Biggu

Thanks for that Frank, there are so many different systems out there. I am thinking I want a good shifter with the actual 18 spd style …. Hi Lo and splitter. A good set of pedals and thinking of a force feed back wheel …. BYW. The red Pete fits the bill too 😉

That would be good. Any deal where the cost is down helps as our Canadian ‘dollar’ isn’t worth anything now. 🙄

That is exactly what I was wanting to know Dusty. I am really leaning into getting it. Just need to a little more research. Thanks for your input

Thats cool , Lee. Amazing what small thing can trigger a fond memory. One more addition to model building. Neat story too …..

I’m so far behind I think I’m ahead

Great up date bud … seems as I have to up my game again🤭🤣 good stuff , pal. Love the air valves ….

YUMMMMM This is gonna be GOOD !!!

Thanks , Ron !

The added carriage bolts, …..

That is such a cool kit, I wish it would be re-released again, but the $300 price tag for a current copy is a bit rich for me, one can only hope.... this makes into a really cool truck right out of the box, I will be watching this one with GREAT interest............... front row for me !!

Well, the only KW cab over I’ve driven was a ‘63 day cab with a 12513 and a 225 Cummins, not a real pleasant ride as I recall.

No I didn’t. Not a cab over guy, personally. I just saw the upgrade and thought it was kind of cool ….

Thats the important one in my eyes….

Thanks Steve , yeah I came to basically the same conclusion as you after talking it over with Ron. And thinking about it, as you say those ideas went through my mind and your observations are well taken and make good sense. And your take on bench time and escape from the world is SPOT ON! Doing this takes my mind away and wit a little imagination, I am at a much simpler time and enjoy ‘playing trucks’ again. Lower BP is always a good thing. Thanks for checking , Mate

More technical engineering and ‘bar raising’ …. This is a very cool project. Did ‘glass’ come with the cab conversion? I really like this. And am following along in the back row …..

THAT….. my friend is absolutely COOL !!! Full points for this one , it looks really sweet, I love it !!! It will be just perfect with the Pete. A perfect truck and pup set up. Super cool JM !!! And a great way to cover and make the tank with folding the metal, a real shot at realism. GOOD job !!

After a good discussion with Ron, who is building the same kit , he mentioned that it appears there are 6 carriage bolts on the front axle spring pack rather than 4, which makes total sense as there should be a couple bolts ‘between’ the front dual spring packs to keep the spacing and to keep them from compressing into each other thus wearing bushings, and the springs themselves causing a potential failure. Makes perfect sense, but very difficult to ascertain by the lousy photos, but studying the VERY few I have, it certainly does appear there sure could be a couple carriage bolts between the spring packs, so I will make that happen. So with a center bolt shared by each spring pack, it essentially gives each pack 4 bolts to hold each pack to the front axle by sharing the center bolt . I think thats a reasonable explanation…… thanks for pointing that out Ron, I may have missed that.

With the drop front part of the frame , I’d say Kenworth. Kenworth had a torsion bar suspension back in the day. So that’s my assumption is Kenworth…….

Lol you’re right. I forgot to mention that. I’m trying to emulate your skills , Brian. Your outstanding work on the P&S truck pushes me to try harder ….

Ok. Well now that I have the rear spring packs ‘fixed’ with a little extra details , I looked at the front spring pack. This truck was a very complicated engineering feat back in the day. It was very heavy and needed to carry a significant load . So with that the VERY heavy rear spring pack with an ‘overload’ set was required as that is where the bulk of the weight would be carried. As the truck had a short wheel base of 11 ft 8 inches a lot of the load weight would fall on the front axle as well as the weight of the 16v71N of 4800 lbs (dry ….. add oils an it is over 5000 lbs ) a large set of springs were required up front as well. A huge heavy 9 leaf main pack and 16 auxiliary leafs ( over loads ) on the rear, could not be used on the front axle so as to accommodate some modicum of driver comfort but still needed to carry the weight, a side by side double pack of 9 leaf sets per side was used. So it was a shallower set bit could still support the weight required. The kit springs are there an represent the double pack “ok” but also needed a little attention. So I assembled them as per, then sanded off the molded in U bolt ‘detail’ and added some rod , a base plate and bolts. Thos will tie in with the axles when the time comes. Yes the rods are way too long but better to have more than is needed….

I do agree. I guess there is only so much that can be done with injection moulding and it is incumbent on us to add the details as we see it, I just hoe we can see it🤔😉

FUN , is the main objective

Thanks, Ron, that is kind of what I had in mind, but being covered in little yellow shards of plastic, and staring at this stuff for hours, makes a guy have second thoughts......... Ok I will keep at it... hopefully it will pay out.... oh I am now sanding and cleaning the batteries.... I HATE black plastic..... when I sand it , it's like sanding coal, it's all over the place, and makes everything seem dirty... and yes I use water when I'm sanding.... can't we just have regular white or grey plastic, please??

Well it has been a while since some sort o up date . Once again this isn’t a huge update such as Ron does but more of one to say that, yes I’m still at it. It appears most of my time is doing sub assemblies and prepping for some paint but also not getting too far ahead to where I can’t run hoses etc … so it is spending time looking ahead on the instructions, doing some, leaving parts off but trying to remember to make sure those parts are put on the truck later on …… I know …. I need a doctor……. Anyway I have been sanding seams and cleaning up a bit of flash etc. as an example here is the rear spring pack. First pic is just assembled off the sprue….. second pic is the spring pack seam sanded and cleaned up with a top plate added and 4 bolts to hold the ‘U’ bolts. I think it makes a difference …..or am I wasting my time … this little deal took over an hour …..

Not to highjack Brian’s thread , but surprisingly those lights were quite resilient , and they were well needed, as when cutting a center pass on a 3 lane with dry snow the wing became invisible and people would actually try and pass on the right , we had several wings hit like that. I never understood why people would pass a working snow plow on the right. ……. Now back to Brian’s spectacular build…..