Night to day

[DRIPTROIT 71]

This is looking great!! Excellent work!!!

[Rockford]

Starting to look close to finished now. 

Found a piece of flat kit glass covered it in masking tape and scribed the outline of rear window into it. Carefully filed it down until it pressed into place in the rear wall (kept it snap-tite!). My fallback option was to just glue a piece of clear acetate inside but the recess would have been too deep. 

Made myself a better shift lever for the Fuller box, using scrap from my odds and ends box. Managed to add the trigger for the high and low range. 

Gave the grille a black wash, put some red on the KW emblem, added the licence plate and 'bingo' plate  foiled the marker light recesses in the front bumper and then gave them some clear orange. 

Added the roof bling and couldn't resist mounting the exhaust stack temporarily. Looks better than I ever thought when I mocked it up. Doesn't look anywhere near as awkward as it did initially.

[Aerodyne03]

Great job !! ???The job is very neat where you separated
 the cab from the sleeper, it looks like it came out of the box !! ??
and I love the one tall exhaust pipe above the cab, can't wait to see 
it in the under glass section ...
I take this opportunity to allow me to ask you a question, in a while
 I will have finished the rubber duck, I will post the photos and then
 I will move on to the fire truck, you are very knowledgeable 
about trucks, could you give me some information 
on how it could be done under? I have photos?‍♂️?‍♂️

[Aerodyne03]

Sorry, I wrong to write??, I have not photos

[Rockford]

you are very knowledgeable 
about trucks,

Oh Aerodyne, I think you give me too much credit but thanks very much for the compliment. How to do the fire truck? I'd look at the web as the pumping equipment is manufactured by a few companies and installed on various manufacturers' chassis. You should be able to get a very good idea of the colouring etc... and then you just need to pick a colour scheme that you like from one of the pictures. 

Edited September 11, 2020 by Rockford

[Aerodyne03]

Thank you very much for the advice???,
 for the body color I would like a color like in the second image 
you posted or that greenish color that sometimes in the United States 
give ... like the one in the picture only I'm afraid that color
 they use it especially for new trucks, it seems to me that in 
the USA each location has slightly different colors for the fire 
trucks so I should also take a look at the writings, however every 
day I open the wip (I saw that on this forum I don't there are fire 
trucks so I hope to attract your interest anyway???)
PS sorry if I go off topic??, now I leave the wip to your kenworth 
waiting to see it finished??

[Hermann Kersten]

Great job, I love this version more then with the sleeper.

 

Hermann.

[Rockford]

Got the interior together. Probably shouldn't have a white steering wheel but they just look so right for me, can't resist them.

Not really much left to do now. Got to put the stripes on, just a simple yellow line. I also have an exhaust pipe to meet the bottom of the stack. Then it's just the mirrors and glue the cab on. I'm going to miss it. 

[Aerodyne03]

Great looking interior???, i like the shift lever??

[Rockford]

Thanks Aerodyne. Don't be worrying about talking about fire trucks. In GB we have a national standard for livery etc... but I think in America each district chooses their own colours etc... so if you want to do your truck high impact green then you do so. 

 

[Rockford]

On 9/12/2020 at 9:35 AM, Hermann Kersten said:

Great job, I love this version more then with the sleeper.

 

Hermann.

Thanks Hermann. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I'm going to miss it when it's finished. I've caught the modelling bug again! 

[Aerodyne03]

Thanks again for the advice Stephen !! ??

 

 

[kilrathy10]

Man, this is a good looking snapper... It's beautifully done... More detail than I'd have ever thought of doing... I really like this one...

[Rockford]

Just finishing touches now. Fitted the interior, glued the cab down and applied the simple single stripe. It set down nicely using MICRO SET. Then fitted the mirrors and grab handles. 

All that's left is the rear lights. The kit pieces are just two chrome square lamps. I wanted the flat panel that runs under the rear crossmember with stop/turn, fog and reverse lights. 

