A second life...as a Pete 281

[Grainfarmer]

Hi together!
Several months ago I got me a loveless painted and stained WEDICO conventional cab. Many many times I held it in my hands, thinking what I schould do wit it. My first idea was to convert ist to a Freightliner Classic XL, but the cab did not fit anyhow. During the last days I often searched by Google pictures and there I found the one, that would fit perfectly to this cab:
A Peterbilt 281
Here is the first picture of the cab as it is fixed to the chassis. The new frontgrill and hood will be next....if I have enough sparetime for this. Maybe it woll take some time, but by and by I will work on this model.


regards
Frank

[Radio Control Trucker]

Interesting It looks good, keep up the good work.

Are going to build an original or try to replicate the "DUEL"?


Either way, looks to be a great project.

- RCT

[Grainfarmer]

I think it will get a little bit more chrome...
Thanks for the picture!

[Grainfarmer]

Hi together!

After some hours in the workshop I have some pictures...
Because of the narrower frontgrill I had to cut off a few inches from the WEDICO-chassis. The frame of the grill was shortened wit a milling machine and glued togeter again. It measures now 55 millimeters, that comes very close to my drawings...



A sheet of paper shows the dimensions of the hood. Later it will be made of brass or copper. I hope that I can use the old fender fom the WEDICO-conventional...

[Espeefan]

Interesting project Frank. I'm curious to see how this turns out. The fenders could probably be used, but I think I would try to sand down the lip so that it's thinner, like the 1:1 Peterbilt 281.

[Grainfarmer]

Yes you are right. Later I´ll have to fill up the space between the fender and the narrower hood. The dimensions of the cab are nearly the same as on my scaled drawing. The only difference to the original will be a little edge between cab and hood, but this will be covered by the aircleaner I hope...

Here you can see it:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...t_281_1956.jpg

At my model the front of the cab is about 6 millimeters too wide. The rest should nearly fit...for cutting it in the right dimension I´m too lazy.

[Grainfarmer]

The front grill will be made like this one...:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5161/...2e6276dd69.jpg
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5268/5...620fca92_o.jpg

I will tahe a brass or aluminum plate on the milling machine with a angular cutter. Depending on the material it will be polished or chrome plated...

[JAMMER]

Hello Frank nice start to your Pete and I would like to point out one thing that the piece between the fender and the hood is curved or rolled and starts out high at the fender and slopes downward at the hood. Ed

[Grainfarmer]

Thanks for teh information! You mean this part..:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2478/...f37a88b44b.jpg

Yes, that may become a challenge...

[JAMMER]

Yes Frank that is the part I am talking about. Maybe you could take a piece of wood and form the curve and then use that to form the metal over that. Ed

[Grainfarmer]

We´ll see .... when the hood is done. I´ve compared the Pete-fenders with the conventionas´ . I guess I will teke the fenders from the pete. They are more filigree as the ones from the conventional. Pictures will follow...

[Grainfarmer]

Hi together!

After too many weeks of stand still by having no time for the hobby here´s some progress:
The frontgrill is fixed to the frame. It was milled out of a aluminum plate...for this my buddy had to grind a special milling tool...
As you see on the second picture it´s already polished...

[doodlebug]

Nice job on the grill!
Cheers, Neil.

[Espeefan]

Nice work on the grille Frank! Sometimes it takes a while to get the motivation and ideas rolling, but the end results are always good.

[Grainfarmer]

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Nice work on the grille Frank! Sometimes it takes a while to get the motivation and ideas rolling, but the end results are always good.

You are right....I already wrecked my mind to find a solution to fix the fenders to the hood, bur Wolfgang ("Seilbagger") showed me how to do...

[1985 kenworth]

grill looks great ..can't wait to see it finished

[Grainfarmer]

Hi together!
Today I found some time to get on with the Pete...Wrecking my mind to get an idea how to fix the fenders I found the solution at Wolfgangs (Seilbagger) Pete 281 project...
Here are some new pictures...The fenders and bumper are just tapet to the chassis




regards
Frank

[Grainfarmer]

ahain some small steps ahead...

It took some help to solder the sinde pannels...:


First "test" part for the hood...:




regards
Frank

[wolfws6]

Looks goods so far. Looking forward to see how that turns out using copper!!!

[Seilbagger]

Hello Frank,

welcome to the club of copperbuilder. The grill looks perfect