Old Albion

Jim, I agree, the natural light with the shadows adds realism and interest to a marvelous build. Great work Kurt and thanks for taking the photo's outside. I like them. Dave

Jim, Thanks for the info. So it looks like the Revell of germany sleeper would be the right one for the series truck. I don't think I've seen the Revell/Monogram KW. Anyone have a picture of the box. One other question. Wasn't 73 or 74 a jubilee year for KW and didn't they have gold colour KW badges on the radiator grill? I seem to remember seeing one somewhere, although it may have been one of the Smokey and the Bandit KWs'. I think age is creeping up on me!! Dave

Dennis, For me I would be a little concerned about buying anything and paying for it outright 2 months prior to when it was due to be released for sale. I don't doubt for a moment that these on line shops are very reputable establishments and they will be true to their word. But consider what happens if the shop goes broke prior to release of the kit. Or if the shop owner is of ill repute and has no intention of supplying anyone any kits but taking their hard earned cash and disappearing. I think it would be more acceptable to take a deposit with final payment when the kits are released. Just my thoughts. Dave

The WF is now finished. I had a disaster with the clear coat on the cab. I applied all the decals and then clear coated. The finish went hazey white. I found out later that it was because the atmospheric conditions was to humid and the paint and cab were to cold. This prevented the water in the acrylic from evaporating causing the problem. You can imaging how pi**ed off I was. I made the decision to strip the paint of the cab. What a nightmare! No mater what I tried I could not shift the clear coat. I went to a local store and found some stuff that eventually cleared all the clearcoat, paint and decals of. Once this was done the repaint was pretty straight forward. But I picked a good dry warm day with low humidity. The rattle can was placed in some warm water to help it flow and evaporate the water when spraying. The result was better than the first time. This time around I have not clear coated the cab. I didn't want to temp providence. Anyway the finished truck looks Ok. You see in my photo's in my Fotke albumn that it has a drop deck trailer. This trailer I made some years ago and normally goes with my Pete 380. I just coupled it to the WF for effect. http://public.fotki.com/oldalbion/white-freightliner-/7.html Thanks for looking Dave

Is the Revell of Germany KW a 1980 model? I don't know if this was the same model sleeper as the 74 or 75. Dave

Kurt, I'd like to see some photo's of the truck and trailer outside in daylight. If you got the right background it would look real. The detail and finish are excellent! Truly inspirational stuff! Thanks for sharing with us. Dave

Paul, Excellent work! I really like that frameless trailer very nice. Dave

There is a lot of great information and facts in this threads. Sometimes there can be more work in researching the subject than building. It all adds to the interests and accuracy of the builds. As stated in previous posts the Revell KW has an extended hood so its longer than the standard hood used in the show and movie. Just out of interest does anyone know what the BBC dimension was for the standard hood and the extended hood on the W900a? The W9 is definately one of my favourite all time trucks and green is one of my favourite colours. I will certainly look forward to seeing the progress on all these "Movin On" KWs. Good Luck everyone and have fun building. Dave

Bill, Another great looking truck for your collection. I'd like to see how it would look with a log load? Dave

Jeff, Good Luck with the build. I never built an Italeri kit before but from the comments from others on the forum they appear to be very good kits to build. So I think for a first of you made a good choice. Dave

Great work, very nice build. Dave

Dennis, The big Horse Power engines like the Cat 1693, the 3406 and the Cummins KT series were a problem for the truck manufacturers. They were big and needed a lot of space in particular height and cooling capacity (Later on Aftercoolers added to this problem). Thats why Peterbilt built the 352H (check Tims Web site) which was a nominal 4" higher to allow for the bigger engines. Also International introduced the Transtar 2 to accomodate for them as well. Prior to the Big Cat and Cummins engines the biggest HP available was the Detroit 12V71, but even so on some trucks the manufacturers had to raise the cabs to get the engine in. Big horsepower engines takes a lot of space and takes a lot of cooling. The 1693 was 14.6 litres, the 3408 was 18 litres and the big Cummins KT was 19 litres. Some of the points also apply to Conventionals thats why the extended hoods appeared. A Cummins KT will fit in a 359 Pete with a BBC of 119" but the bulkhead is specially modified to suit. I have seen photo's of 2 359s like that (both from the east coast of the US). The problem is you can only get at 3/4 of the engine and loose the advantage of having the tilt hood for access to the rear of the engine. But they had no choice because they were regulated to the maximum length laws. Hope this helps. Dave

Romell, Those lights look great. Can't wait to see the truck all lit up. Dave

Dennis, The V903 was as stated a V8 at 903 cubic inches displacement. Bigger than the standard Cummins straight 6 cylinder at 855 cubic inches. It looks like it was available from 285 HP to 320 HP in the standard Naturally Aspirated form. If an engine is turbocharged you can usually add about another 1/3 if your lucky for a 4 stroke engine. So I'm guessing that a VT903 would give about 400 HP. Probably on par with NTC400 engine. But that is where the similarity ends. Look at the chart I have attached below. This shows the engines available for the GMC Astro. At the bottom is the V903. Look at the stroke of the pistons and then compare them with the NH series 6 cylinder Cummins. The V903 is an over square engine. That is the bore is bigger than the stroke. The 6 cylinder Cummins is a long stroke engine and despite being a smaller displacement has a higher Torque characteristic. 6 cylinder engines are much smoother running and very well balanced particular at idle. So if I were choosing an engine I would pick the straight six Cummins with its higher Torque, Smoother running, and maximum power at lower RPM. Because its running slower usually less wear and tear. The only real advantage a V8 has over a 6 cylinder is the space envelope. Dave

Jim, This is a great looking trailer. I like it! I think it would look good behind any truck. Dave

Jerry, Very impressive. Dave

Jerry, Nice line up of trucks. The orange suits them. Dave

Ben, Great work. Another engine for our inventry of aftermarket parts. Oh by the way just to let you know I have got all my info together for the 1693 and will be making a start in the next week or two. Dave

Ray, Do you think the sleeper in the International 4300 kit is a Rest Rite? It looks very similar except it has no windows. Thanks for posting the info. Dave

Matthew, Very nice looking truck. I like the bud deflector and the paint. Dave

Tim, This looks great. It always amazes me how you achieve the paint finish on your trucks. They look like there straight out of the show room. As for out of your comfort zone. I would say a change is as good as a rest!! Dave

Mark, For a first time build you have chosen a great kit. The 4300 is a very interesting truck to build. The working rear tandems will be good to see. Someone on the forum built a Paystar with working rear suspension a while back (Maybe 2 or 3 years ago). It really does add interest to the truck. I will be getting another 4300 and fitting a 12V71 Detroit or a Clatterpillar 1693TA. But thats a long way of yet. Too many other projects to do first. Good Luck with the project and keep us posted. Dave

This old Pete is starting to look good. They look great as a dumper. Dave

Is this one of those oil field trucks? I've seen some photo's of them fitted with a flat deck and a fifth wheel sunk below the level of the deck. Does it have a power tower on the transmission for a winch? Not sure didn't check the e-bay details. Dave

I like the orange and silver. They go well together and the suit the ol dog. Dave