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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/30/2011
Posts: 556
Location: Healdsburg CA.
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It's been quite some time since I was regularly active on the forums so I thought i'd share some of what i've been up to the past year. Something I was planning on doing for quite a while was to get a large fleet of trucks together like some of the other forum members, but I had other models to purchase and so on, but I finally got around to it. Subsequently after obtaining the trucks I decided to add equipment to specifically go along with them, then it just snowballed into a fictitious construction business. I do want to do some dio's but am stopped by the fact I don't want to get them dirty and I don't play with my models. I'll figure something out eventually. But never the less the fleet is continuously expanding on the truck and equipment side. And it's been fun building a unique fleet. The business is Collins-Pacific Corporation. Collins-Pacific is a leading civil and building construction company offering diversified general contracting and design-build services to private clients and public agencies throughout the western United States. We also offer additional services such as ready mix concrete, hot mix asphalt, sand and aggregates, precast concrete products and so on. Starting off we have the one that started it all the First Gear Peterbilt 367 Dump. It's pretty much standard with the exception of the decals.    Next up we have some mixers, both being Conrad 5600i's. These were both modified from the factory version, they came set up with the Stetter mixer bodies while nicely made they weren't prototypical for my application so I removed the raised water tanks and made new ones and mounted them on the left frame side behind the cab. The wrap around fenders didn't work for me either so I removed them and made new "McNelius Style" fenders with mudflaps and controls. I also made new racks for holding the chute extensions. One mixer was missing it's chute so I made one "somewhat" decent one from scratch.     And now here's a flatbed, it's supposed to be a Peterbilt 359. This one started off life as a toy dump truck, I cut the frame short and rearranged the axles, then I fabricated up this flatbed for it, I stripped and repainted the cab and hood, painted all the details and made up some mirrors (I still have a ways to go on those). I wasn't too impressed with the steer wheels that came with the truck so I swapped them with a set of First Gear Peterbilt steers. I ended up keeping the rear wheels and detailing them to look like the old steel super singles they used to run on the mixers in the 80's out here.    Last but not least heres one of the lowbeds in the fleet, Just a box standard (excluding the decals) First Gear Peterbilt 367 / Talbert spread with a Universal Hobbies Komatsu PC490-10.  Lots more to come later.
-William Jack of all trades, Master of none. Miniature Construction Models
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 12/17/2006
Posts: 1,627
Location: Hebron, In
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Nice collection, everything looks clean and pristine!
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 10/4/2005
Posts: 983
Location: england
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Love the snowball effect.I have been through that process,many times.You start improving the look of a standard model.Then totally change it,to a vehicle you know actually exists.Nice trucks.Collins-Pacific have a good looking fleet! 
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/30/2011
Posts: 556
Location: Healdsburg CA.
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Now for the second installment. Since we're in the civil infrastructure business that generally means we do a lot of roads and highways. Unfortunately since city, state and county governments don't build too many new highways and roads in the US anymore, which means we'll be repairing, widening or replacing existing roads, which also means we're working with traffic. So to combat the motorists and commuters I made up some traffic control equipment. Starting off we have a little Isuzu/GMC W4500. It started off life as a Die Cast Promotions American Express box van. The I custom made a traffic control body for it. It has a stake side rear for carrying cones and other large traffic control and channelizing devices, Up font is three storage compartments for temporary construction warning signs.    Next off here's the lone Volvo in the fleet a 1980's Volvo FE7. This one is quite a blend of different models. It all started off with a Conrad Volvo FS7 city tractor. I salvaged the cab bumper, fuel tank, battery box, and air tanks. I then chopped up a First Gear International Durastar and grafted the Volvo FS7 parts on it. I custom made the stake bed body from scratch. The body is based off a mix of trucks used for thermoplastic detail and line marking use "hence" the extra drop down yellow ladders, and storage tubes and wells on the front and under the body. The rear lift gate is just simulated so it can only be posed in the stowed position or folded out level with the bed, I didn't see the value on trying to over engineer a working lift gate for it. While the FE7 is not part of the traffic control fleet and is just a general use truck it does lend it's self quite well to that task.    The traffic control devices are generally just off the shelf items. The large type I barricades are a Steel City product, The small unmarked cones are from DHS and the plastic and concrete barriers are 3D To Scale items.   The 3D To Scale barriers are Ok they are a bit on the grainy side. That being said I'm going to try and make my own K-rail style barrier at some point, since the 3D To Scale versions are too short and wide.  The plastic water filled ones are pretty nice in comparison, but none the less just as grainy.  The larger cones are also a 3D To Scale product, but I customized to fit my needs. The orange the cones came printed in had a lot left to be desired, so I sprayed them with some Allis-Chalmers Orange and then painted the bases to replicate the recycled rubber weighted cone base, and then added two simulated retroreflective stripes with silver paint so the cones can be used for night work. The DHS cones will get this treatment as well.  The type III barricades I custom made from scratch out of styrene pieces, We use these for road closures or demarcating a closed lane.  I scratch built this Solartech Silent Messenger III message board. While it's not nearly as nice as Greg's it does work well for me and cost me a fraction of the price (Since I'm cheap). It does fold flat for transport and I designed it with a oversize pintle ring so I can tow it behind pretty much any truck with a pintle hitch. One other function I added is I can disassemble the message board itself and change the message. I also have a sequencing arrow board in the works.    There's still much more to come.
