BK9300

I agree with the others on your paint - it looks very good. And like Gary said, "...own worst critics". Given all we've seen of your approach to this build so far, you'll likely resolve the issues you don't like!

And rightfully so, Ismael - apart from your obvious skills, you must have extreme patience to detail your engine to this level - right down to the spark plug wire tip connectors!

Too funny, Gary - not wiring in the key switch, but I do have keys! So, I have three kinds - square it is!

Thanks, Jeff - appreciate you letting me bounce my ideas off you! I appreciate it, Steve. At least I won’t be any shocks doing this wiring!

I'm going to have to stock up on some of those bolt heads - can think of lots of places I could have used some along the way. Good to see this project underway!

Terrific work going here, Gary - should be some blue ribbons in store for this one!

Just spent a few hours making, then discarding some prototype wiring for firewall. One of the problems I was having is that the Wave springs are very flexible over the 5" lengths they come in, but not so much over a 1" length. I am going to use a copper wire core for two of the longer runs, to hold the loom shape, but that didn't work well for me in my attempts this morning. After more thinking, I decided to try and do part of what is done on the real truck - I needed to see about making hold down clamps. I fabricated a semblance of a Power Distribution Unit, that will mount below and to the side of the steering column. In the center of the pic are two attempts at clamps, made from 0.2 mm sheet aluminum. The white wires are the main feeds from the PDU up to the fuse box and the red wire is coming from battery via the starter. I'm dropped down another size for the Wave spring, using a 1.5mm one instead, and more of those tiny, Top Studio bolts! I had to CA glue the clamps to the temporary firewall because they kept swiveling on the bolt when I tried to feed the spring/loom through the clamps. I'll be making more anyway, for other parts of the harness - I just needed to see if this would work Am very happy how this is turning out! This is one run of five runs I hope to create, that will collect into two, 2.0 mm looms that will run under the cab 'terminating' out of sight along either side of the frame. It's a far cry from the complexity of the real thing, but will still satisfy my goal for the impression of harnesses. Given how this had to be made, and some troubles I had orienting the firewall to be able to place things, I think I have to change how I was going to put this together on the model's firewall. Had hoped to build everything on temp firewall and then just 'plug' it all into the model's firewall. Might still be possible - I'll have to cross that bridge later! Have to go and re-do some painting from work done yesterday. Take care!

Pleasure watching this little jewel come together - wonderful fabrication skills.

Tried to do some work on the firewall today, but quickly found that I had no clear idea, for the moment, about how to make a couple of the parts or how to 'wire' them all together. Going to have to let thoughts about that process ferment for a bit till the way forward becomes a little clearer! Only got a bit of painting accomplished yesterday and today I managed to drop the mast for the monitor and needed to repair and repaint it. Also forgot to add a couple items the interior before painting it yesterday, so, you'll see a couple pics with the floor painted and then another pic with those extra items added in. I'll need to repaint the interior floor again tomorrow. Another little touch up I had wanted to do - I added a bit of white to satin clear and sprayed three light coats on the reservoir. To my eye, that has toned down the original blue and the satin clear goes a bit of the way to looking like an opaque container with the fluid in it. To me, the fluid in the reservoir should look slightly different than the fluid in the clear filler hose I added a bit of flat white to the Rubber Black, as the real truck's floor mat had a bit of a grey look to it - could have just been the light I was looking at the truck in, but I'm pleased with the contrast between the steel of the control tower and the floor material. The hydraulic control boots are just sitting on the control tower, taped so they won't fall over The monitor's electrical outlets are drilled for small wiring to be added later No comfort for any ride-a-long passenger in these trucks - would be pretty rigid, I'm imagining! So, at some point while painting yesterday, I realized I had more things I had wanted to add to the interior front wall - by the driver's left foot, there is a pass through for some air lines from somewhere up in the dashboard, the brake and accelerator pedals and the heater from the Alaskan Hauler kit. Also, at the back under the control tower area, there are four more holes drilled - these holes are for the vent lines from valving controls under the control tower Short update today - spent lots of time thinking and fussing with what to do about wiring firewall. I'll see what the next few bench sessions produces - take care!

Always good to hear from you, Francis - repeat away, if needed because I sometimes forget - thanks!

Genuine fabrication, indeed! It will be interesting to try and find all these goodies once the project is completed. Marvelous, as always!

A very nice build, Victor! Plenty of detail to keep us looking closer - I also like the rust on top of the muffler. Subtle and quite realistic - well done!

Really appreciate the time and effort needed to add all the detailing going on here - great work, Gary!

I agree with Gary - lots to fabricate and will keep you out of trouble for a while! Looking forward to your progress updates.

Another very well executed build! I need to study your engineering on the hood opening mechanism!

Daniel, you must be very pleased to have this beauty finally Under Glass - you've put a lot of heart and soul into it! Great pics - it is good to see the car photographed against a light background - really makes the visible details stand out better! Excellent job!

Pretty special paint finishes you produce, Luke!

It’s very cool to see all the details, like the drilled disc brakes and that beautiful engine. Also, did you highlight paint the chrome carriage bolts on underside of the frame, or did you use dress pin heads? Looks very convincing, in any event!

I was going through the parts tree for the Alaska Hauler and found a pair of chrome, Donaldson air cleaners, marked on the instructions 'Not for use'. They were definitely smaller in diameter than the non-chrome one from the kit I did the earlier work on. After a few trial fits and and removing about 1.5 mm from the overall height, I think this air cleaner will be able to be used and the hood will still open and close without hitting it. While the air cleaner modifications set up, I prepped some of the small cab pieces for priming and painting and spent the afternoon painting. Also got second coats on the floor pan underside and on the dash The windshield washer reservoir still needs a coat, or two, of dull or satin clear to give the illusion of reservoir itself - hoping to get it to look a bit more like the filler hose portion. Also, two short tubing extension have been added, positioned below the control tower, for wiring runs to exit/enter the cab floor. The small, rectangular box on the upslope of the footwell is another receptacle that part of the front wall harness will hopefully plug into Might not show up well in the pic, but the control tower and the mast have been painted using Alclad 'Steel' - it is not as dark as the satin black underside of the floor pan and should be a nice contrast to the rubber black floor mat which is getting painted tomorrow The hood supports, overflow tank and the fuse box are temporarily in place so I could see what size of Wave spring would best suit an attempt at the basic wiring harness(es) I want to do. This size spring looks to be a bit big, so next size down (2.0mm) should do it. I'm planning to insert an appropriate gauge, normal wire with a copper core, into the spring which can be formed into curves and will hold the shape needed for the harnesses. I test fitted the door cards into the cab today. Once the cab is painted and the door cards glued in, the goal is to lay out some of the wiring harness, attaching the ends at a nearby point inside the frame, then set the floor pan/dash assembly on the cab mounts, and get the wiring from the sander tucked up under the cab in one tube, and add the few wires leaving the cab, out to somewhere along the frame. Then the glass can be put in the cab and the cab can be lowered down over the floor pan and glued, the wiring harnesses 'plugged' in and hope that everything still lines up to have the hood work properly! All this is several days off but, that's part of the plan for the next week or so. Take care!

Fine looking addition to your 'shelf' fleet! Subtle dust weathering is just enough and adds lots of character to the truck. Great job, Jeff!

I'm heading over there now - will be good to see the finished project!

Well, I don't think I'm doing anything that others haven't already done, so have at it!

This is exactly why I have followed your builds for a few years now - excellent details and paint, just a pleasure to look at! Going great, Gary.

Terrific work on the firewall detail and wiring - very tiny bits to work with!

Beautiful truck - very striking paint scheme!