Biggu Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 I must confess, I wasn’t going to post this project as a wip but I have been ‘convinced’ to actually do it as a wip. My long time friend Brian Kerr suggested that I actually should participate. LOL. So here goes. I have been building model trucks off and on for a very long time. Built all of the original AMT trucks back in the day and for a kid they turned out ‘ok’, and over the years like most of us I have found some honed skills. My skills pale to a lot of you guys here but I have fun and life is short so what the heck. This truck has the blessing of SWMBO, and in fact it was kind of her idea…. She said one day “ if we were to buy a real truck and go driving on jobs around North America, what would we get?” So this is something that may possibly be something I would love to drive. But, be it known my first love is gravel trucks but I wouldn’t mind sitting behind the wheel of a nice Pete. So with that prelude I bought the “Amt” Peterbilt 378 Long Hauler. Knowing it’s a pretty good kit and looks cool when done, as I used one to convert to a gravel truck and the over all finished truck looks pretty good to my old eyes. My plan is to detail this a little more than I normally would by adding some CTM photo etch, different drive tires, 3d brake chambers ( the box stock Italeri brake chambers SUCK , as they are way undersized and only one set of spring brakes. Not for me ) and then the new 3d printed 60 Series Detroit. I will plumb the air system and add a few engine details. I’m not a pro builder by any means but I’m having fun and As I worked all my life with trucks, it is a subject I know a little bit about. I’m not sure what trailer I will put behind it be it a flat deck as I have the gorgeous Mobeius High Boy ( but I need to find some old school Lincoln logs for a load ) or possibly clean up and detail the old AMT Bullshipper. But I have a way to go before that decision has to be made…. This is the kit … 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 12 Author Share Posted August 12 So with a start I modified the crossmembers a bit to accept air plumbing. Not Peterbilt certified but a little artistic license and nothing earth shattering here really .. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 12 Author Share Posted August 12 (edited) The next part I thought could use a little help was to add a little ‘fluff’ to the front axle by adding some bolts for some visual candy and should look ok under a splash of paint Edited August 12 by Biggu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockford Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 Looking forward to seeing what you do with this. Air plumbing will look good and keep you occupied for a bit. Are you doing the full U-bolts on the front axle? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 12 Author Share Posted August 12 2 minutes ago, Rockford said: Looking forward to seeing what you do with this. Air plumbing will look good and keep you occupied for a bit. Are you doing the full U-bolts on the front axle? No I don’t think I will. As I ‘thought’ the molded kit ones looked ‘ok’ considering where they are located. As a second thought looking at it now that may have been a very good idea. It’s a little late at the moment as I have it all installed. So I would say it may have been an oversight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 12 Author Share Posted August 12 So the rear brake chambers are just not good for me and in my eyes totally unacceptable as earlier mentioned. So I found Kootenay 3d , a local fellow who does some printing of truck parts. When I saw his brake chambers I was sold. So I purchased a few sets and after seeing them for real will be getting many more sets . They are wonderful. And very well detailed. Altho a little care is needed when working with them the results are light years ahead of what comes in the box. I used the stock mounting brackets and it turned out well and at least they look the part 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 12 Author Share Posted August 12 I find that some times the chrome is a bit bright and some parts chromed shouldn’t be. Case in point is the hubs on the rear wheels. Its obvious they can’t not be chromed as the hub in this case is part of the rim. So careful de-chroming needs to take place. So I carefully de-chromed the hubs and ten painted them satin black. I also decided to de-chrome the air cleaners and will paint them cab color with chrome hold down strips and some CTM photo etc screen on the air intake. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK9300 Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 Underway! Be checking in for sure 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 12 Author Share Posted August 12 13 minutes ago, BK9300 said: Underway! Be checking in for sure Thanks Brian feel free to add anything that comes to mind. This one will be a fairly ‘plain ‘ build as it goes but I am always open to more ideas and thoughts. Thanks for checking in… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 Added a few ‘bolts’ here and there and installed the rear ends and made sure all four rear feet touched the ground 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 So for me I find sometimes the nice chrome on these kits is too bright and as I had 38 years driving trucks, mostly gravel trucks pulling a pup or our low bed truck and trailer. Neither of which had chrome tanks. Our newer units had nice clean aluminum tanks that didn’t stay nice, clean and shiny ….. but I do see some highway units with beautiful tanks. So with that said I did decide to leave these tanks chrome. But I was less than impressed with the seam on the tanks. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t hide the seam. So I sanded the seam and of course took the chrome off. So to cover that , I found some ‘chrome’ automotive tape and cut the appropriate size of the tank ends and put it on the end to make it ‘chrome ‘ again. Now it isn’t perfectly chromed BUT if you look at a real chrome tank, after a long trip the ends do take a bit of a beating from road grime rocks, sand etc. so for my application and my old eyes this seems to work for me and for the most prt hid the seam …. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 Sorry for the BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH pictures, just of my crappy phone.