BK9300

It's obvious you have put a lot of work into this, Steven - amazing detailing!

Your paint polishing sure turned out well - how did you find using the Dspiae polisher around the side trim and the different profiles on the hood?

Terrific work on your headers, Daniel - lot to learn watching this.

Going to look sweet, Gary!

I’m just glad you’re still checking in - thanks, Gary!

Appreciate that, Victor!

The 'lights' look great, Gary - amazing what can be found to add to a build!

I finally got around to adding the amber, flashing lights to the upper back of the sander. Could never give you all the reasons why this took so long - I had painted them in September 2024. Pretty certain there was a bit of procrastination along the way, but I am very glad to see them in place! Also got the rear, roto light platform glued and bolted in place. I laid out the two, short wire runs between the flashers and the rear roto light, then temporarily set both roto lights in place - Rear roto light and wiring temporarily in place - still need to make circular, flat black base plates for both roto lights. Also need to make three or four more wiring grommets to support the wires between the flashers - Front roto light temporarily in place - (the grommet is needed for a wire coming back out of the roto light, to feed a work light that will be mounted near it) - Apart from tidying up the wiring and finishing the base plates for roto lights, only remaining thing to do back here are three work lights, and to make the hand crank and cylinder for opening and closing the slide gate - Had meant to continue with the sander's work lights today and just got sidetracked with the flashers and rotos. Will get back on the work lights tomorrow, hopefully!

I knew that MCM notification in my email meant something special would be waiting. Fabulous attention to detail, Randy - good thing your truck has a brass frame and metal suspensions. Awesome work!

Adding to the many things I’ve tried for the first time during this build, I’m going to have a go at a better paint finish on the cab and hood, than on the sander. Plus, there a few spots on the cab and hood that were left with dust bits during the final coat. I’ve only done a bit of experimenting on the test hood’s paint, to gain a bit of practice! This is the Constellation test hood, and it had some dust on it as well (circled in red) - lots of orange peel, too - Working only on the top of the hood, I used the Micro Mesh sequence of sanding pads, 4,000 to 12,000, and finished off with the three grades of Tamiya polishing compound. The dust bits, and the orange peel, have been dealt with - I didn’t touch the center rib of the hood, so I could see what effect all of this was having. The treated areas definitely look better, but it’s clear to me I need to learn how to use the Micro Mesh pads better. There are still lots of little sanding lines evident from the reflection of the desk lamp, that the pads are designed to get rid of, if I used them right! Overall, going in the right direction - Always something to learn, it seems.

Very gracious of you, Tom - thanks!

Well thought out ‘saves’ all around, Jim - overall, looks much improved!

Lots of prep work this morning, for a bunch of small items that I got painted this afternoon - Got the first colour coat on the truck's visor - All the work light housings for the sander, and a few others around the plows, have been painted - all the brass pins will be trimmed shorter, come time to glue them in place. The mounting brackets still need to be detail painted aluminum - will need to concentrate, and brace the paint hand, to not make a mess of that job! The two lights for the upper flashers, and various work light lenses, painted amber - These are fittings that cover the work light lenses - didn't think I was going to use them at first, but the fittings are intended to hold the lenses in place. A couple 'dry run', test fittings showed me they will definitely make it easier to glue the lenses into the housings. ++ The yellow beacon lights from Auslowe have their first coat of amber - I think one more coat to darken a bit more should be enough. Should still be able to see the reflectors inside with one more coat - Should be able to finish the assembly of the remaining bits on the sander early this week!

I've got the site bookmarked and will check it out - thanks, Scott!

This an amazing replica! Would be very interesting to see some of his other projects - he’s very talented.

Progress is progress, Gary - looks great! Do you ever polish and wax your paint jobs? I’m trying to figure that out, with decals and photo etch bits to consider.

Amazing work, Victor. It’s like a treasure hunt, seeing all the added detailing - working doors/ramps, to the drip rails above them! How will you protect your finished interior, come time to paint the exterior? Going to be incredibly impressive when it’s in primer, too!

Your builds are always amazing transformations - a treat to watch!

Thanks, Steve - much appreciated!

A very unique, well done build, Jeff! Looks every bit like the real deal - awesome job!

I think the fog lamps are going to work out well for the work lights around the truck. Didn’t know about them till I started searching for something that could work- felt lucky when I found the PIAA lights! Thanks, Jeff. Thanks, David - appreciate you having a look! Dom, I certainly understand about the difficulties of masking clean lines - was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to do that in the tight spaces at the back of the sander, so decals it was!

Been able to mess around in Sketchup for some small things I will need for this truck. I was able to model an Atkinson, two way, single channel intercom, found in a couple places on the real truck. Bren just finished a couple test prints and they turned out great, for something only 11 mm tall! There is an intercom unit near the truck mounted controls for the inspection booms, one in the man basket and one in the cab of the truck. Test prints of intercom - I may replace the detail on the lower control portion of the com - I will need to add a toggle switch and a control button, regardless - There is also a speaker only unit at the back of the truck under the deck, mounted on the end of the frame - these are about 6 mm tall - Slowly getting a few parts together while finishing off the plow truck - will be good to get started on this one full time!

Working on the final details for this truck, I've come to realize I will never be able to plan for everything. Was working on the lights for the sander and had a stab of fear because I realized I hadn't pre-drilled all the holes for the pins that will attach the lights to the sander before I painted. Long ago, I had thought about doing that; then that thought clearly disappeared and now I need to drill through a finished paint job to get the lights put on. I've also put off locating the chain hangers - the real trucks had hook hangers in differing locations on the sander body, or frame, but the particular arrangement of attachments on the truck I'm modeling doesn't have room for chain hangers in any of those spots. I decided to go with some frame mounted hangers, just in front of the battery / tool boxes, with protective mud flaps in front of the hangers. Small bits of work on the lights, that took way longer than I thought it would - drilled and pinned for mounting to sander and each light housing has another pre-drilled hole for the wiring on the sander to thread through - Need to drill holes for mounting pins - three needed on the back edge of the side panels near the loose wires, one on the middle of passenger side of sander and one on top, by the front roto light - maybe start with a small hole first, so I'm not chipping away chunks of paint! - The real truck didn't have any chain hangers - I re-checked all my pics - and many of the 'normal' locations for hangers aren't available or optimal on this truck's layout. There is lots of room (red sketching), on both sides of truck, between the battery / tool boxes and the back edge of front fenders, to attach frame mounted hangers - Something like this is what I plan to make, just not attached to any fender(s) - Hope to get the sander work and roto lights painted tomorrow. More soon!

Too funny! All it needs are the lights and they're under way! Thanks, Jurgen.

I don't think a museum would take this - it's too fragile!