Need some help with "Warbird" Freightliner

[GARY HILTON]

The beast is about paid off, so it's time to pimp my ride....Getting ready for the exterior and interior overhaul....Lord knows she needs it....I have been thinking of doing the Navy three tone paint like on Attu Warrior and Hot Stuff, or possibly the dark sea blue like on the PV-2 at Pima County Air Museum.. so I am asking your opinion...

I have a topic in the parts for sale section, as I am looking for a pair of .50 cal. barrels with cooling jackets to mount in the hood of the Freightshaker, just like the two on the Harpoon...Dave Hansen suggested that we put in propane guns, but I would get in big time trouble with all the Highway Patrol types that would get a .50 salute everytime I cought one setting in the median....

I would also like to mount a pair of fiberglass replica 500 lb bombs behind the fuel tanks...they would fit perfectly on the frame rail, and would be nice to build a door on them for storage, to make them fully functional. So I am looking for a scource for the big booms too, or maybe someone has one that a mold could be made from???? Did Tallichets crew make any replica 500 lb'ers??

I need to get the Indy crew to make a couple of rockets too!

The interior needs to be stripped as well, so I'm thinking going to bare metal on the inside, as close to zinc chromate as I can get, or an O.D. green,....military insulation, instead of the old plastic shelves, build radio racks with hollowed out radios with a hidden door for storage on the inside. Put military style bunk/cots....

My son wants to build a scaled down set of rudders and fins, horiz. stab and elevators, in the same shape as the Harpoon, that would attach to the 5th wheel...

The panel would be strictly VFR though....

Any ideas?

G

[tinbender2]

I applaud your creative thinking and initiative, to turn your rig into a one-of-a-kind truck.

I was going to do similar mods to a bus conversion years ago.


But, in today's world, full of idiots and nosey nellies, all with cell phones, I think your designs are going to elicit a few police and swat responses, when those morons report "an 18-wheeler, with bombs next to the fuel tanks and machine guns on the front". Even if they know your truck is just a display, some folks will report just for the thrill of abusing a little power. IME, it seems law enforcement agencies are adopting more of a "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality.


Pretty soon the TSA will have spread (like the plague) from airports/train stations/shipping ports, to our highways, and I have never dealt with such fantastic incompetence in my life.


Sadly, I think you are inviting a lot of trouble into your life.

[GARY HILTON]

Hail man, Ah live for turmoil!..TSA...I say bring it on! Just don't touch my junk!

[TAdan]

Gary I like your overall ideas as far as paint scheme and markings. The truck would look good in a Navy scheme. Do you have any better shots of your truck?

Have you given any thought to painting the fuel tanks under the doors as O2 bottles or O.D. with yellow stripes?

I'll admit the first thing that popped in my head is exactly what TinBender2 said... I'd be worried about getting harrassed about the faux guns and bombs.

[N3Njeff]

Well let one of the "local Village idiots" give my 2 cents. As a military vehicle collector I have heard some stories on what to do and what not to do with miltary vehicles. Now I know one guy that had a fully restored M-16. This is the WW2 Half-track with a Quad mount .50 on it for anti-aircraft. He had repowered it with a Cat diesel engine and for his own amusement he would run the NJ turnpike at 70mph!!!! Now this was PRE 911 and alot of things have changed since then. Now I have a M-151 Vietnam era jeep that has a gun mount where I can put up my de-mil M-60. Now I usually dont unless I am at a parade or in convoy with my fellow "village Idiots". Now on occasion I have gotten away with it when I was headed to a Living History show in uniform and 2 others with me towing a trailer full of gear. We sure did get lots of looks and LOTS of people slowed down to take pics. But that being said, this is Vermont where we dont have many gun laws so to most we probably looked like we were going to deer camp

Not long ago a guy was arrested and was filmed by a TV helicopter for waving a people while standing on his army jeep during veterans day. There are ALOT of Wanna Be Hero's with cell phones out there.

Gary I cant wait to see how the truck turns out but what ever you do, I hope you dont get harassed too much.

[agent86]

Why fake 50's? go for the gusto and do it right. Go out in a blaze of glory. a literal Blaze!

[GARY HILTON]

Shoot agent86....not a bad idea, but hav you priced .50 ammo lately????

[GARY HILTON]

TAdan...

Hope this a better shot for you...
I was thinking about painting the exposed frame and fuel tanks white, if I was to go with the three tone paint, tanks would be the dark blue if I go with the overall sea blue, like Rose's Raider, or Fat Cat II.

Jeff... I know that it could be opening up a can of worms......but....
Back when Clinton was running for president, I had a pair of placebo missles mounted on my fuel tanks...one said for Billie, the other read for Hilley...The cops at the scales in Arkansas pulled me over to have their pictures taken next to them, they got a good laugh...In Illinois, the humor was not seen , and I had to remove them....

I know of a fellow WIX'er that moved a 88MM flak gun through Washington DC on a trailer, uncovered....I was told it wasn't till a few days later that Homeland Security called him up and questioned him...good thing it was not a terrorist!

Anyway, I'll write a letter to the ACLU, to go ahead and line up my defence team....if that don't work, I guess I'll have to call secret agent86 to liven up the weapons systems!

G

[Invader26]

Quick. Someone call the producers of "Trick My Truck"......

Warbird supporter needs help!

[The Inspector]

How about a bunch of 'clip art' Steve Canyon comic book type pix? If you make them pretty large, like with a huge cartoon of an F-102 or P-51 peeling around the corner of the sleeper and onto the cab back. You could do it in a sort of 'papier mache' style including airbrushed torn edges and the dot lino style of coloring used in comic books and the Sunday funnies. Some ideas besides Steve Canyon, how about Terry and the Pirates, Buzz Sawyer, Blackhawk, or Smilin' Jack. Put the logo decals on the fuel tanks to give you some door area to work with.
Borrow a slide projector and shine some slides onto the truck at night to see what it might look like.

[GARY HILTON]

Inspector, you'll have to forgive me, my artistic skills and knowledge dosen't go much further than 3rd grade watercoloring. The cut out and paper mache, I understand...... dot lino.....any relation to J lino?

[The Inspector]

If you can draw along a projected line (using a slide projected on the vehicle) you can do the artwork. Then it's mask and counter mask. Dot lino is the series of teeny dots (usually black) used to shade color comics (look @ Sundays funny page to see what I'm talking about) Go talk to some local mural painters and get their inputs, I'll bet with enough motivation, a local mural artist and a couple of his friends could do the truck in time to enjoy the Subways and cold beers later that afternoon for cost of materials and a few bucks to each because they want their artwork to be seen and admired.

[GARY HILTON]

Inspector....thanks for broadening my horizons.....yet another path to stray upon!

My wife, the supporter, ....she says "why don't ya do it like the house in "The Money Pit?"

[Chris Brame]

Brainstorm - That profile view just screams "PBM Mariner"! Big teardrop radome on the cab roof, scaled down plexi turret on the nose, a couple canted fins on the sides of the sleeper, and enclose the fuel tanks with some fiberglass wingtip floats...

[ZRX61]

If you're going with the USN 3 tone, how about leaving the bomb idea alone & just paint the fuel tanks like depth charges?