-William Jack of all trades, Master of none. Miniature Construction Models
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/30/2011
Posts: 556
Location: Healdsburg CA.
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Now the next installment of trucks. If you have a large fleet of equipment you’ll need a service truck to maintain them, No exception here. I never was too big of fan of the TWH service truck (even though it’s more detailed) and since i’m not a big fan of the International Durastar’s I went with the Norscot Peterbilt 330 with the IMT body.   It started out as a white Caterpillar service truck I removed all the Cat service markings and painted the door latches, fuel tank, battery box and sun visor silver. I custom made a cab guard, in bed storage compartments, Lincoln welder, hose reel, tool box and extra air tank for the body. On the back bumper I made a bench vise, fire extinguisher and light stand. In addition I also added a anti-slip floor to the bed. Custom decals finished off the service truck. At some point i’ll get around to adding a working winch and outriggers to the crane. A tip to all with the bed style service trucks, It ain’t a working service truck without a bunch of stuff in the bed.  Next off a mainstay of the aggregates fleet, the bottom dumps. Starting off with the old Kenworth W900. This truck has had a rough life being one of the first 1:50 scale trucks I purchased and subsequently the victim of customs past, It needed a lot of work to get it looking better. The bumper was messed up so I made a plain straight bumper for it. The grille needed a lot of work so I just salvaged this one off a 1:32 Kenworth T600A. I repainted it from the factory blue color. I changed out the 5th wheel and front steers from a First Gear model. I still need to figure out what to do to hide the former front drive axle mounts. The bottom dump trailer is just a First Gear model with the front axle removed making it a tandem axle trailer which is the standard over here.    Next up is the sister unit to the KW the Peterbilt 367 pulling a identical trailer. Nothing too special here just a First Gear 367 with the drop axle removed and decals added.    If you were curious to where those spare axles from the bottom dumps went. They were fabricated together into a tandem axle con-gear so we can run the bottom dumps Nevada style.  Finally, Since we use such a large fleet of equipment on some of our jobs we go through a large amount of fuel so a normal fuel/lube combo truck just wouldn’t have enough capacity for our day to day operations, so we needed something larger. So I made up this setup. It’s what I call a Mack “RU600” (It has a centered cab but a BBC of a U model, It’d probably be like driving a Brigadier with half the engine in the cab).The truck is largely unmodified with only having the window seals added, clearance light painted and decals put on.  It’s mated up to a Revell Fruehauf 6 compartment fuel trailer from their Mobilgas white tank truck kit. The trailer was built pretty much the same as the kit was meant to be with the exception of painting and decaling the trailer in our livery and adding a LC meter and hose reel in the cabinet for metering off the fuel into equipment.   
-William Jack of all trades, Master of none. Miniature Construction Models
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 6/21/2012
Posts: 524
Location: N. Cal
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Your fleet looks great. You have some nice custom work there.
My Facebook page: NorCalDiecastCustomsClifton
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 10/4/2005
Posts: 983
Location: england
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Indeed.Great looking fleet.Love those bottom dumps.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 12/17/2006
Posts: 1,627
Location: Hebron, In
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Love the big excavator!
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 6/18/2003
Posts: 2,141
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
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Great work. Now you must take them out to work in the field and get them dirty!!
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/2/2005
Posts: 648
Location: America
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Nice work! The service truck is just fantastic! I'm surprised there isn't something in the "cardboard" boxes!! Bravo!!!
I'm a little bit surprised nobody has commented on the NZG #542 Deere 244J as that's a scarce version of the Liebherr L510.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/6/2015
Posts: 1,317
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It looks like Quinella was operating that Deere 244J loader, I hope he didn’t do much damage to your barriers. He is standing there dumbfounded, looking around for someone to blame for his inadequate operating skills. Wonder if there is any hair underneath that yellow hard hat.
Great work on your customizing and your decals with your company name look great.
Steve
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 10/9/2012
Posts: 551
Location: Ontario, Canada
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Hi William, you’ve definitely added some life to that Norscot service truck. The Nevada style bottom dumps are EPIC! As well, the modified fuel tender has some great functionality added. Thanks so much for sharing.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 9/30/2010
Posts: 461
Location: My house.
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I did not know that the 244J was made as a variant. It looks nice and and I see it's about as common as hens teeth. Maybe one day I'll get lucky and find one.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/30/2011
Posts: 556
Location: Healdsburg CA.
