1/25 AMT Peterbilt 359 California Hauler

[BK9300]

Progress is happening!  Your decisions along the way may be deviating from your initial plan, but all your attention to detail will pay off in the end!

[cifenet]

Thanks for checking on me, Brian.

I appreciate your positive feedback and I see that you are actively encouraging all forum members by providing supportive comments everywhere!  Kudos! 

[cifenet]

Found some time over the weekend to work on the truck; mainly painting various components. 

 

My preferred method is to paint often in small amount at a time, but I had to break the rule and rush everything.  This is just my first round...

 

I enjoyed using this color for my frame before and I am applying it here also.  It gives gloss finish, so I will tone it down later with semi gloss clear.  

The hood gets silver undercoat inside first and then semi gloss black.  I do this to prevent the unwanted black from bleeding through plastic causing the external paint to be darker (since the white plastic is somewhat transparent allowing the light to go through).

 

I want some decent shine on my fuel tanks and quarter fenders, so I applied glossy black first as my undercoat.  The will get chrome silver finish later.

 

Silly me, I only painted 8 tires...  This one needs 10 wheels! 

I gave two coats of semi gloss black on tires.  I think these tires look much better than the rubber tires included in the kit.

 

Using the wheels from the kit as painting samples, I experimented different type of finishes on them during my painting session. 

They all may look similar, but all coated differently using various metallic silver paints.  I will go with the finish in the middle for this truck. 

 

After 2 hours of nonstop painting, here is the result.  Things are picking up some momentum now and I really don't want to drag this build.

 

To make my metallic finish more robust, I lay the metallic color on top of glossy black before the black paint is fully dried.  

These parts seem darker in the photo, but I think that is because they are quite shiny and fooling my camera.

 

Applied 2 coats of Russet (name of the red color), and one coat of semi gloss clear.  I will further paint small components on the frame and add some weathering effect next.

 

[BK9300]

Some fine paint work going here!  Your fuel tanks are very smooth and shiny, as evidenced by the reflection of the rad in one of them.  I know what you mean about the shine looking dark in photos (I’m guessing the ‘dark’ tank is reflecting a darker part of your space, off to the side of your light source - at least that’s what I thought was going on when something similar happened in photos of my chrome tank straps).

[Gary Chastain]

Looking really good

[cifenet]

 

On 2/18/2025 at 10:03 AM, Gary Chastain said:

Looking really good

Glad to see you back here, Gary.  Hopefully you can return with full force quick~

[cifenet]

 

I started out as green, but then changed my mind yet again.  My Titan 90 has green one, so I figured I should try something new. 

 

This took multiple coats where I started with pure white and then added hint of grey color to give some gradient finish on white. 

Being all white made the engine somewhat boring, so I added shadow accents throughout.  Perhaps little too much...

 

Why all these attachment holes are so big on this kit?  When attaching parts, I need to be careful and do my best to cover them as much as I can.

And I thought I was making decent progress, I couldn't find one of the torpedo lights on the roof and spent 30 minutes just looking everywhere before I finally gave up. 

The best thing I could do was to fabricate one out of part tree sprue, but it came out to be slightly thinner then the rest.  Hoping this won't distract the model when finished.

 

The wrapped plastic sheet on fuel tank ends at the bottom and I didn't even bother to putty up the seam. 

I just left them as they are thinking they won't show up once mounted on the frame. 
 

The seam will be located in a way that no one is going to notice even you flip the truck up side down... 

I even drilled a hole so I can insert this stick for me to hold during my painting session.  This will also be hidden later. 

 

The frame has that monotonous feel, I exaggerate certain details. 
 

Again, perhaps little too much.  I will continue to bring out some details and as I paint more.

 

Added Air shutter/Kysor shutter unit in front of the radiator.  It was a P/E part that I acquired and I bent all the shutter fins to bring out some depth.

 

Edited February 20 by cifenet

[cifenet]

My next topic is to pre-assemble my grille to see if everything is lining up.

 

 

For adding the vertical support on the grille, I used the same method I used for my Revell's Pete. 

Once I cut out the center part of the grille, I added thin aluminum tubes to mimic the vertical supports.  I think they look quite effective.

The Revell version had three support beams whereas my current kit has only two.  I will keep two beams as it feels somewhat unique.

 

I added P/E screen on the back temporarily to see how much you can see through.

 

Once I put the radiator behind the grille, I hope to see the details of air shutter unit.

 

Edited February 20 by cifenet

[BK9300]

Great work on your rad and grille, Steve - the shutter(s) should be visible behind the mesh.  'Devil's in the details' and it's looking good!

[Bills72sj]

That grille looks fantastic.

[Rockford]

You usual scrupulous attention to detail. The new grille looks fantastic. The engine looks good with the shading emphasising the detail. Looking forward to seeing it come together.

