# Peterbilt 359 R/C



## RCDave911

Anyone want to see a Revell Peterbilt 359 made R/C with working lights and suspension?


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## vypurr59

Sure post it up.


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## RCDave911

Just realized I need 5 post before I can post pic links.


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## vypurr59

Easy to do, just click on a few cars, and comment. That will get your 5 posts.


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## Bandit17

I'd love to see that! I've been wanting to do one of those for a few years now!


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## RCDave911

I have been using the Losi Micro Crawler axles, transmission and reciever/speed control along with plastic model kits to make scale trucks and realized these would be perfect for a 18 wheeler build.I was going to do a brass frame but decided the plastic one will work good with some extra styrene reinforcing and crossmembers and alot of glue, plus maybe I will see some torque twist when pulling heavy loads. I also extended it 2". 






































For the rear suspension I am using leaf springs made from a 1/8 scale engine pullstart recoil spring, 1/16" steel for the airbag mounts and I simulated airbags with compression springs covered with twist balloons. They are attached with small pins and I used heat shrink tubing for the bushings. The axles are from the Losi Micro Crawler and are easy to connect together using brass rod and tube brazed together, plus I am not the first to do it. Next I made panhard bars out of lexan so they would flex and I wouldn't need a ball joint. It is also attached with a small pin.The axle wideners are 4mm feather shafts for a 450 size helicopter. I cut them to length and drilled them out and threaded them. They are perfect for the wheels. The drive pins are nails cut to length.


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## RCDave911




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## RCDave911

For the front end I used the same spring steel and 1/16" steel for the hangers and they are attached with a small pin and I used heat shrink tubing for the bushings. Simulated airbags with compression springs covered with a peice of a twist balloon. The axle is cast alloy from Kit Form Services.


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## scottnkat

real cool


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## SteveR

That's amazing!  Looking forward to more!


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## RCDave911

The Transmission is also from a Losi Micro Crawler and I screwed it to the frame on one side and used a peice of styrene to connect it to the frame on the other side for added strength. I plan to use a 70-90 turn, neo mag 130 motor but for now I have the stock one. For the driveshaft I used a peice of antenna, it's small, strong and somewhat light weight. Glued it to one side and slotted the other end and put a pin in it so it could slide.















































The steering servo is almost a perfect fit in the model engine so that's where I put it, seen this done by other people in different scales. I used screws to hold the engine together and mount it to the chassis so it can be taken apart if needed. Then I removed the spring from the servo saver and cut it down to a lower profile. The steering linkages are from a big paperclip.


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## RCDave911




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## CODY614

You have brought the saying "Holy Crap" to a whole new level!


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## RCDave911

The fifth wheel turned out better than I thought it would. Basically I just made it like a full size, looking at a couple of pics and diagrams, freehand cut all the parts with my Dremel. The black parts are delrin plastic and the handle is a paper clip. I felt like I was making a watch and I spent about 6-8 hours designing and building this.


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## RCDave911




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## whiskeyrat

Holy Mackerel! I thought I was the only crazy person on this forum, but I see I have competition! Absolutely awesome build so far... Will definitely be following along on this. Post very often please!!


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## RCDave911

whiskeyrat said:


> Holy Mackerel! I thought I was the only crazy person on this forum, but I see I have competition! Absolutely awesome build so far... Will definitely be following along on this. Post very often please!!


Thanks, I have been building this for 2 years and I just finished so the post will be often. Here's another


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## RCDave911

I want to do full rear fenders but I also want to see all the wheels turning sometimes so I made a rear bumper with mudflaps that I can easily remove so I can put on the fenders.


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## RCDave911




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## RCDave911

The rear fenders are cast resin from P&P Vintage Kits and I made mounting brackets from styrene and they are attached to the frame with 6 screws for easy removal.


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## RCDave911




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## RCDave911

On the front wheels I drilled out where the lugs go and cut up some aluminum nails and polished them then glued them in place. I really like the result and surprised I havn't seen anyone do this before. I want to do this to the rears and trailer but thats 80 more little peices of nail. Don't think I can commit to that.














































For the rear wheels I glued on a peice of styrene for the drive pin.


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## whiskeyrat

Wow the wheels look fantastic, great idea with the nails!


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## DCH10664

This is one seriously over-the-top build here !! I love it ! 
I actually used to drive one of these some years ago. It had a cat engine and an 18 speed transmission.


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## RCDave911

Thanks for the comments.

I have alot of time into this build and I'm just now getting to the cab. I decided I wanted a bigger sleeper so I cut off the stock one and added a 60" sleeper I bought on ebay. Next I added more styrene to the firewall and cut holes for the air cleaners, added some styrene strips around the bottom and glued the bed in.


























One of the first things I notice when I look at other peoples build of this model is the big gap between the bumper and grill so I have been planning on doing this. I am looking at the hinges on the hood trying to figure out why the person who designed it didn't do it the right way(like a 1:1). It wouldn't have been more work or cost more money. Anyway it wasn't hard to fix I just made some hinges and cut a nail for the pins and glued them where they needed to go. Then I added styrene to the front fenders so they match the rears and filled in the hole in the hood where the air cleaner goes.


