BK9300

Great progress, Ron - will look amazing when all the units are all hooked together.

Really like the detail, Charles - looks very sturdy, too. I need to improve in that area of my suspensions.

Still not back at the bench for any extended periods - still other 'stuff' taking priority! This hit and miss time has made me think about some things I could do that don't take very long, but are still outstanding and will need to be done eventually. If I have a half hour, or hour, in between, I can start to knock off some of these little things. Today I took a bit of time to replace the 00-90 brass nuts/bolts on the front plow lift arms with some 1.0 mm Scale Hardware bolts and nuts. These fasteners are a little smaller than the 00-90 fittings and do look that much better for scale. Comparison of 00-90 hardware and 1.0 mm bolts - the 00-90 hardware has been replaced on the end of the lift cylinder arm and at the end of the lift arm All lift group fasteners now replaced with smaller ones - also, finally, hooked up the hydraulic lines from the lift cylinder to the bulkhead fitting Same thing with front plow support arm - smaller fasteners in place now. Will fit in other little things, till I can get some more dedicated time at the bench to carry on with interior and cab - take care!

Very cool, Anton - looks super aggressive!

Looking awesome, Dan - like the worn areas on the ramp treads from all the 'traffic'!

You’ve really been going the extra mile (or two) with the body work - impressive results!

Very small update - been doing more work outside, so not much going on at the bench. In between, did get a bit of time to CA glue the starter in place, and re-connect the cables from the starter to the battery, put the box cover back on and put the truck back in the display case till some spare time comes up!

That was good for a chuckle - thanks, Gary!

Good progress, Jeff - goes without saying, but the added detailing sure stands out! Going to be a cool truck.

Your outdoor photographs really make the blue paint pop - well done, Ron.

Well done, Steve! The ‘aluminum’ parts of the trailer stand out, very realistic.

Today was more progress with the battery/starter wiring - little thing that it is consumed most of the afternoon! So, the morning started off with a bit of a panic - the driver side front tire/wheel was sitting seriously tilted in. Turns out my handling and posing the steering for the odd pic, caused one of the brass bolts to back out of the top of the king pin. Needed to get the tire and rim off to re-tighten the bolt and then I couldn't get the rim to slide back on to the studs. Had to re-size the holes a tiny bit and now the rim slides on much easier. Will still need to fix the king pin better - both sides - to keep that from happening again. Got the battery ground cable attached to the frame, and hooked back up to battery - Bunch of stuff assembled to have a go at the basic starter wiring - Battery cables attached to Scale Hardware studs, along with the power supply to the Power Net Distribution Box. I used a 0.7mm Wave spring for the loom carrying the wiring to/from the alternator - Starter just sitting in place for now, because will need to figure out where the loom from the Electronic Control connector on the firewall will terminate, because I can't really get down to the ECM on the lower engine anymore. Guess I'm working on stuff that should have been done at the very beginning - an improvement needed for the next project! Once the starter is fixed in place (will also need a bit of touch up painting), the alternator wiring attached and the cables hooked back up to the battery, I will get back onto the interior and the cab. Thanks again for having a look in along the way!

Thanks, Francis! I'll need to figure out a better way to photograph it at completion - not very consistent with image quality!

The black and white shot looks kinda cool!

Got the battery and tool boxes glued to the frame today. Like I said earlier, this is a big step completed for me, because the boxes took more time than I had expected and because they needed to be in place to be able to get on with some wiring to the starter. More pictures of those darn boxes, but things are still moving forward. Bit of touch up paint to do where paint was scraped from frame to glue brackets to frame - Test fitted cab with floor in place, to align the box(es) as the solvent glue set up - I decided to leave the ground cable connection to the frame till later - there should be room enough to bolt one end to the frame and then re-attach it to the battery. The other wires that run to the starter and ECM have also been left off, because I need to finish the other cable ends, once the correct length for each wire is determined. Working space on the firewall/engine area is going to get real confined very soon! Quick shot of the chassis - will leave the tape in place until glue sets up thoroughly. Will get to the starter wiring early next week and then probably back onto the cab. Need the cab to be painted, interior finished and cab mounted on frame before I can get back at the firewall wiring. Still haven't thought how to best set the truck on it's side - or roof - to better route the wire looms under the cab and part way along frame. Always more to figure out, it seems. More, next week! Edit - glue has set up enough to add the box covers for another mockup -

Hey, thanks Scott! Still a bunch of tricky stuff to be done yet but getting there.

Making good progress, Ron.

Looking good, Dan - primer is always a milestone!

Many thanks for that, Steve. I have been keeping track of the hours - kind of scary! To date, I've recorded 980 hours of bench time. I don't have any idea what amount of time it took me to make the initial, 3D model of the truck, or of the time spent doing research online. Appreciate the interest! Thanks, Francis! There are a lot of aftermarket goodies out there, to be sure. My problem is, I keep finding more to add!

Bet it's certain there's not another one of these on the planet - very unique, quality build!

Very steady hand(s)! Looking really good, and another well done lighting job.

Successful effort for the battery box latches - tool box latches will have to wait a couple days now! Photoetch hardware attached to battery box and cover - the smaller rivets worked, and look, much better - The latches aren't needed to hold cover down, but still put a bit of tension in the silicon rubber latch - Should be able to mount the boxes on the frame this weekend - another big step, for me! Take care.

I've been trying to work out how to make the CTM hood latches work, and more importantly, how I could securely attach them to the battery/tool boxes. I've had some success with the operation part, but the attaching process is eluding me. I can make such a mess with CA glue on small parts, and it doesn't bond the photoetch to paint as securely as I would like. I did make the effort to do a test latch, but the hardware I tried to use look too oversized to me. May need to go with some other solution or go with none at all - I just don't want to mess up the finish on the boxes at this point. I taped down the photoetch pieces to drill out bolt holes for the test latch Shaped a point on a piece of 0.33 mm rod to attach hinge end of rubber latch to bracket - Looks good so far - The bolt heads are 1.0mm - 1" at full size - and are too big, I think. I do have some smaller, 0.7 mm, Top Studio rivets that would certainly look a better scale fastener. I had hoped the bolts would work because CA glue applied to the backs of the bolts from inside the boxes would wick along the threads and give a tight bond. The other problem is I was able to freely manipulate the test latch on the styrene scraps, to position parts and to drill the holes. That would be much harder with the more fragile, assembled battery boxes. I'll give the smaller, aluminum rivets a go and see how they turn out. Off again for a bit - more to do outside!

Thanks for that, Steve! May have met my match with the latches for the battery boxes, though.

Nicely done, Greg.