Peterbilt 351 with Peerless trailer

[truckabilly]

On ‎04‎.‎11‎.‎2013 at 1:54 AM, scale trucker said:

this is sweet nice work.. were do i get one of those cabs???

The whole batch is sold out, Scale Trucker, and the reissue is not in plans for any near future. The author is too busy with his current project which is KW S900 model.

I worked on the pit fenders for a while. I thought it would be a piece of cake since it´s nothing but a simple geometry. But with no measures of the real thing it wasn´t so simple. It took me a few weeks to put all the dimensions together and get the shape and location right. Well, right... sort of, I mean. The round fenders are gone now for I needed to test fit the new pit fenders.

It still takes some clean up after a primer is applied.

The plate on the inside is a technological addition which will be cut off along the frame rail. Here are the fenders with the cab altogether.

I will continue with the full fenders. That takes a different battery box instead of the one in the set. Gotta find some pic if it´s possible. I think it´s just a plain box under the fender, right?

Edited May 5, 2018 by truckabilly

[Car Man]

looks really cool so far!!!

I like how you scratch built the frame by your self... really cool build

1 question tho? are your building this exactly bit for bit,

or something like it ?

Edited November 19, 2013 by Car Man

[truckabilly]

Probably something like it, Car Man. This picture is the only one I have. No idea how the truck looks on the sides. How long the fuel tank is? Is it just one tank or two? Does it have a tank behind the cab? Are there any chain hangers on the frame and where exactly? What drives and suspension is there on this particular truck? How the exhaust tubing under the hood looks like? It seems to me that the fender on passanger side is not full length, just the part above the step board skirt. And is there any step board skirt at all? I don´t think so, but I may be wrong. What about the driver´s side? Full length fender? Part length fender? There is a sort of catwalk above the roof. How does it look like, how is it attached to the cab?

As you can see, I know virtually nothing about this truck. All I can come up with is a combination of several features that I see on pictures of another 351 trucks. And hope that it won´t be wrong too much. Thanks for your interest.

[mackinac359]

Peterbilt offered several styles of battery box. The AMT T500 kit piece would be correct if mounted aft of the fuel tank, or under the step boards if the box cover's step was removed. Smaller box sizes were used too.

This one is a right-side only box.

This one is a small box that could also have a twin on the left side

Tim

[Trailking120]

This is a nice build you have going. Keep pluggin away.

[kilrathy10]

Looking really nice, Man....Great and masterful work...

[Tesla]

You're building skills never cease to amaze me...Beautiful!

[truckabilly]

Thank you guys for your kind words. And thank you, Tim, for pictures and info. I am working on the battery box and step boards at the moment. But for now, let me jump to the engine.

Originally AMT´s Cummins was taken out of White Freightliner finished model, paint stripped-off and dismantled. The parts were cleaned, some of them modified, a few details added. This served as a new master for a small batch of cast engines wrapped in this sweet box.

Some modifications to original engine...

For logging application I added a turbocharger left from RoG twin turbo Cummins. Probably not quire correct in shape and size but I did not have anything else. I made a cross over pipe and also changed the exhaust piping.

I will probbaly add some more details to the engine as it is my obsession on each truck. All for now.

Edited May 5, 2018 by truckabilly

[olsbooks]

Impressive!

One thing to be careful of is to make sure the butterfly side panels will clear the fenders.

I am amazed at your workmanship. Way out of my league, but I am trying.

Fantastic job!

[Kostas Parchas]

Amazing!!! Keep it coming.

What is the green matterial you used to build the frame rails. Is it styrene or what??

Kostas.

[Swamp Dog]

looking great..

[truckabilly]

On ‎27‎.‎11‎.‎2013 at 3:19 PM, Kostas Parchas said:

Amazing!!! Keep it coming.

What is the green matterial you used to build the frame rails. Is it styrene or what??

Kostas.

The green material is what used to be a warning or safety sign. Here is a pic of some of those...

The green one is the kind I use. Basically it´s a styrene sheet 1 milimetre thin. Easy to cut and grind and it works well with glues like Revell Contacta. Unfortunatelly, they are becoming quite rare over here where I live. They changed them into stickers or foils which are no good for model building. If you come across something like this be sure to sandpaper the actual sign first as it may materialize through the color later.

I keep on working on the fenders. To be in a picture with dimensions and proportions I temporarily glued the fuel tank and battery box to the frame. The battery box is scratch built. The thing is still in progress and will be dismantled prior the paint job.

I carry on with the dashboard too. The instruments are cut out of Kenworth T900 decal. Not quite right with red needles but they will be hardly visible anyway.

