Biggu

Top drawer. Incredible details and very well thought out. This is beautiful ! Jeff

That is good to know I’m not alone. Always striving to do better is what keeps us going I suppose. And yes a few things to be done differently next time. Part of my thing is, I get in a rut and keep doing the same thing over and over, then finally the light goes on ! Its the old dog new trick thing ?

Thanks Jim.

Well , finally I think I have gone about as far as I can go. My real rides are always kept pretty clean. So that’s why this one is clean ( just out of the wash bay ) . This truck took about 6 months off and on …. A fair bit of after market with a VERY expensive 3 d printed highly derailed Detroit 60 Series engine. Probably the most detailed engine I have ever built, beautiful 3d print plus alot of extra stuff I have added. I plumbed the full power steering, all air system as well. Added a full CTM photo etch upgrade as well. The color is a Model Master enamel Ice Blue Metallic. Also did a tiny bit of scratch building by making a metal tubing fuel filler neck and scratched the exhaust tips. I know the 5 th wheel is of the European style but I have seen this style here a couple times so As I though the Holland 5th wheel from an old AMT kit looked a bit small so I used the kit one and relocated the release handle. Lots of little things that took a fair bit of time to try and get right. No where near perfect and lots of little things that I see I’m not really happy with , but near the end she started to fight me a bit. So here she is and many thanks for all you mind words and encouragement during my build , I hope the final result is acceptable for this great forum

Holy. I decided to add the battery box cover hold downs. Very small and very delicate. Took me hours to get these right mostly due to waiting for glue to dry but somewhat tedious. But they look pretty good. Altho it is probably my ineptness in planning the build, in hind sight and mine is always 20/20 I will, next time do these before I mount the battery box on the frame ….. duh

You certainly know the intricate details of these Dodge products which only enhances your builds. Excellent job and looks very realistic. This one is a beauty ! Jeff

What a Spectacular build !!! That is so cool and no detail left out. I REALLY like what you did here. It has captured the real thing almost perfectly. Great job ! Jeff

Day cabs are just plain cool. Especially cabovers …. Liking this. Keep going , buddy Jeff

Top drawer build ! Love the trailer and load VERY realistic !

Beautiful result ! Color is spot on. And lightning fast build … and yes it does look real. Great job, take a bow… Jeff

Just stunning !!

Thanks, Jurgen…. I have to totally agree with you about those steps. When I was folding them , I thought they looked pretty good but once installed they are a game changer. CTM pe is wonderful and quite easy to work with . Also thanks for your kind words on the build. It is slowly getting close to the end I think, just a lot of small niggly details to tidy up. Jeff

No kidding. It sure adds to the build. This is the first big up grade set I’ve used and it won’t be the last. Great quality and accurate details. Thanks for the kind words, Gary. I can almost see the finish line ….

They will look great.

Thanks Brian, those steps would fit your Western Star as well. Brings a feel of realism in miniature.

Bu any chance are you planing an old school chain drive Kenworth, Brian? Jeff

I must say I REALLY like the CTM p/e. The results ate really sweet.Just a little up date. Had to show the CTM p/e steps and the exhaust. Well worth the money. Well, for me at least.. Jeff

Ooooo that looks good, yes, black stripes all the way all the time, BUT a set of nice silver stripes would look good as well, and I have no idea why they don't include a set of silver stripes, instead of the white ones, this is coming along really nicely and looks sweet.... Jeff

This is really cool! Jeff

There was a yellow light facing down towards the chain on some units. I loved that because I could tell right away if I had a chain issue. Most underbody lights were on the driver’s side so you could see it with the convex mirror. Some of our units had the back up lights mounted on the mirrors and some mounted down low which was really good for chaining up. We had one that had those mounts plus two right on the back of the truck on a switch.

Not sure how nutsy crazy you want to get detailing but there is a ‘loop’ affair on the very top of the wing to facilitate a hook for lifting for install and removing the wing with a loader, also are you doing an extendable underbody? Of so it also had a single strobe that Ken wired up with a switch so it came on automatically when extended and shut off when retracted . We also had an orange flag on the outer top edge of the wing but in my case it usually got busted off with the snow being thrown from the one way. Those flags on the front bumpers of the trucks was a carry over from our Highways days. Oh and one other little detail, we used to add an extra chunk of cutting edge to the toe of the blade about 3 feet or so because the toe was the first part of the wing to touch the road surface and it naturally would wear a bit more than the rest of the cutting edge so by adding a short piece there would be more ‘meat’ before we started grinding the mold board.

I speak true words , your talents are out of bounds. On the truck I drove with the wing was a slightly different configuration. Mine was a front mount style, meaning it was mounted ahead of the right front wheel and had to be ‘fed’ by the front plow , but with that said we had to mount bright strobe lights on the wing so as to warn potential nitwits who thought passing an active plow truck on the right was a good idea, from hitting the wing and crashing the plow truck and their own car. So the wing lights were flashing strobes so the wing could be seen from behind while in the lowered plow position. There were no reflectors as they would not be seen with the blowing snow from the plowing action and accumulated snow on the wing. No brake lights on the wing that I used. Just flashing strobes as when in the lowered plowing position we were WAY over width. We needed a blanket over width permit when the wing was mounted to the truck. Our rear mounted wing had the same set up with a flashing strobe due to width. Does that make sense? Sometimes I get a bit ‘wordy’ trying to paint a clear picture. I liked the front mount wing much better than the rear mount as I could easily see it and was easier to judge my plowing position. I have to admit though, the extra weight on the f/a could cause some potential extra strain on the King Pins, wheel bearings and rims.

Gary , I just figured this out … this is not a model , it’s the real sander photo shopped on to Brian’s bench ! Thats what this is. ! I’ve seen these being built and this is EXACTLY how they go. This is MUSEUM class workmanship and what I would call a world class build. Highly detailed and the finest accuracy, with amazing scratch building techniques and skill. Believe me when I say there is NO detail missed. Jeff

The curious thing to me was , when I was told this would work, if you sniff the Micro Sol it smells exactly like white vinegar….? that is part of the reason I gave this a try . I had some trepidation but thought I will never know unless I gave it a go and also thought that a fellow who makes his living selling models and accessories probably wouldn’t give me duff information as it may reflect badly on his business. But alas , it worked very well.

Personally I am not really affected by this , and I have an opinion on this sort of thing, to which I’m gonna have to keep to myself …. But , I can’t help but shake my head when an authority ‘bans’ something because it is potentially ‘harmful’ or ‘dangerous’ and if an importer or vendor gets a ‘permit’ it suddenly becomes ok to sell and purchase with no other changes to the offending product……….how does a ‘permit’ change the product being harmful or dangerous? ?? Seems like a possible money grab ….. I operated heavy equipment and was a low bed driver as well. We could get a ticket for being ‘over weight’ , ‘over width’ or ‘over height’ BUT if we paid for a permit, all was ok…… we were still over weight, over height and over width, the ‘permit’ didn’t change any of that ????I have been getting those permits for well over 30 years…….. I guess it’s the power of the ‘permit’