2015 Peterbilt tri axle wrecker 1/50

[busnproplinerfan]

A new project. This is a commission job for Champion Towing here in Winnipeg. The truck is a 2015 Peterbilt 367 tri axle with a Century rotator wrecker. The model is being much modified from the First Gear 1/50 Kenworth T880 wrecker.

Much of the Kenworth donor truck is die cast. To make a Perbuilt I have to scratchbuild the hood, cab and sleeper along with all the small parts. I was luck and found a PDF Pete manual online with profile drawings and when I printed it, it was almost perfectly 1/50, so I had my pattern. You can see here the start of the hood and the cab side. These are cut from 0.060 sheet. I hope to cast the cab and hood so I can do this again (well maybe), have to learn how to cast the shape of a cab, unless I do it in parts. The grill came off the yellow toy Pete in the backround. It's closer to 1/48. I casted it and shaved about 1/2 mm off each side to narrow it, but i left the height. A long way to go yet. Here's the actual truck.

[adrianm2]

Looking forward to your build.

Nice piece of truck you are going for.

Good luck.

Adrian

[busnproplinerfan]

Looking forward to your build.

Nice piece of truck you are going for.

Good luck.

Adrian

Thanks, I got to see it in person recently and it is a beautiful truck. I forgot to say I might be making a 1/25 version of it to.

[busnproplinerfan]

A bit more work done. felt like concentrating on the hood some more, don't want to bounce around, fear ADHD might set in, don't have it and don't want it to start. I had to figure out the fenders. Unfortunately they aren't flat when viewed from the front. They slope down just slightly. I started with a piece of .060 sheet plastic and tried heating it on my cup warmer. that didn't do much. I looked over at a pristine measuring cup sitting on the bench. Sure enough it's the right size and shape, just have to figure out where to cut. I ended up cutting a bit to much where it meets the hood and had to fill it back in with small plastic strips. The hood sides aren't flat either when seen from the top, there's a slight curve. A normal Pete 359 hood would be so much easier. The fenders will be trimmed now that they are glued on. I also have to save the rear portions, they attach to the cab.

Edited April 26, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[adrianm2]

The more you think about those trick parts the harder they get.

Good progress there mate.

Is it going to have some interior detail?

Adrian

[busnproplinerfan]

The more you think about those trick parts the harder they get.

Good progress there mate.

Is it going to have some interior detail?

Adrian

1/50 is only slightly easier when it comes to small details since you can leave a few out. They still do get harder as you say. The inside of the hood will mostly be just very smooth. The thickness of the plastic kind of gives the illusion of a frame at the back edge. I don't think there is to much detail under the real one, I'll see it again next week for pictures so I can see what's there. I just don't want it interfering with the engine parts when closing. It will be tiltable using the original frame hinges. I have the fenders cut out now, just don't have a picture yet.

[busnproplinerfan]

I now have the fenders trimmed to fit over the tyres. A bit more detailing and the hood should be done. There is a slight flare on the sides of the fenders as well as a stainless skirt. After that a set of headlights.

[busnproplinerfan]

Have the cab more figured out. It's ready for a bit of putty. Not sure how this will all turn out, we'll see. Sleeper and dash are the next two big things for the cab. There is only one brace that goes across the rear and down the sides of the inside of the hood, so I'm not sure if that will go on. A bit of trimming here and there yet.

Edited May 5, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

Bit more done. Most parts you see here are mostly finished. All are scratchbuilt, took all evening just to make the headlights. The visor is the third attempt. The sleeper is made from sheet plastic and lots of grinding and sanding.

[busnproplinerfan]

Some more done. Lots of casting of these parts. All I want is an extra set, I might make a truck for myself. My casting isn't the greatest, but ok. A few parts didn't work out, showing the better ones. I'm using Alumilite slow set 7 which has a bit more working time. Unfortunately, if you buy it direct from the company, they use UPS to ship and it costed me an extra $36 cdn just to get it over the border. I hope they can make a change if I order more but I doubt it. I have a pressure canister which is for pressuring paint for spraying houses but don't quite know how to hook it up yet. The parts are different colours because I added a bit of black tint to one part of resin, the more drops the more the colour changes. I'm just really surprised the visor turned out because of how thin it is.The parts on the left side of the pic are swing out outriggers.

[adrianm2]

You have not been macking around I can see.

The casting looks really good, at least in the pictures.

After all the work you`ve done, I think is quite reasonable to get one for yourself.

I have to admit I had never seen your level of skills applied to trucks.

Very impressive.

Adrian

[busnproplinerfan]

You have not been macking around I can see.