I cut a section out of the sleeper remnants for a bracket. Then cut 4 small slices of sprue and glued them to the bracket. Rubbed them down with P600 wet and dry, foiled the lights and coloured them appropriately with a red marker and some Tamiya white. Fitted the light bar and it's finished, so I suppose it's got to go on the Under Glass section. I'm going to miss Sam, the American eagle. 

Mind you, he needs a trailer now!

[Aerodyne03]

Really nice work Stephen, it seems real !! ??, now I'm waiting for the trailer !!, look what I found today on Facebook ... ??

[Rockford]

They're out there! Thanks for your encouragement Aerodyne. Kept me going. 

[Aerodyne03]

Go, go with the trailer, I follow you !! ???

[Rockford]

Well, I've decided to go with the tanker. I mocked it up quickly and it just looks perfect, made for the job! The spacing of the duals at each extreme of the trailer and the long chassis of the tractor just does it for me. I'm so grateful for the American Bridge Law because it gave us such distinctive looking trucks. In Europe everything is crammed together for space limitations and turning circles whereas the Americans declare "We've got space!" with their trucks. 

So I'll make a start on that today.

Mind you, I'm going into hospital on Tuesday for removal of my cataract so I'll be out of action for a week or so. I will have proper vision when I get over it though. You don't realise how only having only one good eye affects painting, foiling, locating pieces, it's awful. I'm terrified when I'm using glue because I don't know that I won't get it in the wrong place. Hopefully I'll be able to do some decent work again. 

[Rockford]

Duplicated reply deleted

Edited September 27, 2020 by Rockford
Photo wouldn't attach

[GeeBee]

11 minutes ago, Rockford said:

 I'm going into hospital on Tuesday for removal of my cataract so I'll be out of action for a week or so. I will have proper vision when I get over it though. You don't realise how only having only one good eye affects painting, foiling, locating pieces, it's awful. I'm terrified when I'm using glue because I don't know that I won't get it in the wrong place. Hopefully I'll be able to do some decent work again. 

Good luck with your operation, your work is superb, with two good eye's there just going to be even better, if that's possible 

[Rockford]

? let's hope mate! Thanks for the kind words. 

[Aerodyne03]

Yuppy !! Stephen, I'm happy that you continue this WIP with the tank, I really like the look that the truck takes on once hooked and it's true American trucks have more charm than ours between 53 'trailers and 3-axle tractors are the real ones king of the highways or rather of the interstates, I wish you all the best for the intervention in the hospital, I'm sure you will build models like and better than before !! ???

[Rockford]

Sadly, cataract surgery cancelled due to COVID surge in Liverpool and all nursing staff called off wards and into ICU. So I continue as the Cyclops Kit Cobbler.

The SnapTite 1/32 is no stranger to anyone here and falls together. It is superbly engineered when you consider it, falls together so well. The main issue is the joints down the end panels of the tank itself. So, I chamfered the edges and, after glueing everything together I used some stopper to fill the gap then smoothed out with P800 wet & dry. 

[Chariots of Fire]

Wish you well, Rockford on your cataract surgery.  I have had both eyes done and what a difference it made.  I waited about 5 years from one eye to the other but clarity and brilliance of color was fantastic.  

Do you have any bare metal foil or a Molotow pen?  If so put some on the Kenworth emblem on the bottom front of the fenders.  It will make a big difference.  You have done a great job on this build.  Snap kits are fun from time to time!  Keep the tank trailer going! ?

 

[Rockford]

Do you ever feel like packing in ?

I was using a bottle of liquid cement to flow into the chassis joints with the tank when I dropped the bottle. A huge splurge landed on the LHF of the tank. It makes the plastic swell where it dries quickly but has burnt holes where it pooled. 

I've rubbed the main part down with P800 and used stopper on the pitting but while the stopper dries I'm having to fight the urge to just throw this in the bin. The only thing that stops me is thinking of the money it cost and how it would cost three times that to replace it. 

I'm definitely living up to my name Cyclops Kit Cobbler. Any advice on how to repair the mess is most welcome, including "take up knitting"!