papa truck?

[Lizard Racing]

After building race cars off and on for many years, I decided to try a big rig. 

I chose the Papa Truck because it's a race car hauler to start with.

I can't decide to build it a Papa Truck, or something else.

In the meantime, I am working on the chassis and engine.  There's a lot of parts to this!  Here's what I have so far.

Ideas?  Thanks for your attention.

 

[Bennyg]

Looks straight so far. If you're doing the papa truck, it had a gold chassis. Looking forward to see how you go with this.

Ben

 

 

 

[Lizard Racing]

Yes, I remember from the instructions that the frame was gold and the engine white.

I guess I've decided to make it into something else.

Thanks for the comment. 

[kilrathy10]

You've got a great start.....I'm working on one of these, myself....Stalled, for the time being, but I'll probably get back on it, quite soon......It does make for a great car hauling platform, though.....I'd love to see what color you choose to paint this one....I painted mine orange, of course, and it will be used to haul a matching motif Ford Raptor or something....I haven't decided, yet.....I've always thought this would have been awesome hauling something else other than the Bandag Bandit.....I say....Go for it....Use your imagination.....

[Force]

After what I have found out during my research the real Papa Truck was originally a 1976 VIT 200 Bicentennial Edition so it was painted as those trucks were, white, red, blue and gold with white, red, blue and wood grained interior.
I have not found any pictures of the engine in the Papa Truck anywhere but there is some information that says Kenworth stopped with white engines 1975, but I have seen white engines in KW's well after that and engine manufacturers colors before, and this truck is a '76 so the 8V-92 engine in the truck could have been white but it could also have been silver as most Detroit Diesel turbo charged 92 series engines were silver from the factory.
The real Papa truck had torsion bar rear suspension and not the Air Glide 100 air ride that's in the kit, the wheels were Truck Mate five hole chromed split rims for the version the kit is supposed to be, a later version had two hole tubeless chromed rims and a slightly different paint job.

Edited May 21, 2017 by Force

[towman1271]

Great start..Look forward to seeing it, no matter which direction you go!

[Lizard Racing]

Here's the chassis completed.  Obviously I'm not doing the Papa Truck.

I couldn't get all the stacks to look right, so I fabricated a single exhaust and relocated the intake.  This is probably not correct in the 1:1 world.

One tip that you big rig regulars probably already know: Because of the long frame rails, be sure to check that they are not warped or twisted.  I wish I had checked that BEFORE I assembled the chassis. Some tweaking will now be necessary.

I'm still debating on the body color.

Thanks for your attention.

[SpreadAxle]

When going with a single stack on a Kenworth ,  the air cleaner stack is usually where you have it. As to the frame warpage, it is something to look for with amt's truck kits. It's worse with this kit because the frame is longer than normal to accommodate the hauler body. Looking pretty good for your first truck kit.

[DRIPTROIT 71]

Looks good so far!!