[cifenet]

On 2/19/2025 at 9:28 PM, BK9300 said:

Great work on your rad and grille, Steve - the shutter(s) should be visible behind the mesh.  'Devil's in the details' and it's looking good!

Haha, looking at your plow truck, there must so many devils then!   

 

On 2/19/2025 at 10:28 PM, Bills72sj said:

That grille looks fantastic.

Thanks for taking a look at this, Bill. 

This kit being 50+ years old, I can't believe I am building it for the first time...

 

22 hours ago, Rockford said:

You usual scrupulous attention to detail. The new grille looks fantastic. The engine looks good with the shading emphasising the detail. Looking forward to seeing it come together.

Appreciate your support and interest, Steve!  Always pleasure to get your feedback~

 

[cifenet]

I really thought I understood all the potential challenges in this kit by going through all the parts and yet things are still popping up.  

 

The visor looks quite decent when attached, but it really wasn't attaching correctly to the roof.

 

CHALLENGE 9

I just can't attach the visor properly to the roof and there is visible gap.  I am glad I found this now, I won't be able to fix this cleanly once the body paint has been already applied. 

I will need to search more reference photos to correct this, but I am thinking a quick and easy solution is to sand off the bent lip at both ends.

 

I gave some details on the fifth wheel by adding small bolts.  

The bolts pictured above is from a company called Adlers Nest and I don't think they produce these any more.  I think I am down to 6 or 7 of these now.    

Perhaps I am being silly here, but every time when an application calls for detailing part(s) such as bolts/nuts or fittings, I find myself hesitating lately. 

Each time I look at my "detailing" part stash, I can see there aren't much left anymore and unwillingly I find myself preserving them...

 

 

Some of my favorite rivets/bolts/fittings were from these companies and they aren't available anymore (unless my Internet searching skill is lacking).  I started using 3D printed rivets/bolts/etc, but they just can't replace the actual metal parts. 

 

Moving on to my next topic; my wheels are now ready, I may add some wash to tone down the brightness later. 

 

I am picking up some speed now.  I cut off the driveshaft leaving the u-joints.  As usual, I will add aluminum tubes to replace the shaft portion. 

Got my seats done as well as shocks. 

 

My engine is also ready, but I made no attempt to add any details nor wiring here. 

I think AMT did a good job on the engine, it is made up with many parts and looks fairly nice once assembled.

 

Soon I will start painting the body and I still haven't decide the actual color I will be using...  Too many choices to be honest.

 

 

[BK9300]

Coming along nicely, Steve!  Try Spot Model, for Top Studio rivets, and Model Motor Cars for scale bolts.  Can’t seem to post links without getting an error

Edited February 21 by BK9300

[Rockford]

This is going to be a really sturdy looking truck. Marvellous work. Love the fifth wheel, don't know why but I'm drawn to a good Holland fifth wheel. I know, there's something wrong with me isn't there? 

On the gap in the visor, an awful lot of the real things had such gaps. If you think about the angle of sun they were worried about, it didn't matter if the sun was coming from behind or either side. As long as it worked like a slat in a venetian blind they weren't really bothered. I suppose also, if the gap is completely closed air will gather under it at speed and could tear it off. Just my thoughts.

[Biggu]

Steve, what a fabulous update and build. I love the looks of the rims. As for the visor, I have to agree with the ‘other Steve’ , there are sometimes a gap as he suggests , and for the reasons he mentions, I know the Western Stars we had, moat if not all had a slight gap to let air pass through, so if yours has a slight gap that would not be out of the realm of reality. But I have to say your attention to the details is a pleasure to watch and take note of for my next build of the same kit. Looking forward to your next update

[Pete68]

Nice updates and corrections. If you want to take that visor a little farther for accuracy purposes put a curve on the ends top and bottom reshaping the bottom for a correct look. Here’s a pic for reference if you decide to take it one step further. 

Edited February 22 by Pete68

[Pete68]

On 2/21/2025 at 2:40 AM, Rockford said:

Holland fifth wheel. I know, there's something wrong with me isn't there? 

Not really Steve over my 35 years in the trucking industry Holland was my choice I never had a minute’s trouble out of a holland. Fontaine was the worst and Jost second worst.  Holland fifth wheels always stay in adjustment where I always had to adjust the others. Your normal 😂 

[cifenet]

On 2/21/2025 at 2:22 AM, BK9300 said:

Coming along nicely, Steve!  Try Spot Model, for Top Studio rivets, and Model Motor Cars for scale bolts.  Can’t seem to post links without getting an error

 

Thanks for the info on this!

I think Spot Model is located in Europe (not a deal breaker) and that was the main reason I didn't browse their inventory before.

But looks like they carry cool stuff, I will definitely spend some time browse around and see.  I am hoping small rivets parts won't cost too much to get them over here. 

