Another Jimmy Flintstone casting, and another Peterbilt. This one is a four door cab that came with the interior bucket, which appears to be the interior from a model car kit, complete with drive shaft tunnel on the floor. This one looked interesting as well, so an idea came to mind and off I went. First, I removed the tunnel from the floor of the interior casting with the Dremel. The cab casting came with a basic grill shell cast into it, and had a cut line molded in. I removed the shell at the line, then made some modifications to the cab cowl. I cut the vent door panels off each side and moved them out, making the firewall opening wider. I used a Kenworth cabover kit for the frame, suspension, engine axles and tire/wheel sets and some of the cab details. The frame was extended 2 inches to fit the much longer cab on the frame. Front fenders from an AMT T-501 Peterbilt were used, with .040 plastic sheet to make up the inner fender and fender extensions. Below is the modified cab, interior bucket casting before the drive line tunnel was removed and the frame after the 2 inch splice was added.
A test fit of the cab and engine to mark cab mounts was next on the list. The AMT axle was drilled and pinned to allow for a turning front axle, and the steering linkage back to the steering gear box was also pinned.
The AMT reissue kit comes with a Cummins small cam diesel engine with turbocharger, and lots of chrome parts, which was perfect for the open side panel hood I had in mind. I swapped the smaller chrome turbo for a larger one from a Revell model kit engine out of the parts box. The rear cab mounts are air ride off a Revell of Germany Peterbilt 377 sleeper, and worked perfectly for this project. The pic below shows the air bags and part of the frame addition with new crossmember from .040 plastic. and cab mounts for the airbags, also .040 plastic.
The interior casting came with a dash board molded separately, and no firewall. I made one up using .040 plastic and an interior panel from the KW cabover donor kit.

Another test fit with some polished aluminum sheet rear fenders and the hood in place. The hood is .040 plastic sheet cut to fit. This pic shows  the larger turbo and air cleaner from the KW donor kit. The air tubes are from a Revell of Germany FLD 120 kit, cut and glued to fit as needed. The exhaust pipe is 1/8 inch brass tube, cut, bent and soldered to fit. The dual exhaust stacks are from the KW donor and the curved tips are not going to be used on this project. The outside sun visor is .040 plastic and is about double the size of the AMT Peterbilt T-500 kit version. The rear fenders came with resin center mount castings and some .040 square stock for the front and rear mounts. I made my own front and rear mounts from .040, with the rear mounts also forming the tail lights and turn signal housing.
The interior is being painted with waterbase acrylics, so the weather isn't delaying that part of the build. Photo etch door handles, vents and window cranks have been added to the doors and the dash. Photo etch CD player and power amp are in place where the glove box used to be. 2 subwoofer speakers will ride the panel behind the rear seats, and each door will have 6x9 speakers as well. The front seat backs will have small video screens on them.
The engine was painted Cummins beige and wires for the fuel, air, electrical and a/c lines have been added, and the exhaust manifold and turbo have been painted with rust paint from Testors.
The truck will be pulling a 38 foot Galaxie car trailer to haul the hot rod Pete. The trailer is an injection molded plastic kit and makes up a really nice hauler for two or three cars. but is a tight fit for the hot rod Pete. There is a sliding hoist that comes out the side door of the trailer, and material is included in the kit to make ramps or shelves for a race team hauler. It also includes a small fifth wheel and mount for a pick up truck puller. The king pin mount for the trailer had to be modified to hook up to the larger fifth wheel on the Pete puller. The following pics are test fit shots to make sure everything fits and rides level. Ramps have been made for the hot rod to fit inside the trailer, and are removable to haul other cars if needed.


The pic below shows the hot rod inside the trailer where it will be riding, and the roof is upside down to show the sliding hoist extended. 3/8 of an inch was added to the slide frame to get that much extra travel out the door in case work has to be performed on the hot rod. A full compliment of tool boxes, welder, generator, battery charger and other tools will also be inside the trailer.
And yes, I'm going to abandon the outside photo shoots. Even in winter, the New Mexico sun is too bright.

don't often see a crewcab on such a big rig, but I suppose it would make sense if back in the day the truck would also be the family car.

