That's a great question. Probably between 15 and 20, including the trailers. I'll have to look at the layout and count them.
Mack off highway heavy duty tractor and trailer are about done. It needs a little weathering and a load. Haven't decided what the load will be...
After scratching my head for several weeks in an attempt to decide on a load for the lowboy earlier in this thread, I decided to build a skid mounted oilfield vapor recovery unit. If it had not been for Paul Slavens, I would not have even known what a vapor recovery unit is!! This one will be a combination of two from photos on the internet, both of which had elements that were interesting. It's got a long way to go, but here's the start, with the two prototype photos. By the way, a little modeling tip was discovered. Oilfield piping and apparatus have lots of flanges that have to be bolted together. What works great to make the flanges are small hole punchers. There was a set of three on the internet--all different sizes--for $10 , and they work great on thin styrene. The punched out round piece is perfect for pipe flanges.
Thats a good start Paul. Lots of interesting possibilities there. But that Jimmy tractor in the photo you posted is pretty tricked out. I can hear that 8-v-71 engine screaming. I had an uncle that drove trucks back around that time, and he told me to run a Detroit truck engine right, that you should slam a finger in the door and spend the rest of the trip trying to kill that Detroit.
Flat car and trailer loads are great. There's so much you can do to add interest to a layout or a train using unique loads. The only Chevy's and GMC's of that era I had experience with were gas powered dump trucks on the construction crew I worked on during summers going through high school and college.
AH... GMC's and Detroit Diesels! Drove several conventional types from the model line depicted above: A Ten Wheeler, several tractor iterations including a "Crackerbox" Jimmy with a 238 therein. I drove all of the above all over the US. Also drove several different GMC "Astro's" after they came out. The Astro's were a huge improvement in creature comforts and living space compared to a Crackerbox. I never cared for the huge front windows of the Astro, though. I would have preferred smaller front windows similar to the Peterbilt 352's, Freightliner COE's and to a degree, the Kenworth K100's that I've also driven. HOWEVER... since we're talking Screamin' Jimmy's: My preference to them was the more civilized Cummins and Cat offerings. They were a lot more long-term ear friendly. The last truck I had dealings with I owned myself. It had a 400 HP Cat w/13 spd in it and pulled pretty good. Had a great bellow to it without being too loud. Here's a pic of it: HO vehicles can become a hobby within a hobby, or even a hobby to itself! Andre
If, someday, we end up in a house that's too small for a layout, HO vehicles will be the ticket. And it may be sooner than later. Taking care of 50 pecan trees is starting to be more work than I care for.
A little progress on the vapor recovery unit. A lot of this is guess work, since there aren't any photos of the other sides of the prototype. Quite a bit of piping and a few components still to go...
The load is chained to the trailer, so it's about done. Probably could use some more chains, but it's a representation and I'm tired of messing with it.