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## RCDave911

Starting to take shape.


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## walsing

Impressive skills, impressive creation!


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## whiskeyrat

Just wow. Watching this progress is awesome.


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## vypurr59

Can't wait to see it in paint. 3 Thumbs up. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## 41-willys

great skills and an awesome build:thumbsup:


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## RCDave911

Glad you guys like it, thanks for the comments.

The bumper was custom made to my measurments from ebay store Trick My Plastic Truck Model and it will be held on with a few drops of glue. Now you can see why I remade the hinges.


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## RCDave911




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## -Hemi-

DAMN! That's some crazy skills right there! I love how this whole project is come together. the engine is a Caterpillar model, that's got to be the best thing I've seen yet to a model!

Now taken your making this an R/C, you got a TON of controls to hide, in the bunk I would assume?!!!

Remote control for that is gonna be some interesting too!


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## RCDave911

On my other builds I did the lights after paint but there are so many led's on this I thought it would be better to install and wire them first. I used 32 gauge wire and 2 types of led's, Osram micro side mount white and blue and 1.8mm diffused red, blue and yellow. The cab marker lights were the hardest to plan out and get right. I hollowed out the chrome housing for the 1.8mm yellow led that I sanded the corners off so it would fit. Then I colored it with an orange Sharpie so the color was right when it is turned on or off. I installed 3 micro slide switches to control the lights and a connector so I can plug into a power supply for display. There ended up being a total of 50 led's on the truck.


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## RCDave911




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## -Hemi-

AWESOME effects man! WOW!


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## whiskeyrat

Truly a joy to watch this come together, so very well done!


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## RCDave911

-Hemi- said:


> AWESOME effects man! WOW!





whiskeyrat said:


> Truly a joy to watch this come together, so very well done!


Thanks for the comments.

I like the look of big 10" stacks so I got some 7/16" x .016" thin wall aluminum tube. I didn't think it could be bent without professional tools but I tried it anyway and it worked well. I packed the tube with sand and heated it with a propane torch, this is the tricky part. Then I put the tube in a handheld tube bender and carefully bent it. The 1st try the tube ripped when I was almost done, it needed more heat. The 3rd try I got it too hot and it was a little deformed but the 2nd and 4th turned out nice. The bends could be tighter but the are close enough. I know they are too long but I can't decide if I want angled cuts or straight cuts. Also need to be polished.


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## vypurr59

I am just speechless. WOW!!!


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## RCDave911

I finished the dash, I think. Looks better in person cause the camera shows all the little imperfections alot better. I put a blue LED behind the dash so the white gauges are backlit.


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## -Hemi-

Thats amazing!!!!!!!!!!! NICE work man.....What did you use for the toggle switches?

You could have even lit those too by center drilling them! If you had/have a lathe.....


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## greyboy

That is in cred i ble!


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## saintsfan56

This is awesome!!!


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## vypurr59

-Hemi- said:


> Thats amazing!!!!!!!!!!! NICE work man.....What did you use for the toggle switches?
> 
> You could have even lit those too by center drilling them! If you had/have a lathe.....


Registering this into memory bank. Since you didn't say patent pending or anything I don't know maybe Simon Sez....lol

RC Dave, Dude I must say, YOU ARE SIMPLY THE MAN!!!
Great Dash. I would go blind doing that in 1/25th scale.


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## -Hemi-

vypurr59 said:


> Registering this into memory bank. Since you didn't say patent pending or anything I don't know maybe Simon Sez....lol


Simply, what are you memorizing? What I said about the toggle switches being lighted by center drilling the switch "lever"?????

Just remember if you do that you then have 2 choices.....

1. You drill the holes with a "standard" clear rod type to use as a lens for the toggle switch levers, OR...

2. You take your lathe and turn the size of clear rod you need for the "levers" to fit as you want it too.....

Yes, I'm a mini machinist, a lot of the details you see within my models, I literally make myself, not buy.....I just like to create things to be as "real" as I can possibly get them, as long as it looks the part, you know?

This goes without saying, my up and coming, or current "WIP" models, will have full brake lines, (with emergency cables) full under hood "engine compartment" wiring, and anything else I can possibly design in my head or on my machines to make the part look to place under the hood.....I'm currently adding "California Emission" parts on a 78 Monaco Police Car! With all vacuum lines and even form-able hose!


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## RCDave911

vypurr59 said:


> Registering this into memory bank. Since you didn't say patent pending or anything I don't know maybe Simon Sez....lol
> 
> RC Dave, Dude I must say, YOU ARE SIMPLY THE MAN!!!
> Great Dash. I would go blind doing that in 1/25th scale.


Thanks, I'm in my mid 30's so eyes still work good. The trick is using small needlenose pliers instead of fingers. I got alot of my ideas from searching the internet. The toggle switch idea has been done before with push pins, I just used small nails instead. Havn't seen backlit dash though, except for a larger truck I built like 4 years ago.