I had to do some modifications to the project as a whole. After the bed was made for the hot rot Pete, it didn't fit inside the trailer backed in as I had planned. The side door hoist was in the way, so I had to change the interior layout of the trailer. New ramps were made for loading and hauling the hot rod driven into the trailer. The engine sits lower than the bed, and clears the hoist

The ramps are removable, so that smaller cars can be hauled when not hauling the big rod. There is still room for the tool boxes, welder and other shop gear, just not as much as I had planned for. An extra set of ramps had to be made for the tailgate door to ease loading. These are also removable, otherwise the door would not close.
I'm back to waiting on the weather to improve so that I can paint and begin really putting this together. Most of this is held in place with tack glue or with components just set in place, so it can be painted in sections instead of as a unit.

That really is coming along. I have just noticed that the plastic you using is opaque. I can see the tires and outline of the racer through the sides of the trailer. LOL

Only because the wood liner hasn't been cut and installed yet. The plastic is actually very easy to work with. It takes to the glue I use with no issues. It's being held together with just a couple drops on each side of the floor and back wall. The walls are about .050 or .060 thick, and once the trailer is primed, and the inner wood linig is in place, the opacity will be a thing of the past.

Is this four-door body a model of a commercially-available bodyshell or a custom?

The full size version would be a custom from either a custom body shop or coach builder.

Either way, it's very cool - I like how you added what I assume are cargo area doors aft of the rear doors - it explains why there's a parcel shelf inside!

Yes, they are cargo compartment doors. I missed the comment, sorry or I would have got back to it sooner. The shelf was what prompted the idea of the compartment doors. It also gave me someplace to put the large speakers for the stereo. I've really left this thread untouched. Lots of additions to this one. I've added photo etch door handles and window cranks, a photo etch stereo system with two speakers in each door and a pair of sub woofers in the rear deck.


I made a couple of video screens for the rear seat passengers from .040 and .020 plastic, for those long rides to out of town shows.
Paint isn't exactly what I had in mind, I had to go with what the weather would allow with only a couple hours a day to paint in. Turned out I made a good choice with this  color. There is still some more work to do to this one, light lenses, rear fenders and air lines still need to be made up. Almost ready, just a few more hours work.


The engine is fully wired and plumbed, with an oversized turbo and air cleaner. Dual oil luberfiners keep the engine oil clean and cool. The AMT fuel tanks were sanded and filled to make up the Peterbilt aluminum tanks instead of the kit steel tanks. The battery boxes are made from plastic tread plate, as were the two deck plates on the frame behind the cab.


The front emblem is a photo etch piece, and the eagle mascot is from an AMT American LaFrance kit. Polished aluminum rear fenders will be added, along with air and electrical lines and maybe a mural to the rear cab wall below the rear window.

Unfreakingbelieveable.

Masterful work if you ask me. Just fantastic. I like the colors too and it should go with the rest of your Blue Fleet.

looking good.

The blue I used on this one is actually OSHA safety blue. I usually use a cobalt or sapphire blue on the trucks. This one has a real fast cure time, and with the weather as far off as it has been this winter, I wanted it to dry ASAP. I've only had a couple days that were warm enough to paint, and then it was just a few hours total that was warm enough. As it was, it still took a couple days to fully dry. I did get the 4 door finished today, so new pics will be ready in a few hours. I should have the rod finished in the morning, and then I can turn my attention to the trailer.

Here are the pics of the finished truck. I say it's finished, but I have an idea for a mural on the back of the cab... The rear fenders are made from aluminum sheet and are mirror polished. All the lights and air and electric lines are in place, so until I get the mural made, it's as done as I can get it.

that's one custom I would love to see in real life