Tyrone Malone Papa Truck Questions

[catpack68]

I am wanting to start building the papa truck.I know nothing about semi trucks,but I have bought about a dozen of them since the first of the year lol.I am wanting to know what color are the engine,trans,frame/chassis and interior? Thanks.

[Jim B]

Engine color is probably one of the biggest debates in the model truck community.  The short answer is : it depends; but this thread might help.  There is a good list on Page 2 with a very detailed list of engine colors:

For frame colors, unless you're building a specific truck (like the Papa Truck), Gloss Black is a good default.  Transmissions are "usually" the same color as the frame, but not always.

Interior colors really vary depending on the year of the truck.  Most of the AMT truck kits are 1970s vintage so interiors could be tan, brown, red, blue, etc.  More modern trucks (Moebius or Italeri), the interior would probably be gray.

This site should help a lot: http://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thscale/truck_brochures/

For specific information on the Tyrone Malone Papa Truck, you might want to contact Håkan Persson.  He's our resident Tyrone Malone expert.

[catpack68]

Thanks for the repy.I will check that fotki site out.While checking out some other pics I found online,i was wondering if the Papa Truck is a 76 K100 VIT 200 Bicentennial Edition? It looks like frame was painted gold in all of the pics I've seen of those trucks. 

[truckabilly]

Check Håkan Persson´s reply here:

[Jim B]

Yes, the 1976 Bicentennial Kenworths (both the W900 & K100) had gold frames & blue interiors.

[catpack68]

Thanks for the replies. I think I have enough info to get started on it.

[Force]

Engine color is probably one of the biggest debates in the model truck community.  The short answer is : it depends; but this thread might help.  There is a good list on Page 2 with a very detailed list of engine colors:

For frame colors, unless you're building a specific truck (like the Papa Truck), Gloss Black is a good default.  Transmissions are "usually" the same color as the frame, but not always.

Interior colors really vary depending on the year of the truck.  Most of the AMT truck kits are 1970s vintage so interiors could be tan, brown, red, blue, etc.  More modern trucks (Moebius or Italeri), the interior would probably be gray.

This site should help a lot: http://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thscale/truck_brochures/

For specific information on the Tyrone Malone Papa Truck, you might want to contact Håkan Persson.  He's our resident Tyrone Malone expert.

Expert...well I.m not sure about that, but I have gathered all information and pictures I have found about the Malone trucks as I've allways liked them since I first saw them back in the early 80's, my reference library for the Malone trucks takes up 1.3Gb on my hard drive and I have all the original issues of the Malone model trucks unbuilt.
The problem is that I have never seen any of the Malone trucks live, I was only 16 when they were over here in Sweden and the show was far away from where I live...I would have liked to tho'. 
But I stay in contact with Ken Harris who drove the Papa Truck in one of the European Tours in the 80's and he manages the Tyrone Malone and the Bandag Racing Team Facebook site and he have given me some info and help in my research if the Malone trucks.
The only thing I haven't found out about is the original engine color on the Papa Truck, there are no pictures I know of or any other info about this so the only thing I can do is a qualified guess...it was either white or silver due to the reasons I gave in the reply I did for Lizard Racing.

If you want to do a correct Papa Truck you need to do some modifications to the kit, first you need to change the rear suspension to Torsion Bar, it's not visible when the model is done but the real truck had that setup.
The interrior needs some modifications to be correct, the dash in the kit is a regular K100 dash like all KW K100 kits available has, but the Aerodyne cabs had a different one piece dash design than the regular K100's so the kit dash is wrong for a COE Aerodyne, the VIT 200 Bicentennial truck also had lots of wood finish panels and cabinets behind the seats where the kit has diamond pattern vinyl upholstery.
The upholstery pattern on the seats are also wrong, the seat insert is the same diamond pattern with buttons as the rest of the panels in the kit, but it should be smooth fabric, otherwise the seats are white vinyl with a red, white and blue stripe between the blue fabric insert and the headrest.
The door panels are white on top, a red, white and blue stripe in the middle and blue carpet at the bottom, the carpet on the floor is also blue,
The paint is like all the VIT 200 Bicentennial trucks, white with red, blue and gold stripes, gold sunvisor and frame around the roof windows, the frame, fuel tanks, air tanks and other attached stuff is gold, the instructions says that the engine should be white and that can be true...but as I said...I'm not 100% sure there as I don't have anything to prove it.
The DD 8V-92T engine and Allison transmission are correct but the wheels are wrong, Papa Truck has ten hole Alcoa wheels today but back then it had Truck Mate chromed five hole split rims, Mo'luminum has the correct looking wheels, Papa Truck also had a Peterbilt front bumper with no holes.
This information is for the version of the truck the kit is supposed to be wich was at the beginning of the 80's, there were at least 4 versions of the truck over the years when Malone had it, and now the current owner Gary Ries's version wich is nice but isn't exactly true to the original.

