don´t. I must have made a mistake somewhere. There is 5mm difference in the length of either the subframe or the boom. This resulted in the different angle of the hydraulic cylinders. The ones that lift the boom. So, I had to cut the subframe and extend it 5mm more. It was not glued yet when I took the pictures.

 

Here is the frame cut with extending parts. They are still loose on the wires.

Here you can see the extending parts in the rails.

This is supposed to be the lower position of the boom. Will have to shorten the hydraulic cylinders to get the horizontal position.

This is the underlift in full extend.

With the subframe extended the tower fits better inbetween the guiding plates.

These two pictures show the boom in the upper posotion.

This is where I am now. I hope to have next update soon.

Edited July 20, 2017 by truckabilly

[Old Albion]

Nice detailing and great scratch building skills.

Dave

[truckabilly]

Now all the main parts are in surface primer.

 

 

 

Now it is time to think about the colour. What colour of DTU would best match to a dark-blue truck? Yellow, red, orange or black? What do you, guys think?

Edited July 20, 2017 by truckabilly

[bandit1]

Now all the main parts are in surface primer.

Now it is time to think about the colour. What colour of DTU would best match to a dark-blue truck? Yellow, red, orange or black? What do you, guys think?

Still showing up as a broken link?...wtf?

[truckabilly]

Photobucket has made some change. Even though they say that all my pics are safe, there is some problem, apparently. Everything is okay on my computer though. I am sorry if my pics do not work. Let me try it through the "attach files" feature.

[mackinac359]

The pics show up for me just fine.

Tim

[Jeff Johnston]

Wow how did I miss this one. Incredible work.

[bandit1]

Yep....workin' fine now!

[BigBad]

Now all the main parts are in surface primer.

Now it is time to think about the colour. What colour of DTU would best match to a dark-blue truck? Yellow, red, orange or black? What do you, guys think?

I would have gone with a mediium blue, silver, medium grey or white, but that's just me. Any other color you mentioned would work pretty nicely except black

as it would not have enough contrast with a dark blue. This thing is shaping up nicely Jarda, keep it up. Outstanding work as usual.

[truckabilly]

Okay, I try my luck with yellow. I will have to play with the finish a little but this is how it looks after the first coat.

 

 

Besides the yellow DTU parts you can see the tanks, the brackets, the breathers and a reshaped fifth wheel ready for painting. The pair of fuel tanks are the kit parts while the short one for the hydraulic liquid is scratchbuilt.

 

The headache rack is made of the RoG parts. I still need to produce the base for it.

 

 

 

The back wall is cut to shape off the scrap piece of sheet, brush painted the humbrol silver. I did not take too much care of the looks as it will be facing the back of the sleeper.

 

The conditions for painting are not excellent at this part of the year. I wonder when I am able to continue with the paint job. There is not much to do on the model till the painting is finished. Plus, I am waiting for some aftermarket parts, so the progress will not be any faster. But stay tuned, I will update now and then.

Edited July 20, 2017 by truckabilly

[kilrathy10]

This thing looks very nice...Excellent work..The plumbing looks great...Something I'd never do...Just don't have the patience...But you guys seem to have an infinite amount of it...Awesome...

[Tony Bryan]

If your wife can use nail polish inside during winter, I can't see any problem painting a model inside where it is warm also, and the bathroom is the best place to do it, my wife has a few stories she could tell you hahahahaha

[bandit1]

Okay, I try my luck with yellow. I will have to play with the finish a little but this is how it looks after the first coat.

Besides the yellow DTU parts you can see the tanks, the brackets, the breathers and a reshaped fifth wheel ready for painting. The pair of fuel tanks are the kit parts while the short one for the hydraulic liquid is scratchbuilt.

The headache rack is made of the RoG parts. I still need to produce the base for it.

The back wall is cut to shape off the scrap piece of sheet, brush painted the humbrol silver. I did not take too much care of the looks as it will be facing the back of the sleeper.

The conditions for painting are not excellent at this part of the year. I wonder when I am able to continue with the paint job. There is not much to do on the model till the painting is finished. Plus, I am waiting for some aftermarket parts, so the progress will not be any faster. But stay tuned, I will update now and then.

I dont know whats going on but photobucket is being a pain in the butt still!...still broken links?

[Tony Bryan]

I dont know whats going on but photobucket is being a pain in the butt still!...still broken links?

There is nothing wrong with the links, but try these

Clear out your browser's cache and cookies and make sure you have the most current versions of Flash and Java Also, check to see if Javascript is enabled (Javascript is different from Java)

in other words make sure your computer is up to date with all updates current

Hopefully this will help