Biggu

That looks cool. I like that. The load really sets it off. Good job for sure !

Was at the bench today working with the ‘fiddly bits’ and there was a number of them . First off for some reason the front bumper was giving me a rough time. Didn’t line up correctly and I had the frame rails straight and true, so I was puzzled and the cuss factor was beginning to rise above a ‘5’ so, grabbing the bull by the horns as they say , I cut the ‘aligning pins’ ( which I nearly always do …….. note to self ….. cut pins off BEFORE cuss factor hits 5 🙄, kined up tje bumper with my Mark 1 eye ball and all is well fit like a glove….😛…..then came the mirror brackets … I , like a lot of you, have seen this kit of the Ford C series built and a lot show the mirror brackets at a very odd angle. Obviously, that is somewhat incorrect ( at least for me ) so I actually looked at the ‘instructions’ , keeping in mind that ‘instructions’ are just someone else's opinion. I see why some builds have the mirrors ‘askew’ as the ‘instructions’ are of no use in this case what so ever. Armed with my original sales literature I had a good hard look at the brackets. It appears to me that the kit suggests the lower bracket be placed with the shorter rod against the door which would make the lower bracket way too long to line up with the upper bracket so the mirror would be vertical … is this making sense? Anyway, by carefully reorienting the lower bracket so the longer rod should mount to the truck door and then the mirror will be able to be mounted clean and vertical. That was a long winded way of saying “ turn the lower bracket so the long edge is glued to the door “ The photo was taken as the brackets were drying as I didn’t want to mess this up. I added a few small extra details , wheel chocks, a shovel, and home made ‘Hot’ placards, and maybe a broom and a bucket. I also have to come up with a viable location for the hand wand. ( I think I have a plan for that one ) so a few little more details and she will be pretty much done.

Thanks mate

Thanks Brian…

Thanks Ron , I’d love to do one of those , not sure I have the scratch skills. Thanks for checking in.

Thanks Brian and David. Still some stuff to handle yet and J am finding that there are some little snags in the fact that this is an old kit. Definitely not a shake and bake, but the front bumper assy is giving me some grief. Nothing big that can’t be resolved but a bit of a time waster. I decided that I needed a licence plate. So I have some new plate blanks so I can make what ever I want. So I wanted a period correct plate and with that in mind I did a little looking at my comprehensive collection of our old trucks. So as I had a very long career in highways maintenance as did my dad, I thought I would do a homage to him and our many years on the job. I have a photo of my dad standing beside a Highways 1958 Chevy 4 ton dump truck with his little boy ( me ). So I chose the license plate numbers for my distributor. Yes the original plate is 1959 and my truck is a ‘70. The plate is an accurate representation of a 1970 British Columbia Commercial plate. So the number from 1959 could have been used again in 1970 from my research. Anyway, I made this plate for my distributor and it ties in with dad’s and my service to the province, a combined service time of over 60 years.

I mounted the tank to the truck frame, which was easy but kind of a pucker moment due to hoping everything lines up. It was successful. I let it se over night and began to add the details. I first off finished plumbing the asphalt hydraulic pump, which is under the back of the distributor unit, a bit hard to see but it is there. Also installed the 100 lb propane cylinder and added a metal fuel line to the burners. I installed the boom extension arms with functional pins and bolts. Then I plumbed the extension arms from a T fitting I added to the main spray boom. Had to have a roto light so, I made a bracket and painted the light base and added it to the forward bulkhead of the tank, then added the name plate and marker lights to the rear of the tank.

A little update. I had to find a ‘company name’. So digging through kits and my decal stash. I found a decal set from a kit that was Inter mountain Transport , so cut the Transport part off and then found a paving and excavating word set , it came together as the company name.

Absolutely PERFECT !!!! This is just eye watering good and perfectly accurate. Spot on ! What a ride this build has been. Thanks for letting me tag along, Brian. I kind of don’t want it to end.

“Arthritic hands “ ……… and ……” folding joints” 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤭🤭🤣 Another thought for displaying your drawings… originals made a touch smaller as there is more than one sheet and frame it under glass and lay flat on a shelf with the crane on the glass. Or just one sheet under glass with the crane displayed over it. Just another silly thought.

Along with the magnificent build and build techniques, there is one other thing that should be commented on................. the FABULOUS drawing behind the model, with precise measurements included, that is spectacular in itself and should be framed as part of the model display after the build...... very impressed with this whole thing....

Fantastic ! This is just so cool!

Wow ! What a come back. This is going to be really good. Your modification and scratch skills are off the clock, Mate. And really good and interesting research. I will be watching closely and learning new things. Sure glad you’re back buddy.

Hey Steve , great to hear from you. Thanks for checking in, hope you are finding a little bench time, would love to see what your working on these days.

And in fine fashion too , I might add

Excellent fix !!

That paint job is just killer !!! I LOVE what you’re doing with this one ……. What a cool idea and build. …… can’t wait for more

This has always been something I could never figure out. Your drawing reminds me of what the Highways shop used to do here in Nelson, as we had a paint shop and they used to put the hash marks on the tailgate sanders and the masking looked exactly as your drawing. That took me back many years. Such a fun build to watch and SO accurate. Just gets better and better. You are overcoming many challenges of this build and it will be the most accurate , detailed, unique model. Just wonderful. Nothing missed.

Thanks Michael. This truck kit is very old and very plain, ok for it’s day but does need a little love. Still some more small details to add and then the scary part of mounting everything to the frame, hoping it all lines up 🤔🤔thanks for stopping by.

Gee, thanks Ron. I must confess I am a bit surprised on how much interest this has generated. I really wanted to see if this old hound could be made into something a bit different. And it seems, with a fair bit of assistance from some of the guys here it is going to come to fruition. Many thanks for following along, I appreciate that.

This is a magnificent build. And SO many small details the average bear wouldn’t see or know about, but it is the small accurate details that make the model complete. I hope you give the small detail list as you build to teach us how this huge machine works. They are an amazing feat of engineering and physics. This SO interesting, Tom. I love what you are doing. I am very interested in this.

Thanks Jeff , hope not too much longer and it will be crossing the finish line. Thanks for checking in

Thanks Brian. I think of you often, when it comes to the lots of little details, as you mention on your build, I look and see more and more little things not to forget although I don’t have the comprehensive list. The end is in sight ….. I think

I kind of knew it wasn’t anything new. I should have asked you pal. But the end result is what I was looking for. So it is looking like I can see the end of the tunnel. Lots of little details to and but I can see the finished product hopefully will cross the finish line soon.

So as this is an old kit mould, and is VERY plain, inside and out, it has no location indicators (even roughly) to where the clearance lights go ……. So with a restless night, the other day, I came up with a piece of tape. I know you guys all do it but this worked out very well for me. Marked the center of the cab on the tape, looked closely at the original sales lit I have and measured out 15 mm each way of center. Glues the lights on and pulled the tape. I’m happy with this. Now on to signal lights……..