Building a Fleet; Robertson's Transport **Photo Intense**

[Trucklover]

Hey guys,

While driving the freeways of Southern California I have noticed one particular aggregate companies trucks and have always wanted to model some of their trucks. This company is Robertson's Transport which has medium to dark red and silver company colors that really stand out when rolling the roads. They have a some pretty need trucks including Transfer Dumps, Bottom Belly Dump Pups, and Pneumatic Dry Bulk Cement Pups. They use mostly Mack cabs from what I have seen with the belly dumps and dry bulk trailers. The transfer dumps have all been Peterbilts from what I have seen.

I got my hands on 3 Transfer Dumps that Trucks N' Stuff produced some time ago, I'd like to get ahold of a few more of them but they are hard to come by. Trucks N' Stuff also made a few trucks with the Pneumatic Dry Bulk Cement Pups, but judging from the pictures I have seen they are a very basic trailer with not much in the way of detail so im not sure if I will getting any of them for my fleet, instead maybe kitbashing some other trailers from Herpa and cutting them down. Luckily Trucks N' Stuff also makes the belly dump trailers so these will not be a problem getting, i havnt decided on how many belly dump pup sets I will be doing yet, but I would like to have at least 10 of them.

Aside from the 3 different trucks mentioned above, I decided to take MY Robertson's fleet to the next level by adding in a few more different trucks including some Peterbilt 389's with larger "half-pipe" dumps; some with lift-axles some without, a "super-dump" with lift axles, and a few Kenworth's with a regular dump bed pulling 3-axled dump trailers.

Here are some pictures. These are progress shots and each one of these still needs alot of work lol but you can see the basic trucks that im starting with

Peterbilt 389 Transfer Trucks:

I started with Trucks N' Stuff Peterbilt 389 tractors w/sleepers. I removed the chrome details and cut the sleeper portion off of the tractor. I also cut the front glass and interior seats and dash section and re-installed the cut down pieces. I then re-installed the chrome parts. Cut the fifth wheel off of the chassis, mounted the cab back onto the chassis, and glued the transfer dump body to the chassis.

I still need to install a cab guard to the backside of the cab where I cut the sleeper off to close off the hole. One thing I did notice that I have not encountered before is that the super glue once dried left white cloudy marks around areas i had glued parts back onto. Im not sure why this occurred as I have never had this problem before when using super glue, but it does rub off with a wet paintbrush for the most part. I also need to lightly weather the trucks to hide the rest of the glue marks and install safety striping along with Robertson's decals

















Both of these Peterbilt Transfer Trucks will also have a Transfer Trailer to go with them. Im waiting on more drawbars to come in so I can finish off the other 2 trailers and install the transfer dump beds for these trucks. The trailers will also be lightly weathered with safety striping and other decals installed.


This next one is a Mack Transfer Dump that is similar to the Peterbilt's above. It will receive a lift-axle between the front most rear axle and the fuel tank. I may also install a small toolbox to the chassis as well. Light weathering, decals, the chrome details such as the mirrors, horns, bull dog, and grab bars also need to be installed. This one will also have a Transfer Trailer to pull as well

[Trucklover]

Here are a few shots of one of the Kenworth dump trucks that will also be in my Robertson's Fleet. I plan to have 4 of these trucks

I started with a off the shelf Kenworth dump truck from Herpa. I removed the herpa dump bed and took the bed from a Model Power Kenworth Dump truck and mounted it to the chassis. I still need to lightly weather and install decals and a load.

The trailer started off as the regular trailer that came with the kenworth dump truck. I removed the bed as I did not like the look of it and instead will install a different herpa bed that in my opinion looks much better. The trailer is a 3-axle dump trailer and the bed still needs to be painted silver. Light weathering and safety striping decals along with a load still need to be added











Now to the Peterbilt 389 "Half-Pipe" Dumps. I plan to make at least 2 more of these for my fleet, both with lift axles. Just like the Peterbilt Transfer Dumps, I started with Trucks N' Stuff 389 Sleepers and cut the sleepers off. I then cut the chassis of the one with the lift axle behind the cab and spliced it together with the chassis of the dump bed and installed the lift axle. The one without the lift axle was not as heavily modified and I took the dump bed off of its chassis and mounted it on the back of the 389 Chassis.

Both will need the cab guards installed to close off the holes on the back of the cab where the sleeper was removed, some light weathering, decals and safety striping to finish them off.





