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ChandlerYohn wrote:Hi William, you’ve definitely added some life to that Norscot service truck. The Nevada style bottom dumps are EPIC! As well, the modified fuel tender has some great functionality added. Thanks so much for sharing. Thanks! I thought it was time someone did a service truck with a bunch of clutter in back, I've never seen a working service truck without parts, boxes, pails of oil, dunnage, and a fair amount of trash in back. I wish I could say I did, But I didn't do the Nevada train conversion myself, I purchased them from another collector already set up that way. I only swapped the red tractor for a white one and detailed them to my spec. Quinella wrote: Great work. Now you must take them out to work in the field and get them dirty!! They'll get dirty eventually if not out on the job it'll be from sitting on a shelf gathering dust. And now even more models.Starting this group off is a Kenworth W925 and Fruehauf tank trailer. Unlike other companies we distribute our own asphalt and emulsions so we have some tankers to haul it from our terminals to our hot mix plants, job sites or to customers. The truck started out as a Corgi Texaco fuel tanker set. The truck had it’s sleeper removed and a diamond plate deck plate put in it’s place, and it also got the obligatory white paint and decals.  The trailer had the Texaco markings removed along with the under tank cross flow manifold and compartment hatches. A new rear discharge connection, and a single center loading hatch was made for the top of the tanker.  Next up is a 367 with a Fruehauf tub. The tractor (just like the bottom dump unit) is just a white 367 without the lift axle, The only difference with this unit (other than the fleet number) is this one has lines for the wet kit.  The trailer itself is a heavily modified Shinsei piece. I removed all the toylike axles and cut off the front axle mounts to convert it to a tandem axle from a tri axle. I cut off the fold up style landing gear and made some static more realistic landing gear to replace it. I salvaged two axles out of a Cat CT660’s for the trailer and custom made the cable suspended mudflaps to replace the fixed original ones. I also made new taillights for the trailer since the original were missing.   And now we have one of the other lowbed’s in the fleet. Nothing too special, just a white WSI Kenworth T800W with Rogers flip axle lowbed with decals added.  And there's still more to come.
-William Jack of all trades, Master of none. Miniature Construction Models
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/6/2015
Posts: 1,317
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William great customization on that Freuhauf trailer it looks great. That was one of the first dump trailers that I ever ran. It did not last long however because up here in the northeast the terrain is tough and I used it on site, not for processed material. So it saw everything in its tub.
Steve
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/30/2011
Posts: 556
Location: Healdsburg CA.
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Once again another installment of models. Starting off we have a water truck. Since every company that makes 1:50 scale truck models has so far ignored the cries of just about everyone to produce a water truck, since just about every job site has one. So rather than sit around waiting for a lackluster one to be made by some company I decided i’ll just make my own. This one started off as a First Gear Peterbilt 367 tractor, I removed the drivers side battery box and put the fuel tank in it’s place. Since most fleet water truck don’t have dual stacks I removed the driver side stack and put a grab iron in its place. Also since most water trucks don’t need to be hauling around 150 gal. of fuel in the tanks I removed the passenger side tank. I rearanged the axles to give me the correct axle spacing.  The tank is made from a cut and formed piece of poplar sheeted with styrene. All the detail parts are also made from styrene.  Next up is once again another 367, this one like the others is just a white tractor decal’d up with the tag axle removed. This one’s set up with our 16 wheel step deck equipment trailer, or what we call a dozer float. It started off as a Solido trailer that I believe came with a Berliet T12 tractor.  I removed the old axles and axle mounts and fabricated new ones out of styrene and used Ertl 1/64 wheels and tires to replace the original ones. I then just gave it a coat of black paint and then made a few extra details for it.  Next up is the most powerful heavy hauler in the fleet, while it’s not for the road it will pull a fair amount of weight. It’s EMD MP15DC made by K-Line. I went budget on this one, I didn't see the value dishing out $300+ for a Atlas O or a MTH model.  The locomotive is part of our “railway services division” for use on large mass transit and rail infrastructure projects, or large earthworks projects, like SJ Grove’s or Oro dam constructors projects. But in reality projects like that don’t come up too often, so most of it’s life is spent switching hopper cars in one of our quarries.  It’s still a work in progress, I’m still trying a figure out a way to make the pilots look more realistic and i'm making a new fuel tank, A interior for the cab and some other details. There are also 6 side dump cars in the works.  And there’s still much more to come.
-William Jack of all trades, Master of none. Miniature Construction Models
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 7/6/2015
Posts: 1,317
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William that water truck looks great with that Peterbilt, nice custom on it.
Steve
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 9/14/2007
Posts: 664
Location: North Idaho
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I worked for a company that had a Petercar water truck that looked just like yours! It came out of California and was an ex Granite Construction rig, so it was green. It had a little two or three cylinder a Diesel engine mounted on the frame side behind the cab to run the tank; no PTO. You started it in the cab with a push button mounted on the spray valve control pod.
Are you an enviromentist, or do you work for a living?
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 10/4/2005
Posts: 983
Location: england
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Love looking at those railroad/ road vehicle combos.Doesn't matter what scale,as long as its close!A few have been posted,on this site.They always look good together.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 6/14/2007
Posts: 975
Location: Eureka
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William, thanks for posting photos of some great trucks. I'm also impressed by your sketches in your other post. Robert
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