The casting looks really good, at least in the pictures.

After all the work you`ve done, I think is quite reasonable to get one for yourself.

I have to admit I had never seen your level of skills applied to trucks.

Very impressive.

Adrian

Thanks, I have enough parts for three trucks in total, more than enough. It took a couple days of clean up to get the parts finished nice. I hybrid genres, build trucks, cars, buses, airplanes, ships. Just won't do armour, unless it's post military use, to many critics and dirt nerds, plus I'm a practicing pacifist, if any of this makes sense.

Edited June 15, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

Finally after about a week of trimming the casted parts, plus some props I experimented with, I have the parts ready for primer. I started working on the wrecker's body. I had to cut parts of the black plastic bottom that goes under the body. I angle cut off the front portion of the body, trying to save the front cabinet. I used a hacksaw and a bench grinder. I used a small two inch cutting disc on an air grinder to remove the molded hydraulic lines and controls in the center on the wrecker's deck. I have to replace the diamond plate since the front most areas were wrecked while grinding. Unfortunately no one makes an N scale diamond plate, just an HO scale which looks more at home on 1/25. I will be stuck using it. I had to also change the side compartment doors from three to four. I filled the grooves with super glue and sanded them smooth, then scribed new vertical lines for the new doors. Now to make new door handles.

[busnproplinerfan]

A bit farther along. Decided to make a new cabinet to replace the original metal one, just felt it was easier. You can see the diamond plate that will be glued to the sides.

Here's a few of the parts set up. Made a filler on the frame which is also the deck on the front. Made the hydraulic tank which still needs the pumps made. and two lower cabinets. There are also some strips along the frame rails which give it the look of the wrecker mounting on the frame, just a bit hard to see in this view.

Edited July 5, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

A bit further along. Have most of the outrigger mounting made as well as the two winches that go under it. The outriggers are hard to find reference on without seeing the actual truck and still a difficult part to make. To complex to cast unfortunately. This type are quite unique and rare. As of now, as far as I know, this truck is the only one in western Canada with these outriggers. Still some more structural parts to add to the mounting. The outriggers will be able to swing out, just not extend.

Edited July 16, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[adrianm2]

Good to see you are still working on it.

I stopped by the other day and there were no pictures.

Top scratch buildings skill there mate.

Any paint going on soon?

Adrian

[busnproplinerfan]

Good to see you are still working on it.

I stopped by the other day and there were no pictures.

Top scratch buildings skill there mate.

Any paint going on soon?

Adrian

Wonder why there were no pictures. I'm not putting on the bolt detail, to small and burried in behind everything. I was hoping to get the hood painted at least, I'm a bit paranoid at the paint coming off even after a good prepping. I'm going on vacation next week for a week and a half and was hoping to paint so it could cure.

Edited July 18, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

Here's what's been done recently. I was on vacation for a couple of weeks. The outrigger mounting platform is done. This wasn't easy, even with pictures, still had a lot of eyeballing to get it all to fit. It's standing on it's end because the details were always overexposed when it was lying down. I made the feet on the outrigger, I don't think they would have turned out in resin casting. The outriggers will swing out, just not extend. The winches are done and the hydraulic oil tank with the pumps are done. I have one more cabinet to make and some pipe mounts, then I think I can start painting, finally.

Edited August 25, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[kpnuts]

Great work and an interesting project.

[busnproplinerfan]

Great work and an interesting project.

Thanks. just crossing my fingers that the paint turns out nice.

[busnproplinerfan]

Here's most of the wrecker body done and roughly fitted together for the picture. The white plastic is all the scratchbuilt parts, along with the original diecast parts. Almost ready for paint.

[CrazyCrank]

Really impressive !

[busnproplinerfan]

Really impressive !

thanks.

[busnproplinerfan]

A quick update. Here you see the lengthening of the frame. It's not pretty underneath but it was cleaned up so it looks good from the side. The second photo shows all the trim added to the cab. I decided to do it this was since it will be Alcladed with chrome and will be easier to line up and glue the parts on now than risk damaging the paint. The white rod on the firewall is the intake pipe. This was a 2.5 mm rod and not easy to bend sort of accurately with a lighter and by hand. The valve cover is ground off because I have to reshape it to look like a Cummins. So far I'm into this for 85 hours, where's all the time go?

Edited September 10, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

Been at this all day. Have the under hood stuff done, finished the intake pipe, coolant tank, wiper motor, new Cummins valve cover(smallest v-groove sheet I could get) and a couple other bits. Finished the stacks and mocked it up for the photos. The mirriors are made from about five pieces of rod, only the outer bracket is bent.