Lastly we have the massive "Super Dump". I think I am only going to have one of these in my fleet, but may make another just to have two since I am liking how it is turning out so far. I stated with the normal TNS 389 and cut the sleeper off. I cut the chassis just behind the cab and took a Herpa Peterbilt "Super Dump" truck and cut the chassis just in front of the bed and spliced it up with the chassis of the 389. The Herpa Super Dump came with 3 lift axles, but I thought it looked better with only 2 so I left the 3rd off. Cab Guard, light weathering, safety striping, and decals still need to be applied as well.

[Trucklover]

Here are some more pictures of work on installing some detail parts on the Kenworth Dump Truck. I also managed to build a duplicate truck in the last hour or so.

Ive installed the mirrors w/antennas, the horns, and the fender blind spot mirrors on both these rigs and they are pretty much done except for some light weathering, safety striping, and some Robertsons Transport decals

[Trucklover]

Fresh out of the paint shop is another Mack dump truck. This one started life as a Mack CH613 Sleeper Cab. I removed the sleeper and painted the cab the same red as the rest of the fleet and re-assembled the the parts of the cab and attached it back to the chassis which was sprayed a matte black. I also added a hitch the back so I can eventually hook up a nice looking tag-along trailer when someone starts making them

The dump bed is the same as the Kenworth's. I originally was only going to do Kenworth's with this style dump bed, but I held one up next to a Mack cab and instantly fell in love with the way it looked. The dump bed is from a Model Power Kenworth Dump Truck. After the bed was painted and installed, I applied the chrome mirrors, horns, grabs, and bull dog. I also added a lift-axle to this one. Only thing left to do is add some Robertson's Transport decals, safety striping, and some light weathering

Here are some pictures:

[Herc Driver]

Very nice looking trucks!!! They look great colored that way too.

[sailormatlac]

Interesting way to customize an entire fleet. Brings back childhood memories of living near a quarry.

Matt

[Rscott417]

The trucks look really great and hate to point it out but...the bulldog hood ornament is on backwards

[jwb]

I've gotten more interested in trucks as time has gone on and there are fewer trains to be seen everyday. But one obstacle I see to modeling them is that I don't know of a single source where I can get info on common prototype manufacturers and models for tractors, trailers, dump bodies, and so forth, and the good models that can be found to represent them in 1/87. Do you know of any sites that can point me to this kind of info?

[Rscott417]

I've been looking for municipal waste transfer trailers everywhere, tried to scratch build one and bombed on it

[Mr Fixit]

The Bulldog is on backwards 'cause he's hungry and is eye-balling the driver for a feed.

As for sources of scale vehicles there are other threads here with details. Proto 1:87 maybe one site.

Can I suggest making one of the trucks with the air axles in the tucked up position as if empty.

Mark

[Trucklover]

Scott, you are right! luckiy it is an easy fix and just requires some tweezers and the slightest dab of superglue to fix thanks for pointing that out

[Trucklover]

JWB, I dont know of any sites that have prototype information like that, I have never really looked though as I have always just made my trucks off of pictures I have found or off of memory seeing them on the streets and highways

Scott, here is a guy that is making a model of a couple different end dump trailers used for woodchip and refuse operations. They look like they might be a good starting point for making some nice looking trucks! Here is a link, his products are all cast resin and do require a bit of cleaning and painting

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The trailers i am referring to are the 4th and 5th ones down. They are not yet available but are in the works and im guessing they will be available soon. If you would like more information on them, I can ask him about them for you or you may try emailing him through his website.

[Trucklover]

Can I suggest making one of the trucks with the air axles in the tucked up position as if empty.

Mark

Mark, I will be doing a few of these, I just have to get some trucks where i can take the lift axles off of the trucks where they are molded in the up positions. All the lift axles I have used so far have been molded in the down positions.

[Rscott417]

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The trailers i am referring to are the 4th and 5th ones down. They are not yet available but are in the works and im guessing they will be available soon. If you would like more information on them, I can ask him about them for you or you may try emailing him through his website.

Thanks for the website, I added it to my favorites and will keep an eye out for when they become available.

[lajry]

Don't forget Robertson's Ready Mix trucks to deliver cement. There's probably more of them than aggregate trucks. Eight of them brought concrete to do the parking lot & driveway for the apartment where I'm living. The first one shows the cement pumper that belongs to the company that put the cement down. The Robertson's drivers know about their rock train from Cabazon CA to their Gardena facility. Theirs a loco on each end so they never have to turn it.