Post by 78KW on Aug 22, 2010 21:42:58 GMT -5
When we statred this CBP, I said to myself, "How do you spell Fleet Truck? Answer:FLD". My project will be a 1990 Freightliner FLD 120 based on the Revell of Germany kit.
Every truck here in the CBP has a story, so here's mine. In the late 80s, aerodynamic trucks began to make their entrance into the industry. Although viewed with much skepticism, management agreed to try a few units after the barrage of mailings and visits from the sales reps at various manufacturers. All the talk of reduced weight, increased visibilty and manueverability, not to mention fuel economy, caught management's interest. After visiting the big truck shows, and getting an up close view, several were purchased and placed into service. Although fuel economy has improved quite a bit, it wasn't what they expected. Salesmen can really be convincing.
Of course, not all drivers or maintainence personnel were pleased with the new look. "Those sideskirts are another thing that I have to fix when these drivers hit things!",or, "Great, more sensitive electronics!" they said. And, "Don't they build trucks out of metal anymore?" was a common question. The dislike by some drivers for the new look has caused some of them to make the switch to owner operator so they could drive a "real truck". However, the increased manueverability has won some points with the drivers. And the mechanics are getting used to all the computerization, and the complaints are going down.
(My little story is based on what drivers and mechanics who were in the industry at the time were telling me in terms of the reactions to the new aerodynamic trucks.)
The color scheme we picked, made me think of an old employer of mine, Marten Transport. The blue is similar, and years ago they had silver 2 hole Budd wheels on their trucks. Their fleet trucks were pretty bare in terms of options, so using my memory of that as inspiration, I came up with the truck described below.
I'm doing what I can to dress this truck down, since, as with most kits, it's owner operator spec. The first order of business was to raid an Italeri Pete 378 kit for it's Detroit Diesel 60 Series engine.
I also snatched the inaccurate(for a Pete) 40" Freightliner sleeper box that the 378 kit included originally. I removed the emergency exit door on the sleeper's passenger side. This door is generally an option. I left the little side compartment door at the bottom. At Marten, the Petes and Freightliners had no door on that side, even the little one.
Here you'll see the sideskirt. I shortened it by removing the smallest section. It's now about 18 scale inches shorter. Also visible are the KFS 2 hole Budd wheels I'll be using. I'm going with that total fleet look.
Here are the sideskirts next to each other for comparison in length.
Here is the frame during shortening.
...and the shortened frame...
Another thing some fleets, including Marten, would do is use the short, 100 gallon tanks on their Freightliner trucks. So I shortend mine as well. The length may not be right but the appearance is there.
I chose this kit because the Revell version has the stacks behind the sleeper. Mine will be a single stack of course. I'm going to install a big wind fairing, I'm just not sure how I'll be making one yet.
Thanks for looking.
Every truck here in the CBP has a story, so here's mine. In the late 80s, aerodynamic trucks began to make their entrance into the industry. Although viewed with much skepticism, management agreed to try a few units after the barrage of mailings and visits from the sales reps at various manufacturers. All the talk of reduced weight, increased visibilty and manueverability, not to mention fuel economy, caught management's interest. After visiting the big truck shows, and getting an up close view, several were purchased and placed into service. Although fuel economy has improved quite a bit, it wasn't what they expected. Salesmen can really be convincing.
Of course, not all drivers or maintainence personnel were pleased with the new look. "Those sideskirts are another thing that I have to fix when these drivers hit things!",or, "Great, more sensitive electronics!" they said. And, "Don't they build trucks out of metal anymore?" was a common question. The dislike by some drivers for the new look has caused some of them to make the switch to owner operator so they could drive a "real truck". However, the increased manueverability has won some points with the drivers. And the mechanics are getting used to all the computerization, and the complaints are going down.
(My little story is based on what drivers and mechanics who were in the industry at the time were telling me in terms of the reactions to the new aerodynamic trucks.)
The color scheme we picked, made me think of an old employer of mine, Marten Transport. The blue is similar, and years ago they had silver 2 hole Budd wheels on their trucks. Their fleet trucks were pretty bare in terms of options, so using my memory of that as inspiration, I came up with the truck described below.
I'm doing what I can to dress this truck down, since, as with most kits, it's owner operator spec. The first order of business was to raid an Italeri Pete 378 kit for it's Detroit Diesel 60 Series engine.
I also snatched the inaccurate(for a Pete) 40" Freightliner sleeper box that the 378 kit included originally. I removed the emergency exit door on the sleeper's passenger side. This door is generally an option. I left the little side compartment door at the bottom. At Marten, the Petes and Freightliners had no door on that side, even the little one.
Here you'll see the sideskirt. I shortened it by removing the smallest section. It's now about 18 scale inches shorter. Also visible are the KFS 2 hole Budd wheels I'll be using. I'm going with that total fleet look.
Here are the sideskirts next to each other for comparison in length.
Here is the frame during shortening.
...and the shortened frame...
Another thing some fleets, including Marten, would do is use the short, 100 gallon tanks on their Freightliner trucks. So I shortend mine as well. The length may not be right but the appearance is there.
I chose this kit because the Revell version has the stacks behind the sleeper. Mine will be a single stack of course. I'm going to install a big wind fairing, I'm just not sure how I'll be making one yet.
Thanks for looking.