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarheelRick Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 22 hours ago, Biggu said: flat deck as I have the gorgeous Mobeius High Boy ( but I need to find some old school Lincoln logs for a load ) Really enjoying watching this build come together. Have never built a big rig but have a couple in my stash waiting for me to get to them. Hope to pick up some ideas from someone who evidently has been in the seat of a few. I quoted that statement to suggest using some real logs. If you have any maple trees in your yard you are aware of how readily they shed limbs. You could possibly cut some segments to represent real logs and use them. Just my $.02. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 4 minutes ago, TarheelRick said: Really enjoying watching this build come together. Have never built a big rig but have a couple in my stash waiting for me to get to them. Hope to pick up some ideas from someone who evidently has been in the seat of a few. I quoted that statement to suggest using some real logs. If you have any maple trees in your yard you are aware of how readily they shed limbs. You could possibly cut some segments to represent real logs and use them. Just my $.02. Thanks for the kind words, Rick..... yeah I do have lots of trees in the yard, and I probably could make some timbers , not sure how good I am at 'whittling'.... BUT who knows, maybe another hobby in the making?? LOL, Good idea, and I will look around and see if I can find some suitable candidates.... thanks for the comments and dropping by Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 So now it seems to be air plumbing time. I buy my air valves and my aftermarket from STSupply as Paul is in Canada and it saves me the massive bank exchange fees to US Dollar. So all a/m including rims and tires comes from Paul . That is my main source for A/M. So valves installed and the plumbing started 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 So under a splash of paint and a few decals added to the frame and the Wabco Air drier installed and a few detail bolts the frame is slowly coming together 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK9300 Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Great start on the detailing, Jeff - for my next truck, I need to learn about plumbing the air lines. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 4 minutes ago, BK9300 said: Great start on the detailing, Jeff - for my next truck, I need to learn about plumbing the air lines. Thanks Brian. Yeah the air detailing does add to the build but at times can be a bit tedious …. There is some “artistic license “ on this one. But I did a Kenworth W 900 to spec. That was a bit of a challenge but turned out quite well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockford Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 I'm struggling to keep up with this build! Those brake chambers are exquisite! Loving the detailing you're doing. The fuel tanks look great, good idea on the chrome tape, stops the seam spoiling them, I might look for some myself. I know I've found aluminium duct tape very useful recently, like a much cheaper Bare Metal Foil. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 17 minutes ago, Rockford said: I'm struggling to keep up with this build! Those brake chambers are exquisite! Loving the detailing you're doing. The fuel tanks look great, good idea on the chrome tape, stops the seam spoiling them, I might look for some myself. I know I've found aluminium duct tape very useful recently, like a much cheaper Bare Metal Foil. Thanks , Steve...................I totally agree with the tape , the duct tape should work as well, I have found that if I take a wooden dowel or something like that and really burnish the edges of the tape it seems to help somewhat and doesn't leave a sharp line and I use a circle template to cut the tape, nothing fancy......the brake chambers are from Kootenay 3D Model Parts.... Brandon does really nice work.... his site is down for a little bit by the looks of it, but well worth checking out.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 So a while ago a fellow on another site mentioned that GP Modeling was in the process of designing a 1/24 scale 3d 60 Series Detroit engine. I aww what was being offered and ordered one, from Spot Model who were excellent to deal with and I had to wait for about a month for it to be in production and shipped to me here in British Columbia. The detail is incredible. And screams for extra detail. ( see Randy’s build in the Floater Truck thread, his is off the clock) so I thought I would give it a go …. Here are some pics as it comes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 (edited) On the block there are 6 1/2 million contact points that need to be nipped off and it takes some time and patience but the little gem inside is more than worth the time and effort to clean it up. There is a fair bit of waste but that is the cost of doing business as they say . The pic is of all the waste bits for the whole engine and there is a bit Edited August 13 by Biggu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 So in deciding what color I have that may be close to the Detroit color, I discovered that the early 60 Series were the old Detroit green and the newer units were the Detroit ‘blue’. I had a new bottle of Vallejo M-485 Blue Grey an acceptable color choice and with that gave the block a shot. This is my very first foray into acrylic paint as I am a die hard Model Master Enamel guy but someone decided that was to end so now I have to learn new tricks. I have to say so far the paint is good and went thru my airbrush smoothly … 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Wow, you are all in on this build, will be watching. And yes, the aftermarket parts world is changing our hobby in a big way. We spend 50 bucks on a kit and then spend 200 hundred bucks on aftermarket parts. Love how you are building your way. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotnitro? Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Excellent work Jeff ! I can't get over the details on the Detroit engine, compared to kit offerings this is a huge improvement. I order from Paul quite a bit, very pleased w his selection 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.