Edited May 24, 2017 by Force

[Jim B]

Good information, Håkan.  Thanks.  Do you know where one could get the correct dash for the AMT K100 Aerodyne?  I have a couple in the stash, and I'd like them to be correct.  Well, correct-ish, anyway.

[gotnitro?]

That's why this forum is so wonderful,  there's so many knowledgeable people willing to help us builders out at a seconds notice . Being able to explain the tweaks to make these trucks period correct is so important for realism, and depending on time period !

 

Edited May 25, 2017 by gotnitro?

[Force]

Good information, Håkan.  Thanks.  Do you know where one could get the correct dash for the AMT K100 Aerodyne?  I have a couple in the stash, and I'd like them to be correct.  Well, correct-ish, anyway.

No I don't, I don't think anyone has thought about doing a correct K100 Aerodyne dash...I myself learned about the differences just a little while ago.
I don't understand why AMT didn't do a correct Aerodyne dash when they tooled up the then new K100 Aerodyne kits back in the late 70's-early 80's, the Aerodyne kit share nothing with the K123 wich is a completely different kit designed much earlier so it would have been possible.
The Revell AG Aerodyne and flat top K100 share tooling, but as they did the roof section with glass and the rear overhead cabinet especially for the Aerodyne version one think they could have done a correct dash too when they were at it.

Here is a link to a post where you can see the difference between the regular K100 dash and the K100 Aerodyne dash.
http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/122198-revell-k100-dash/

Edited May 26, 2017 by Force

[mistermodel]

could some one post a picture of a 1976 aerodyne dash so i can compare it to the kit one??The 8 bag suspention was added by Jerry in 1978 when the the 8 bag was introduced.Engine is a 350 hp 8v71 and should be white.The frame is gold but there is a much later photo when it was repainted white and in this photo you cant tell if the engine was dirty white or an upgraded silver series.

[Force]

As far as I know it was the current owner Gary Ries who painted the frame white, it was still gold when Malone had the truck.
After what I have found out during my researches Kenworth supposed to have stopped with white engines 1975, but I have seen white engines in KW's after that and factory color engines before.
I have also seen pictures of 1976 VIT 200 Bicentennial Edition trucks with both Cummins Beige and Cat Yellow engines (I haven't found any pictures of Bicentennials with Detroit Diesels), and I don't have any pictures of the actual engine in the Papa Truck, that's why I'm not certain on the color as it could be both ways.
But the Bandag Bandit hauler Hideout Truck wich is a 1978 has a silver engine, that I know for a fact as I have picture proof of it.

Here is some pictures from my files of the final version of the Papa Truck from when it was for sale after Jerry passed and before Gary Ries got it, Malone repainted the truck like this in the late 80's before the last European Tour 1989.
There are no markings on the truck except for the stripes and the Peterbilt bumper is still there.

The underside, gold frame WITH the torsion bar suspension, so it was not changed while Malone had it...it can still be there.

Interior from the "for sale" pictures.

 

The dash in the Papa Truck, pictures taken at Gary Ries museum, the seats looks to be redone as the inserts should have been all blue, the arm rest on the door panel was also white originally.

 

Another 1976 Kenworth VIT 200 Aerodyne Bicentennial dash, this one piece dash came with the K100 Aerodyne and was later introduced in all K100's

Edited June 1, 2017 by Force

[mistermodel]

great photos.thanks for posting