BK9300

Excellent work!

Milestone day - apart from attaching the sander to the truck frame, I'm calling the sander finished! This little item was 4 hours worth of effort - I think the universal is big for scale, but I'm confident I couldn't have made it smaller! Cylinder, hand crank, glued in place - Ladder glued in place and functioning - Won't put the screens back on top until the sander is mounted on truck. Now, I can get back to the cab and hood polishing. I promise, no more pics of the sander until it's on the truck!

Yes, some pics really show things up - I got some surprises at the beginning of this build I wasn't expecting, and still do. Thanks, Victor!

Made me laugh! I have one on each side - sander was made by Henderson Products - currently out of Manchester, Iowa

Tremendous fabrication, Tom - it’s astonishing how quickly the total number of individual parts can add up in a project like this. It takes a lot of concentration and planning to, first, identify all the parts that need to be created or sourced; second make them; finally, get them all assembled in the right order. Wonderful work!

Yes, more pics of sander, but this time all the work lights and roto lights are glued in place and wired in! This is where my session started today, about 4 hours ago! - I appreciate your patience with all the pics of the sander - like I said last time, each pic gives me a chance to see 'what's what' and make any changes if need be. Should have the ladder on tomorrow, and I'll get under way with the slide gate cylinder and crank, and then the sander will be finished!

Thanks, Randy - lots of details, but looking forward to having them all finished - they take as long as some of the scratch built parts! Not to worry, Bren, and thanks for your generous comments!

Revell chrome spray may not be your favourite, but it sure seems to go down well for you. The question has been asked lots in the various forums, but how long do you let it cure before any handling? Looks great!

Just a terrific build, Randy! Wherever (however?) did you find/make the level indicator on your tank? Beautiful detailing all around!

This build shows the advantage of designing your own ‘kits’ - you have a digital parts box, full of ready to go items to add to new builds. Good stuff, Jurgen!

Not much gets accomplished in my bench sessions this last little while - doing lots of fussy detail painting and it takes me forever! And I seem to post lots of repetitive pics, but almost every pic shows me something to that needs more attention, to get it right. So, not much to show for the day's work, but another bit of that fussy stuff off the list. Final coat on truck visor, roto light bases painted black, and the insides of the various light housings all got a coat of Tamiya, Chrome Silver- Good thing I didn't take a video of me doing this detail painting - a bit of back and forth had to be done. Silver on the inside, then touch up flat black where the shaky hands made the silver stray, then a tiny bit of silver again, on where the black touch ups screwed up! Also got the mounting brackets on the work lights to stand out a bit, using the magnifying lamp. Roto lights were masked off and the bases sprayed - Still hope to finish off the tiny bit of work left on the sander, before returning to the cab and hood. Also need to make a semblance of that electrical/aux. air connections plate that sits on the frame behind the cab, and that a power cable to the sander will finally plug into. What I hope to model was used on some of the real trucks in the past, but had been discontinued in later model years, I am told, because there was too much salt damage to the connections. I'm choosing to do it this older way, because it will make the final connections of the sander wiring a bit easier on me!

Thanks, Steve - pretty sure a lot of credit goes to the polishing compound! Was thinking about sending one to Western Star - maybe they will give some info on their frames for my next build! Thanks, Scott.

I agree! Great scratch building and kit bashing is going to make a unique build - looking good, Randy!

Terrific job, Scott - apart from the rest of your excellent work, the slight weathering, rusting, is the icing on the cake - looks really good!

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!