Leaderboard

Old Canadian workhorse that evidently ended up in Michigan at some point. Then, after being retired from road use, became a floral display. Even though the rest of the Canadian market Mercury trucks went away in 1968, for whatever reason the C Series soldiered on alone until 1972. This is the AMT kit with an MPC Wheel Horse tractor with a scratch built wagon, and a bunch of shrubbery from JTT. Originally the plan was for a stack of old truck parts but I went with flowers instead. Markings were done with Gundam markers.

I finally finished it...for now... I may go back and touch up a few thing. I built this truck for an online contest over at The Unfinished Big Rig Model Truck Club on Facebook. I didn't fair as well in the voting as I hoped it would. Maybe I'll do better next time. Regardless, it was a great learning experience. The concept was to create a resto-mod COE Freightliner. I started with a fresh AMT COE Freightliner Kit. All other lifted parts were salvaged from the parts box. Chassis: Frame stretch using the rails from an AMT Peterbilt. Air ride suspension from an Italeri FLD 120 Engine: Cummins engine from an Italeri FLD 120 modified into an N14 (new heads, valve covers, fuel pump, etc.). Air to air setup was added to the radiator. Plumbing and hoses were built from the parts box and misc. wire. Clamps chrome sticker. Cab: Scratch built visor. Snap Pete mirrors. Rear fenders: Scratch built. Fifth wheel: ROG Peterbilt. Deck plates and rear light panel: scratch built from styrene Cab Steps: Scratch built. Fuel tanks: Stretched using like tanks from parts box. Air cleaners: ROG Peterbilt. Scratch built piping and parts box plumbing. Stack tops: Tubing wrapped in chrome sticker. Air Lines: Earl Miller. Wheels and tires: Mobius.

Finished the trailer today and used another truck build for pics. Now back to finish the 4300.

Straps and steps taken care of, and the cab is as aligned as it's going to get.

Built almost entirely with left over parts from other kits. Holmes 750 style wrecker unit entirely scratch-built.

Pictorial "how to" posted with permission of Mike Roux.

Started to work on the cab........ I'm pretty happy with the way the cab sits...I used the rear cab support as a reference guide as compared to 1:1 trucks as well as the position of the front wheels in the wheel wells. I did have to do some modifying along the way.... On the engine, I went with an aftermarket, pre-wired distributor and a scratch built oil filler tube riser to clear the coolant expansion tank piping. In doing this , the cab did not want to sit down properly with the cab hinges attached as the bottom was making contact with the distributor and the back , vertical portion was in contact with the riser. To correct this, I raise the flat piece that the seats attach to aprox. 2 mm. and redid the vertical back piece with a very thin piece of flat styrene slightly angled out more at the bottom once cuts where made in the kit piece. This is the bottom side of the cab. You can see were I made cut outs for clearance for the air intake pieces, the distribtor and oil filler tube riser. Once everything was were I wanted it , I boxed the cut out area in.

Rainy day progress, stained trailer floor and built second shipping crate.

This was built with an old MTFA cab.

Working hard toward the finish line.

The frame gets some weathering. Added headlight bezels, which was a mistake to do so after paint. I tried to remove the orange peel on the cab with Tamiya compound paste. It is well hidden if the lighting and camera angle are right.

Looks great so far On the fuel tank you'll see three fittings close to the frame on top of the tank that is where the fuel pickup and returns would have gone the larger circle out towards the outside of the tank was just the fuel sending units for the gas gauge and would have had two wires connected to ita ground wire under one of the out circle retaining bolts and a signal wire to the center of the sending units. I didn't get into all the air lines and wiring as you have .but as I spent the last five years of my career as a heavy equipment mechanic I did try to connect as many hydraulic lines as I could . The kit has almost enough hydraulic line to do everything except the over head line front to rear which I did with craft wire ( If l had it to do again I'd have used solder for those instead. I also drilled the tailgate latches and used craft wire to hide them so the tail gate could be opened. I also added the winch cable and snatch block as shown on old purple As you can see I weathered this one up as a fifty year old heavily used unit ( maybe a bit over done) and will be suspended towing it with my already completed AMT Pete tow truck.

