Goodwrench3

Hi all: I've been away for a while due to my mother's passing. I picked it up again this afternoon and have another question. If you look at the photo, you can see the connection at the top of the water pump doesn't mate with the fitting for it on the piece labeled "water connections". I'm guessing I need to file on the left side of the "water connections" piece so that it will tuck under the back of the front cover and move that piece to the right ??

OK.. that's much better. Shouldn't wear out that flywheel bearing now !

There was an article recently in the ATHS magazine that discussed this exact issue with the kit. Here's how the author dealt with it (images from the magazine article).

Thanks -- yeah... typical AMT assembly process... whack off the pins on parts that have them 😉

Since you are working on the same kit -- did you have this issue ? The right side rear suspension fits fine on the frame rail (since there is only one pin). But on the left side, the pins in the suspension don't line up at all with the holes in the frame rail. You can see in my picture that the pin is like 1/2 a hole off.

LOL... yes the "leaning tower of pulleys" 😉

I agree the Moebius tires are nice -- but they really aren't what I would call "period correct" for 1970's era cab over trucks. They are pretty much more "modern" tires. Of course, while we're on the subject of gripes... the AMT kits always have 10 what I would call "steer" tires. The don't have 8 "drive" tread tires and 2 "steers".

I haven't opened my new re-popped Round 2 4070A kits yet. KJ isn't making tires anymore -- and it seems that the Moluminum web site is ka-put ??

The Moebius tires (and wheels) are really nice. I used the AMT tires in the parts pack they produced on the IH Transtar 4300 and they fit really well.

I've also learned this as far as which was a more common size (10.00-20 vs 11.00-20) in the mid-1970s: "10.00x20 was the most common tire tire in the US for nearly three decades. 11.00 may have had a higher GVW rating over a 10.00, for one reason " also -- "10/20 would be period correct for 1970's. 11/20 would be correct for vocational trucks. dumps low boys etc."

RE: "the tires that came with the Ertl kits,they were a 2 piece setup and were a shiny plastic type of rubber," -- yes ! I built an ERTL Transtar F-4270 kit with those two-piece tires ! I have learned just a short while ago that in my photo, the tire on the left is actually a "10.00-20". The tire on the right is marked "11.00-20". So the inside diameter (20) is the same, but the sidewall height is different (10.00 vs. 11.00). So I guess both are correct as far as scale size, but they do actually represent different tire "sizes".

Hi all: Can someone explain why the tire sizes are so much different in some of the AMT 1/25 truck kits ? In my photo, on the left is a tire from the recent Round 2 re-pop GMC "Miller Beer" Astro 95 kit. On the right, that tire is from the Round 2 re-pop of the Kenworth K-123 cabover. Supposedly they are both 20" tires -- but the diameter and width are very different. I'm wondering from a scale perspective -- which is closer to scale ? One of them is either far smaller than scale or the other is far larger. Thanks !

Thanks for the reply ! I'm guessing then you also nipped off the pin that came through that bracket on the center pulley ? I'm assuming that pulley shaft shouldn't really extend past the bracket.

I've started on this kit, and fairly soon into it I've hit a block that I'm not sure what needs to be done to correct it. This is the Detroit Diesel 8V-71 (I think it's the same engine as in the Pete 352 kit). In the photo, I'm holding the parts in place per the locations on the instructions to test fit everything. You can see that there is quite an "angle" on the belt and pulley assembly that obviously isn't right. Anyone had this issue ?

The single exhaust looks great on that truck ! I've never been a fan of dual exhaust where the stacks are close together behind the cab.

Love the look with the single exhaust ! I was never a big fan of the dual exhaust where the stacks are close together behind the cab.

Amen. I build my "shelf queens" and they look darn good sitting there in the family room to me. I get far more enjoyment out of seeing more of them built and displayed on my shelf than having "perfect" builds. They look much better than sitting in their shrink-wrapped boxes on the shelves in the basement!

Yeah this is the double-edge sword that the internet has created. Now we see all of these "perfect" builds and we become afraid to build anything because we are afraid it won't be as good as those we see posted on facebook, etc. As soon as we are worried about whether it will look as good as so-and-so's build, we're building for the wrong reason (in my opinion). If you are building for someone else's approval, it's not going to be much fun -- at least it's not for me. Doing that "forced" 30-day build broke me out of the rut. I still struggle with it, but I just finish whatever I start and learn from the build. I can improve on the next one -- but at least I *finished* one. We won't get better with our skills unless we build. And if we don't build, we can't expect to get better.

Here is a picture of a KW cabover that I took at the ATHS show in Des Moines IA a few years ago. Yeah -- that area of the block below the aftercooler is pretty busy. You can see in this photo the fuel filters aren't there -- in this particular case.

Thanks for the info. Yeah I haven't had much luck in finding pictures of 1:1 KW cabovers where you could see the left side of the engine clearly. From everything I've been told, the one place the fuel filters would NOT be mounted is on the side of the aftercooler (as the AMT instructions show). Thanks

That's an interesting article -- it's yet another different arrangement for the fuel filters. The article references a NTA 855 vs. a NTA 370. It does look like the 370 and 855 engines have different fuel filter locations -- here's an 855.

Thanks for that -- it's actually from a Cummins service manual. This is for the K-123 cabover, so I'm not sure what it may interfere with -- but yes, definitely something to check before moving it. I was hoping someone who had built this kit could share what they had done. I'll keep looking as well to see if I can locate a KW service manual.

I'm working on the AMT KW K-123 with the Cummins NTA 370. From the picture in this service manual, it doesn't look like the fuel filters are really supposed to attach to the side of the aftercooler like the instructions show ?

Were you able to find the Absaroka county sheriff's badge decal for the doors ?

LOL... yes.. but he "puts down" Rainier 😉