Peterbilt 6x6 Medium Hauler

[Tommy R]

Tiny update...

Wanting this styrene work to be plenty stout I decided to take a couple minutes and build some plates and bonded them to the OEM plastic. This will give me a nice, flat surface(s) to attach the new hood sides and it will provide a lot more strength. I'll wait to get the fenders in before I bond the new hood sides. The reason being I want to make one side and trim it to fit the new fenders and then will use it to make a template so both sides are as symmetric as possible.


Passenger side cut and mocked up.

[Tommy R]

Got my Shapeways fenders in over the weekend and they look nice! The finish will require some sanding, but I'm pleased. I can't determine final positioning of the fenders until my wheels/tires arrive, but I've begun mocking things up a bit.

Installing the TLT axle and the Hi Lift front springs moved the axle forward a bit. Technically speaking, it seems most 6x6 trucks have the front axle set back quite a bit from a standard RWD truck. Mine won't be set back that far because I'd like a bit better approach angle. It'll still look pretty accurate so I'm good with it.

I'm having a hard time determining what model Pete this most resembles. And it doesn't help that most 6x6 trucks are so tall that they have sloped hoods and mine won't. So I may be building a truck that has never existed? Really not sure. So if anyone has input on if this truck most closely resembles a 357, 359, 389, etc. please let me know!

Anyway, here's some mock up pics. Nevermind the wheel/tire choice for now, but does the fender placement look about right?




If I keep this placement, I'll add some styrene down below so the fender isn't left unsupported.

[porky69]

If you are going to use air cleaners that have the exposed rubber hoses going through the side of the hood it would give the appearance of a 359


or possibly a 358 (basically a narrow hood ("needle-nose") version of the 359).

The 379, 357, 389 all have the air pipe from the air cleaners going directly into the side of the cowl.

How about changing the fenders and making a 353?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by porky69

If you are going to use air cleaners that have the exposed rubber hoses going through the side of the hood it would give the appearance of a 359

or possibly a 358 (basically a narrow hood ("needle-nose") version of the 359).

The 379, 357, 389 all have the air pipe from the air cleaners going directly into the side of the cowl.

How about changing the fenders and making a 353?

Thanks for the info! I considered doing a body style like the 353, but I wanted a style more like the 359. I'm pretty sure a 6x6 359 never existed so my build won't be entirely realistic, but hopefully it'll still look nice.

It's funny you posted that first pic. I downloaded it as an example of a paint scheme I'm considering. It seems there's some common 2 tone paint schemes for these trucks. There's this one:


And there's this one (although this one is more customized):


And of course some trucks have a painted chassis and fuel tanks/steps like this one:


After doing a lot of research on color schemes and combinations, it looks like my truck will come out a lot like this, but with more purple:


Found this one, too! Looks pretty cool and mine may come out somewhat similar in a lot of ways, but with 359 style fenders.