Oh yesss.. "Trailer got the slider damaged when it got knocked off the shelf" Hate it when that happens. HeHe , well, back to work then. 😎 Good to see you back. Johnny

This *should* be a fairly simple project. The idea here is to take the 1972-ish Diamond Reo kit and backdate it to a 1966 Reo GH. The main cosmetic difference is the hood. Though the shapes and basic cues are similar, the Reo does have a few unique features. Here's an example of a "late model" Reo, just before White Motor Co. merged them with the Diamond T division... REO, very late model by Dick Copello, on Flickr Here's an ad touting the benefits of Royalite with a similar hood but a slightly different grille insert. And here's where I stand with the project so far... The basic hood from the Diamond Reo kit was assembled as intended. I stripped the chrome from the grille and lower fender trim and added that as well- it'll be treated to Bare Metal foil later on. I filed the grille smooth and glued it into place, then created a new grille surround and trim from Evergreen strip. My big problem might be getting the tainty Reo V emblems right.

Getting somewhere...

Chassis has a few touches of yellow, and is now up on wheels.

Blast from the past! For many years, I've wanted to do a Minneapolis Moline dealer rig. Since White Motor Company owned both Minneapolis Moline and Reo, I thought why not make THIS that project? By the early 1960s, Minneapolis Moline tractors were painted in a combination of "Energy Yellow" and a rather unflattering (to me) bronze kinda color. I didn't want to find a color I wasn't fond of, so I opted for something similar but with a little more pop... Enter Tamiya Copper. The hood and cab are now slathered in Tamiya White Primer, in preparation of what will likely be Tamiya Camel Yellow. I bought these adhesive decals from Bossen Implement years ago. These will not only carry the theme, but enable me to work around the Reo letters and emblem problem... The larger MM letters will go on the hood sides. The White logo may end up on the radiator access panel.

Added the fuel tanks and some AITM tool boxes. Not sure if I'll use the Mercury sleeper or make a headache rack.

Chassis is more or less dialed in. And so's the interior.

Reshuffling things a little. The chassis wasn't working out the way I wanted, and I borrowed parts from the V12 for another Autocar project. So I'm going a bit more basic with a Cummins. Chassis came from a White Road Boss, and it'll have some old AITM one piece wheels and tires.

Pierce Brothers Fabrication in Sickles, Michigan, is known for many things. Orange Dodge trucks and Cummins 6BT swaps. While this Cummins swapped Dodge is not orange, it serves as a test subject and demonstrator for a typical Pierce Brothers swap. Starting with a forlorn 1971 L700, the brothers swapped in a 6BT and 47RH automatic transmission. The hubs and brakes were upgraded with late model Freightliner parts, and the old cast iron wheels were then replaced with Alcoa aluminum wheels and modern radial tires. The brothers left the exterior exactly how they found it, aside from adding their logos to the doors, Cummins decals, and newer mud flaps. The story is much the same inside, although the sears were recovered in blue and white material. Even the aftermarket cassette deck sound system and aftermarket air conditioner were left in place. And yes, it all still works. Model is a Lindberg kit set up on Moebius wheels and tires. Iceman Collections supplied the Cummins 6BT and a Revell Sidewinder supplied the 47RH. My spares box provided the doodads found throughout. Paint is some matte aqua I had handy.

Well, after a long absence, this one is back on the bench. The cab and hood have been painted in Chrysler Forest Green Pearl. And now it finally has a face...

this is a fairly old build.If my stuff turns out as nice as this one I'm happy,as its my favorite

I saw a pic of the 1/1 truck and knew I had to copy the stripes 300" wb,amt bunk,camaro seats,glitter steering wheel,scratch built aux. trans.,visor and fenders from the parts bin

Thanks .