Nick's 379 build

[Dreamweaver]

Lookin Sweeet Nick. Good job on the styrene work.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Great work, Nick! I like the stance. She's got a little rake to her, but maybe a trailer on the back would level it up? Or, from the looks of it, the front end could be raised just a tad. The wheel isn't exactly centered in the fender, unless you are going for that front end on air bags, dropped look? Either, way, it's a beautiful ringer of a Peterbilt truck. I like the extended hood! What tires are you running? They look like some nice low pros.

Thanks Nathan. Yeah it does have quite a rake but I'm still playing around with the dummy airbags on the rear axles. It's a complicated operation of cutting down springs, squeezing them into the rubber gaiters, bolting the end caps to the suspension and stretching the gaiters over them, then standing back and taking a look to see I need to start over again. Kinda takes it out of me each time! It does squat a little bit under weight, I tested 8kg on the back. For now I'm just going to have to keep it at that ride height, any lower and the qtr fenders get torn clean off when driving around my house! Ideally I would like some working airbags but that's a long way off. I can always drop the rear for shelf queen/photo session duties. The rake only shows at eye level, not when it's driving around on the floor.
I spent ages perfecting the drop on the front end, there's no way I'll be raising it! Actually I lowered the front axle a bit but also dropped the fenders too, it's all part of the low rider look. I think that's what makes the hood look so big. I've not added anything to the length of it, just lengthened the cowl by about 5mm. The lack of breathers makes it look longer too, but that will be rectified soon. The body also sits a bit lower due to the modifications I made to the shape of the hood, it meets with the cab higher than the original kh hood. The biggest challenge will be engineering the flip up bumper but I think I have it nailed (in my head at least). My challenge with this build has been the trade off between having it slammed to the ground but still having enough clearance to drive it about the house. This baby's not going to see much action outdoors! Not many places I can take it where I live.

Originally Posted by Dreamweaver

Lookin Sweeet Nick. Good job on the styrene work.

Thanks, that has taken the most amount of time out of everything. But you know all about the headaches of styrene work with your classy shak!

[Espeefan]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Thanks Nathan. Yeah it does have quite a rake but I'm still playing around with the dummy airbags on the rear axles. It's a complicated operation of cutting down springs, squeezing them into the rubber gaiters, bolting the end caps to the suspension and stretching the gaiters over them, then standing back and taking a look to see I need to start over again. Kinda takes it out of me each time! It does squat a little bit under weight, I tested 8kg on the back. For now I'm just going to have to keep it at that ride height, any lower and the qtr fenders get torn clean off when driving around my house! Ideally I would like some working airbags but that's a long way off. I can always drop the rear for shelf queen/photo session duties. The rake only shows at eye level, not when it's driving around on the floor.
I spent ages perfecting the drop on the front end, there's no way I'll be raising it! Actually I lowered the front axle a bit but also dropped the fenders too, it's all part of the low rider look. I think that's what makes the hood look so big. I've not added anything to the length of it, just lengthened the cowl by about 5mm. The lack of breathers makes it look longer too, but that will be rectified soon. The body also sits a bit lower due to the modifications I made to the shape of the hood, it meets with the cab higher than the original kh hood. The biggest challenge will be engineering the flip up bumper but I think I have it nailed (in my head at least). My challenge with this build has been the trade off between having it slammed to the ground but still having enough clearance to drive it about the house. This baby's not going to see much action outdoors! Not many places I can take it where I live.

Very cool! I had my own problems getting my Wedico to sit lower too. But the worst part was the front end sat way higher then any Tamiya ever could. I was happy just to get it looking stock, and not dropped. I to did a little playing around with the suspension and hood mounting height. In the end it was a combination of the two that made a good difference, and my truck has rake to it also.

Love those mirrors too. Did you solder those up?

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Love those mirrors too. Did you solder those up?

Nathan, I got those mirror brackets from lkw modellbau berlin. Saw them in one of papabaer's posts and immediately got them. (http://rctruckandconstruction.com/showthread.php?t=1903)
They look so much better than the king hauler ones. I just need to get the mirrors made up by someone.