The wood imitation is painted with enamel colors, using sponge. The photo is taken under a light bulb, thus the colors are not quite true.

That´s all I´ve got for now. Thanks for your comments, criticism and advice.

Edited May 5, 2018 by truckabilly

[mackinac359]

More great work !!

Tim

[Pavel A.]

Jarda. Awesome work. I can say the best... Pavel.

[Old Albion]

Excellent Project with some great scratch building skills!

Very Impressive!

[truckabilly]

The past few weeks I worked on some other parts for this old Pete. I modified the exhaust pipe, the muffler and air cleaner. I don´t how to call the wall that holds all of this together on the fender. Anyway, I made that thing out of plastic sheet.

The bumper is also brand new together with the grille bars. The grille frame is bended above the candle flame. Everything is made out of Evergreen stuff.

Edited May 5, 2018 by truckabilly

[truckabilly]

The rear axles are probably Mack type, not so sure about that.

Even though I have a suspension, probably AMT parts, I do not like it so much. It´s hollow inside and it´s not exactly the type I want for my model.

First I thought I would modifiy these parts but then I decided to make a brand new suspension. I started out with walking beams. They are already equipped with the axle joints.

I made the springs, the pins and everything that´s needed for this sub assembly. Including the bolts by Plusmodel.

The axles are identical. I don´t know if it´s okay for this set up. Maybe there are some minor differencies between the front and rear drives that I don´t know about. But, unless someone tells me better, I will carry on with what I´ve got.

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2018 by truckabilly

[Trailking120]

Very nice

[Swamp Dog]

looking good...

[jeffbrad]

I'm not sure exactly when but Cummins didn't start using turbos until late 60's and they didn't really take off until the early 70's. That truck would have had either a 220 or 250 without a turbo. Then again retrofits sure were popular on the older trucks once they became available

[truckabilly]

Oops... I´ve seen so many pictures of Peterbilt 351 with turboed Cummins under the hood that it came natural to think of the 351 logger as the truck with a turbo equipped engine. If I took the liberty to keep the air ride seat in the cab, then the turbo may be another item installed later in the truck´s life.

I found a little problem when I put the frame on all wheels. The chassis leans a bit forwards as there is a difference in height between front and rear part. The rear part is 4 mm higher.

It´s not quite clear from the picture but I spotted the difference at first glance. There´s more ways to fix it. The easiest one for me was to insert pieces of plastic between the axles and walking beams.

This compensateted only 2 mm. I am excpecting a delivery of new set of wheels. They´re supposed to be a little bigger. If this doesn´t solve the problem, then I will cut off the front axle and insert another 2 mm of material.

I corrected the brake chamber brackets. They were supposed to be mounted onto the axles which is not right. They are attached to the brake shields. The upper pair is in its original state, the lower is modified.

Now I have a question. What is the purpose of the tank behind the cab in this picture?

Is it just another fuel tank or water tank for brake cooling system? If it´s a water tank, were the trailer brakes also water cooled? Then there must be some hose connection between tractor and trailer. I wish I knew how it looked like.

Edited May 5, 2018 by truckabilly

[Tyson]

Yeah, that's a water tank, and the trailer brakes would also be water cooled.

[olsbooks]

Simply beautiful workmanship! And thank you for all the detailed photos and descriptions.

Yes, those are Mack axles but sweat not. Between the abuse/wrecks of these things I am sure that more than once a wrecked Mack gave up its axles for something else and vice versa.

You set a high standard for many of us. Keep it up!

[truckabilly]

Thank you for your answer and comments.

I completed the suspension and tested its off road abilities. It was fun with wheels yet not glued. I am amazed by the range the axles can move up and down. The shaft isn´t there yet. But it´s no limiting factor as I found later. These pictures show the axles in "X" position.

And here it´s even better with one axle completely up and the other completely down...

Later I added the shaft between the rear drives. If I wanted to keep the the axles moving I needed to make some modifications to the joints so that they could move too.

The shaft itself is telescopic. It doesn´t make any obstacle for the axles moves.

Edited May 5, 2018 by truckabilly

[truckabilly]

On the front part I had to rework the fenders as I used a sheet much too thin and it broke. Here are the fenders after repair.

The sub assembly of the air filter and exhaust piping gave me some hard times as it barely squeezes into the space provided. Something must be wrong but it´s no wonder since all dimensions are just estimated. The passenger won´be able to open the door to the full swing and the exhaust pipes will be in close contact with the fender and air filter elbow.

I wish I had a clearer picture of that part on the 351 L. I hope I can make everything fit okay.