How its Made ~ Fenski Harvesting 379 Pete and 36′ Silage Trailer

I love silage trucks and equipment. To this point I’ve not explained how these trucks and trailers come to life. Maggie contacted me in October looking for the perfect Christmas present for her husband (The Chop Master) which is a replica of his truck and trailer used in their custom chopping business.

The truck is a white Peterbilt 379 daycab with floats on the steering tires and a 36′ silage trailer behind it. The trailer I offer does not match the real one exactly as mine is based off an Aeroswint vs the brand Fenski uses which looks like a Hitchcock . Maggie said go with the AS and the project moved forward.

The base truck is a DCP 379 flattop sleeper truck in white. The sleeper was removed and a cab insert from Truckin Little was painted and put where the sleeper was. The front wheels and tires were removed and replaced with very cool floats bought from Badlands Custom Trucks. The exhaust pipes were switched out with matching pipes from my salvage parts bin.

I used a new product on this cab. Dave Desjardin on Facebook and avid 1/64 scale creator offered a new part I could use on this truck. Dave, 3D printed hydraulic oil tanks that look much like what was on the Fenske cab. I purchased several and painted one chrome to match the real truck and glued in place behind cab. It adds a nice touch.

I paid a free lancer at Fiverr.com to reproduce the art work on the cab. Since the cab is white I could print those decals in house. Check out the how to video in the tutorials section.

The trailer is an AS36. It is 3D printed and comes with the sides, front, endgate, and silage racks sprued together. Originally I had the bed created without a floor to cut down the expense. Since then, I see a flaw in that idea as the hassle of cutting a piece of styrene for the floor can be a pain for folks with no experience. That may be remedied in the future to make it easier for novice or beginner builders.

The trailer is solid red so the parts were left sprued together for the first coats of paint. No paint prep was taken except to blow off any plastic residue leftover from printing.

After the first coats of paint, the parts were cut away from the sprue and painted with several more coats of red. The floor was cut from styrene sheet and glued in place. A hole for the king pin was drilled out and a short piece of nail was used for the king pin.

This is a chain trailer. To mimic the chain, 1/32 scale styrene ladder was used to “look” like a chain on the floor. Three pieces of ladder were cut and glued in place. Also, as the end of the trailer on the outside is a sprocket shield to cover where the chain to spins. A rectangular cover with round edges on one end exist on the real trailer. A piece of styrene was cut and shaped by hand to mimic this part and glued in place. The whole trailer was painted again.

When the paint was dry, a running gear off a DCP dry van was glued in place at the rear of the trailer. Using this particular tandem axle assembly works the very best of all arrangements I have found so far. A DCP dry van can be bought all over the web for $30. Salvage the running gear and scrap the van. Or, flip that part on ebay. Some dealers in the Ask Rockin H tab sell the running gear for 4-7 dollars, it varies greatly.

A landing gear I salvaged off a trailer long ago was used on this one. It took a bit of fabrication to set correct on the trailer but worked very nice. The bummer using this landing gear is it was my last one. Now I have to find more.

Aluminum mesh was used for the screen on the silage racks. I have used bridal toule in the past which also works very well and is super cheap. I cut the mesh oversized and glued in place. When the glue was dry I cut off any excess mesh and painted it red to match the trailer.

The racks were attached to the trailer and end gate with glue. DOT tape was added to finish off the details. Ta dah!

Eric

PS – I’ve been hinting at a special offer for newsletter subscribers and it is getting closer. It take a monumental amount of time to get all the dials set and buttons pushed but I’m working hard to get it done. If you have ever wanted to make your own end dump truck…. well let’s you will have all you need to get it done. Stay tuned and tell your friends to subscribe today.