 

[cifenet]

 

On 2/21/2025 at 2:40 AM, Rockford said:

This is going to be a really sturdy looking truck. Marvellous work. Love the fifth wheel, don't know why but I'm drawn to a good Holland fifth wheel. I know, there's something wrong with me isn't there? 

On the gap in the visor, an awful lot of the real things had such gaps. If you think about the angle of sun they were worried about, it didn't matter if the sun was coming from behind or either side. As long as it worked like a slat in a venetian blind they weren't really bothered. I suppose also, if the gap is completely closed air will gather under it at speed and could tear it off. Just my thoughts.

Steve, I value your feedback and thanks for correcting this one.  You are absolutely correct, I was able to see some sun light going through the back of the visor!  And thanks to you, I just learned another thing today.  Holland is a company that makes these fifth wheels!

 

On 2/21/2025 at 10:20 AM, Biggu said:

Steve, what a fabulous update and build. I love the looks of the rims. As for the visor, I have to agree with the ‘other Steve’ , there are sometimes a gap as he suggests , and for the reasons he mentions, I know the Western Stars we had, moat if not all had a slight gap to let air pass through, so if yours has a slight gap that would not be out of the realm of reality. But I have to say your attention to the details is a pleasure to watch and take note of for my next build of the same kit. Looking forward to your next update

Thanks Jeff for pointing this out and double confirming it.  👍  And appreciate your positive words! 

I automatically assumed something was incorrect when I just couldn't simply attach the visor. 

Now I will have to find the way to attach it.  The main problem for me is that, I would like to attach this at the end of the build (after all the painting is done) and I am afraid that I can't cleanly attach it without damaging the painted surface...  

3 hours ago, Pete68 said:

Nice updates and corrections. If you want to take that visor a little farther for accuracy purposes put a curve on the ends top and bottom reshaping the bottom for a correct look. Here’s a pic for reference if you decide to take it one step further. 

..

..

Fantastic, Lee!

Great photos and suggestions.  The attached visor from the second photo looks very good too.

I will need to think through on this one and tackle for sure.

     

[Pete68]

2 minutes ago, cifenet said:

The attached visor from the second photo looks very good too.

Your welcome. That second pic is your pic 😂 so you can see the difference 

[Rockford]

Could you possibly drill and pin the visor before paint? There's two bolts at each end looking at the prototype. Then you could paint and attach later. I've done it at 1/32 scale so 1/25 would look better. 

[Pete68]

13 minutes ago, cifenet said:

Thanks Jeff for pointing this out and double confirming

I don’t understand why people have to reply twice when someone has already gave a well short educated answer. 

Edited February 22 by Pete68

[cifenet]

Please ignore my CHALLENGE 9 documented in the previous posting.  

I am glad I didn't act on it right away to correct (in this case, "incorrectly") the visor mount, I still have the visor untouched so no damage is done.  

 

As I get close to another painting session, I spent about an hour preparing the front bumper.  While the bumper looked quite decent as is, did the following improvements:

1. removed chrome finish (used Castrol's Super Clean) and did this for all chrome parts in the kit
2. cut away the bottom bracket (foot step/ license plate holder)
3. sanded and drilled bumper attachment bolt spots (total 8 holes drilled out)
4. Drilled out the existing molded lights on the bumper and added aluminum tubing materials mimicking the lamp housing
5. Mount the additional fog lights on the bottom

When attaching small parts such as these fog lights (circled in the photo), I tried to insert small pins to the parts and drill out mounting holes to help attaching them.

I use slow curing glue (pictured above) and this gives me time to adjust and correct the position.  And the inserted pin gives even stronger bond!

 

Dampers are installed and a driveshaft between the rear axles.  I know it may not be totally correct, but I painted them in "bright yellow" to make things somewhat interesting. 

I added resin bolts on damper ends to add some interesting details.

 

I had to check again to make sure my cabin, hood, and the bumper are all sitting on the frame correctly and that they aren't skewed.  So far so good, I just hope I can keep it straight till the end.

 

I want to mount my fuel tanks next now that most of the frame work is done.  Believe or not, those two copper pipes (my fuel tanks) are actually quite heavy, I need to make sure they stay attached and that they do not stress the frame...

Edited February 25 by cifenet

[cifenet]

 

31 minutes ago, Rockford said:

Could you possibly drill and pin the visor before paint? There's two bolts at each end looking at the prototype. Then you could paint and attach later. I've done it at 1/32 scale so 1/25 would look better. 

Exactly!  I was thinking about some kind of pins!  Great thinking, again!

 

25 minutes ago, Pete68 said:

I don’t understand why people have to reply twice when someone has already gave a well short educated answer. 

Haha, Jeff is cool in my book.  I think It was possible that Rockford could be wrong on this, so it was welcoming to see more knowledge being shared. 

But could Rockford be ever wrong?