BK9300

Beautiful job! Lots of work hours put in by that old girl! Terrific weathering, too.

Still fussing with the battery/tool boxes - I will eventually work on something else! Today was just a partial reassembly day for them, after painting. The box covers have been painted with Alclad White Aluminum and very happy with how they turned out. Not going to use any kind of clear on them, so they literally got the white glove treatment today. Added the bolts for the step treads as well. Batteries are CA glued to the tray and the hold down bar and bolts are also glued in place - Very hard to make out the battery detail, with the lighting from the desk lamp, but did want to show that paint layers are thin enough to allow the lid(s) to be removable with ease. Will be making cables tomorrow! Take care.

Thanks a lot, Brenton - appreciate the comment!

Jeff, you're going to need a bigger bottle of CA glue! Should look terrific once you have it all together and some of your classic weathering (and tarring!) applied.

Awesome detailing, Pierre - the seat and dash look very 'purpose' built. Treat to follow along.

More paint drying going on, so did a little experimenting with my battery cables. Again, going with threaded terminals because it makes things a bit easier for me. This is the type of cable end I need to make - Started with some more Gopher ignition wire, with a bit stripped off one end and a section of 0.8mm brass tube - I shortened the tube length, then crimped one end and CA glued the stripped wire into the other end - I couldn't hold the small cable end to drill it, so I taped it to a piece of styrene and drilled it out with a 0.6mm bit - Using a Scale Hardware nut, and a bolt with the head cut off, I had the threaded terminal and cable end ready for the battery - A sample cable, half done and not yet glued in place - I need to make 9 more cable ends and wire sections, plus add a couple smaller, auxiliary power wire runs. Then CA glue the batteries in the tray, add the cables and glue the tray into the painted battery box. More to follow!

I'm happy with it, too - I'm thinking the only thing better would be photo etch - haven't found any this exact size - and I don't think I'm going to learn how to do that at this late stage!

An excellent conversion - very realistic looking Sheriff's Tahoe. Another great build, Alberto.

Boxes are out being painted and now waiting till next coat(s) and colour changes. Did receive a small package of printed items from @Bren today - another bonus! I had asked him if he would try and print the battery boxes, even though I had designed them with very thin walls. He certainly gave it a good go and even though he advised me the walls may be too thin, a few turned out with just some slight warping to deal with. He also did another experimental print for me - a Western Star dash logo. I think, with some work and some straightening effort on my part, the boxes could be made very workable - maybe for an older truck that actually did have bungee cords holding the covers in place! The covers are still removable, but are not diamond plated - my software program couldn't specify that for Bren to print. They would still look great with the Auslowe step treads added on - I think the logo will look great when peering in from the passenger window. Bren sent me several prints, so I will try to do some very delicate cleanup on the back, where the print supports attached. More painting to do, so all for now.

I wonder if any of those socket sets are available 'out there' - I'll do some checking and see. I will try the CTM latches, just to see, but always good to have a plan 'B' - I could always make a set of bungee cords to hold the covers down! Thanks, Francis. Thanks for the generous comment, Håkan - I appreciate it! Thanks, Scott - the tanks look perfect on the side of your wrecker, for sure.

It’s been fascinating to watch this weathered, die hard, come to life - if this is your first weathering attempt, it sure turned out well. I haven’t found the courage to do that to a model yet.

A lot of elbow grease has been used here - just amazing mirror finish on your paint! Do you ever find paint buildup around your bolt holes to be a problem when you get to re-assembling? Beautiful model.

White is a very difficult colour to lay down well, but you’ve done a very good job - hope no overspray gets on that shiny red paint job behind you!

It’s exciting to see your start on the engine. From the pics there are of the real engine, it looks like it will be quite a challenge to model it - a challenge I’m certain you will meet!

I remember an ad, back in the day, on Speed Channel, that had one of these cars doing a bit of a drift around a corner, and the throat that car had was amazing. You’re doing an amazing job on your version!

