Bill Drennen 379 hood???

[Mike77]

I picked up a Peterbilt 379 hood conversion kit on Ebay. Can anyone tell me if this is a Bill Drennen hood, and if so, if it made for AMT or Revell Petes? Thanks!

 

[Petetrucker07]

Mike, I'll have a look at mine. Yours looks different, if my memory is workin right. I'll post a pic of mine. I believe, from what Bill told me, it was one of the last 379 hoods of his. Oh, and it's for Italeri kits.

[Superpeterbilt]

That looks like a Revell snap 359 hood stretched to a 379 Mike.

[Mike77]

That looks like a Revell snap 359 hood stretched to a 379 Mike.

Hmmm...I wonder who made it. It's all resin and it's well-done. The resin is smooth, not grainy like a lot of resin parts are. it includes the 4 extra grille bars which is what led me to think it might be a Drennen conversion.

[chuckyr]

Without seeing it close up, it could be.  Or a very good re-pop. I have an original Dreenan kit, cast by Clint Freeman in a tan-ish vinyl resin. Your item looks to be cast in a cheaper material.  But I think there were several castiers later on that used different materials.  You are missing the cab and a few other items that came in the original kit. 

Edited July 4, 2016 by chuckyr

[Mike77]

Without seeing it close up, it could be.  Or a very good re-pop. I have an original Dreenan kit, cast by Clint Freeman in a tan-ish vinyl resin. Your item looks to be cast in a cheaper material.  But I think there were several castiers later on that used different materials.  You are missing the cab and a few other items that came in the original kit. 

 

I know it's hard to tell from a photo but this seems to be pretty good material as resin goes. I've had a lot of resin parts that are gritty and grainy and these are nice a smooth. Besides the cab what other parts does the original Drennen kit come with?

[Petetrucker07]

I have the hood conversion for the Italeri 378. The fenders and lower cab panels are cast together, with extra grille bars. It is a nice piece. I want to use it, I just can't decide what.

[kwt950]

It could be a knock off of my hood, hard to tell.   Can you post pics of the underside of the hood and fenders  

 

Bill

[kevjoh]

The Pete hood you're showing is the Clint Freeman 1/24th scale hood. MS-10 You'll notice that it's got the narrow hood strip which is the same as the 1/24th Italeri Pete 378 kit This hood is to convert the Italeri 378 to a 379. Just checked mine, bought it way back in 2002 for $35.

The Bill Drennen 379 hood is 1/25th scale, it's to convert the Revell Pete 359 to a 379. It's got the wider hood hood strip the same as the Revell kit.     

Edited July 17, 2016 by kevjoh
gramma

[Mike77]

The Pete hood you're showing is the Clint Freeman 1/24th scale hood. MS-10 You'll notice that it's got the narrow hood strip which is the same as the 1/24th Italeri Pete 378 kit This hoods to convert the Italeri 378 to a 379. Just checked mine, bought it way back in 2002 for $35.

The Bill Drennen 379 hood is 1/25th scale, it's to convert the Revell Pete 359 to a 379. It's got the wider hood hood strip the same as the Revell kit.     

Thank you very much for that information Kevin. I was trying to decide what to do with the hood and at least I know now what it'll mate up to. I might try to hunt down a resin Ultra cab or just stick with a regular kit cab or make a 379 wrecker or, or, or...

[kevjoh]

Glad I was able to help. I reckon the ideal kit for this 379 extended hood would be the Italeri Pete 378 # 3857 Long Hauler kit, it's got the same big sleeper as the Italeri 377 kit. There's a heap of info on Google about this kit.