Back in the early 1970's, AMT partnered with Owner/Operator Magazine and AutoModeler Magazine for a nationwide model truck contest that ended in February 1974. I entered the contest as a 12 year old with a Peterbilt 352 COE. I did win in the contest.. 48th out of 50 in the "Junior" class. I won a 1 year subscription to Owner/Operator - and I think an AutoWorld catalog.

My entry featured brush painted Testors medium red, white and silver for aluminum or chrome. White drive wheels, brush painted tank straps and interior, mal-fitting tires and wheels and a nice smear of Testors silver on the grille. I'm sure I was cleaning up an attempt to black out the grille using Testors gloss black. If you look at the original model you can see my brush painted red stripe on the air conditioner.

I've decided to replicate the build - with a few improvements. The paint scheme on the new version is what I originally wanted but couldn't mask it properly (left to right on the front never matched) and went with the stripe that matched the masking tape width. I remember having to steal the masking tape from my dad's tool box. Back in the day, I wasn't allowed Xacto knifes and had to use kitchen knives to cut tape and parts from the sprues. It's a wonder I never cut a finger off.

I painted the new version in September of '06 as a then-winter project and never got around to building it. Luckily, my notes in the box included what shade of red I used for the cab - so I can match it on the chassis and fuel tanks.

Started 7/13/12 - Finished 7/22/12