Kind of a bonus day - started the morning out looking in my aftermarket parts drawer, and came across a couple sets of CTM, US truck batteries. Too bad I hadn't remembered that a few days ago! I'm going to go with three of these batteries for the truck - lots of power for those cold starts and the demand from all the lights. I started in on converting the battery posts to threaded terminals, by removing the existing posts and drilling holes for the small bolt sections I will CA glue in. Also needed to figure out a hold down mechanism for the batteries. Saw lots of pics online about ways to hold batteries in place; the method I settled on was just the easiest to achieve. Built a tray to set the batteries in, added the brass tubing/threaded end, hold down rods and some Scale Model nuts, to bolt the hold down bar in place. I had previously forgot to cut the openings in the sides of the back of the box, to allow for the cables to pass through, so did that today as well. I will need to paint these boxes, the batteries, tray and hold down bar, before I CA glue the threaded terminal ends in place. Hope to get to a bit more wiring in the next few days. Not much today, but moving forward! Take care.

Yes, they are definitely a step up from some kit parts. I have to go back to your build and see what you used for a fuel tank - I recall that it was a square sided, diamond plate tank in combination with the steps.

Looks good, Brenton - the other chrome parts you have yet to add will definitely add some bling!

Looking good, Victor - almost looks like you've got enough headroom for a sleeping loft!

That looks pretty special, Gary - hope you find the hood you need! Any chance of extending/modifying your existing hood?

So well done - looking terrific in the mockup!

So close to being finished the battery boxes - a little more work, and then paint! I had made the brackets for the upper step a few days ago, and now had to attach them to the box. I'm not confident about the epoxy holding the diamond plate to the covers - a corner of one lifted while I was trimming the lower and back edges of the plate. I used thin CA glue to hold the corner back in place, but not as sure as I would like to be how well the diamond plate is secured. I wasn't going to epoxy the brackets to the diamond plate, or use CA glue because I'd make a mess around the brackets, so I decided upon actually bolting the braces to the cover, like the real thing. Taped the brackets in position and used a 0.6 mm bit to drill through the plate/styrene cover; the bolts and nuts in the pic are from Scale Hardware - Brackets with the bolts spotted in place - With some (lots!) of difficulty, and a pair of tweezers in each hand, I did get all the nuts snugged up into place. I nipped off the bolt ends, and applied some thin CA glue the nuts and threads that should, hopefully, keep the nuts from backing off. Then, I cut a couple lengths of the Auslowe metal steps to fit in the upper brackets. Same problem here about how to attach both sets of step treads. Might rough up the inside ends of the steps, and the styrene perches, and just go with CA glue. Seems a bit of a shame to paint over the metal parts, but the real ones are aluminum so that's what's needed! One more mockup of boxes on truck - Next, to completely finish the fabrication, I need to have a go at those CTM hood latches, for the sides of the boxes, to hold the covers in place. Would be great if I could attach them so they could be unhooked - the rubber latch is a tiny bit stretchy - and the covers remain removable. After that, need to paint, then onto batteries for the driver's side box, then onto the wiring to the motor. Take care!

Thanks, Dan - it's getting there, and quite a few more updates likely needed! Thanks, Gary - thankfully, I've been getting lucky with a bunch of 'firsts' for me in this build! Much appreciated, Francis! About those tools, every time I go to the hobby store, I come back with more paint, and tools, than I intended to buy. If I was 10 (or 15) years younger, I'd sure like to have a try at the type of machining that you're so accomplished at. But, I think I'll just 'stay in my lane' and carry on with tools for styrene! Thanks, Scott, and with posts like yours, I'm continuing to learn about trucks - didn't know about all the different groups of batteries out there for trucks!

I agree with Gary, and your primer laid down very smooth on the body. Should look great in maroon.

Very sad to hear about this. Don’t know him personally, but had a few email exchanges when ordering parts in the past. Hoping for the best for him through this tough time.