-Hemi- said:


> Simply, what are you memorizing? What I said about the toggle switches being lighted by center drilling the switch "lever"?????
> 
> Just remember if you do that you then have 2 choices.....
> 
> 1. You drill the holes with a "standard" clear rod type to use as a lens for the toggle switch levers, OR...
> 
> 2. You take your lathe and turn the size of clear rod you need for the "levers" to fit as you want it too.....
> 
> Yes, I'm a mini machinist, a lot of the details you see within my models, I literally make myself, not buy.....I just like to create things to be as "real" as I can possibly get them, as long as it looks the part, you know?
> 
> This goes without saying, my up and coming, or current "WIP" models, will have full brake lines, (with emergency cables) full under hood "engine compartment" wiring, and anything else I can possibly design in my head or on my machines to make the part look to place under the hood.....I'm currently adding "California Emission" parts on a 78 Monaco Police Car! With all vacuum lines and even form-able hose!


You have alot more patience and time than I do. All of the black spots on the dash are supposed to be indicator lights. I now wish I had simply drilled a hole for the light to come thru but at the time I was ready to be done with it. I almost bought a mini lathe and mill a few years ago.


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## -Hemi-

RCDave911,
I sadly ended up having to retire early. due to health issues, BUT I bet you and I are pretty close the same age. I'm justtrying to keep my mind and hands busy to not go crazy.....Because of heart issues and the loss of both my parents due to the same issues, I under went open heart surgery last year and have some slight complications due to it.....nothing real serious but I'll just say it has slowed me right down! 

BUT that allows me to take it easy and do a bit in our hobby and then kinda get a little carried way (OK, OK a lot carried away) But you know what I'm saying.....

You get a chance to get a mini lathe or Mill, your crazy if you don't specially if its under $500 for the 2 of them or even each! Its amazing what can be done with them, either one!


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## RCDave911

I can somewhat relate to what your saying, that's why it's good to have hobbies. I talked the guy down to $800 for the lathe and mill but they were from the 70's and had been rusty at 1 time so I passed. I still havn't seen a better deal.


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## RCDave911

This truck looks so cool I couldn't stop taking pictures of it. The visor is made out of styrene, the steps are made out of styrene and covered with a chrome sticker and you can't see it but I made a headliner out of the stuff I used for the mudflaps. The fuel tanks and air cleaners are aluminum from Jamie at MoLuminum and look great. I think the only stock parts are the horns and mirrors. These pics are with the airbags dropped (springs removed).


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## RCDave911




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## vypurr59

Very Nice!!!!! Those Pipes are massive, and impressive at the same time. That Blue Metallic
paint, really makes the chrome work stand out. Kudos to you on this build!!!!


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## scottnkat

Looks great!! Great job on it


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## whiskeyrat

Wow it's flawless! Paint looks beautifully done, as does the chrome, excellent job!


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## 12Blacktop

very cool


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## -Hemi-

Holy CRAP! I am just about speechless... that thing in real life with those "stacks" would rumble for sure with the jake wide open! 

NICE WORK man!


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## RCDave911

vypurr59 said:


> Very Nice!!!!! Those Pipes are massive, and impressive at the same time. That Blue Metallic
> paint, really makes the chrome work stand out. Kudos to you on this build!!!!


Thanks, took a long time to get the paint right but maybe longer trying to decide on the color. Now I have a new favorite color.



scottnkat said:


> Looks great!! Great job on it


Thanks



whiskeyrat said:


> Wow it's flawless! Paint looks beautifully done, as does the chrome, excellent job!


Appreciate it



12Blacktop said:


> very cool


Thanks


-Hemi- said:


> Holy CRAP! I am just about speechless... that thing in real life with those "stacks" would rumble for sure with the jake wide open!
> 
> NICE WORK man!


Thanks, I was at a carshow one time and a "show" Pete with 10" stacks hit the jake when slowing to turn in about 30 feet from me and it was hard to breathe for a few seconds. All the car alarms went off and some kids where crying, it was awesome!


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## RCDave911

Here are some more pics.


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## RCDave911

I also took pics with the camera flash only (no other lighting) and think they look really cool but I didn't want to post a ton of pics so click on this pic to see them all.


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## whiskeyrat

My favorite pic...awesome! That dash is beautiful!


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## -Hemi-

Dave,
IS this a R/C truck that you detailed, or just a model? You ought to get a short video of it, 1 to 3 minutes and post it from youtube!

Thats AWESOME!

Plan to add a trailer of some sort or leave it "Bobtailing" ?


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## RCDave911

-Hemi- said:


> Dave,
> IS this a R/C truck that you detailed, or just a model? You ought to get a short video of it, 1 to 3 minutes and post it from youtube!
> 
> Thats AWESOME!
> 
> Plan to add a trailer of some sort or leave it "Bobtailing" ?


Believe it or not it's the same truck that came out of the Revell box pictured at the beginning of the thread.
Just started the trailers, doing a drop deck and race transporter like Nascar uses. They will be built from scratch with lights, suspension and other functional details. But I don't have much time during the summer to work on it and I am going to do a vid when trailer is done.


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## slotcardan

.......


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