BK9300

I blistered my finger bending something that small once - hope all your fingers survived. Nice smooth bends - was worth the effort!

This truck must be a favorite of yours - you always do great work, but the fit and finish on this one seems like you went a tick extra with it. Beautiful truck in a terrific setting!

In a way, the earliest pic of the body could have been a good beater just as it was! Should be a good project.

I agree with you about the kit manufacturers - making master molds for parts that fit well must be very difficult! Thanks for the encouragement, Steve - it will get sorted, for sure.

Got started on a sketch for my attempt at some level of wiring for the firewall (it's a bit of a messy thing so not going to bore you with it), and started thinking about all the 'how to' things I need to overcome. While thinking about that, I decided it was time to see how the single air cleaner, on the driver's side, might impact the planned firewall detailing, given the limited space available. I started by modifying an air cleaner body from the Alaskan Hauler kit - it appeared to be of the shorter kind that was on the real truck. I drilled a couple mounting holes for it and mocked it in place, and topped it off with a machined air cleaner from 'Off the Sprue'. I set the cab on the truck and discovered I had another problem to deal with! I removed the molded in straps on the air cleaner because I need to make an outlet lower, closer to the middle of the air cleaner body to line up with the hole through the skirt I will also need to do. I will add straps back once the air cleaner is all one unit and ready for chrome paint I put cab and hood on the truck and discovered that the back edge of the fender won't clear the bottom of the air cleaner body. The red arrow is pointing to the hinge bolt, not yet glued of course, but in its final position, so no relief there. This pic also shows no room left for me to move the air cleaner back towards the driver's door. When I compared the real truck's air cleaner set up with the model, I can see that I may not have started the cut into the front of cab close enough to the leading edge of the driver's door frame... and, in the pic below, the body width of the kit air cleaner appears to be slightly thicker than the real truck as well. So, I'm not going to re-do the cut-in, but I could make a slightly narrower diameter replacement cannister/body, mount it that much further back towards the cab and perhaps raise it a 1 - 2 millimeters, and failing all that, maybe remove 1 - 1.5 mm from the bottom edge of the fenders (and there are mud flaps to make allowance for?!). I'm hoping all that will work and I can carry on with working on the wiring! Just like the list, this has been one of those 'one step forward, two steps backward' days. Such is, I guess and it needs to be dealt with. Next time at the bench, right?! Take care.

I appreciate that, Steve! I've tried to repair the windshield support brace once, but very quickly broke it again, thankfully in the same spot. Hence the tape and I'll leave the final repair till very near the end!

Thanks, Francis - hardly made a 'dent' in the list - at the moment, for everything I get done on the list, I seem to add two more!

Looking good, Jeff! The work platform fits in well - is using the work platform another reason for going with the lower headache rack? Going to look great, when all the parts are finally in place!

Apologies, Jürgen - I shouldn’t have missed this - thanks for your comment!

You pay great attention to parts detailing and to prepping your truck for paint - I'm certain it will turn out as you expect and will likely look amazing!

Very nice build - really like the colour! Lots of extra details like the A/C lines add another layer of interest. Good looking combo!

double post !?

Very rich looking interior, Steve! (love the shifter, too)

I'm sticking to the model's 'punch' list for the time being but still waiting on some fasteners from Model Motor cars (Scale Hardware). A while back, I broke the center windshield brace - and in keeping with the list, I have to do work on the firewall, so, to minimize handling the cab, I reproduced the shape of the firewall on a piece of similar thickness styrene and began making the parts I want to add to the firewall. I am going to be pinning the items I add and drilling holes for some others, so the temporary firewall will also allow me to use it as a template for drilling the holes into the cab's firewall. I then won't have to handle the cab very much, once it's painted (and repaired!) when I add the pieces to the cab's firewall. Temporary firewall - looks distorted a bit, but think that's just the two different angles of the firewalls Modified an air tank to be a smaller, rad overflow tank - two 0.5mm brass pins were added to the brackets on the back side This is the cover for what a Western Star Body Builder bulletin calls the MEGA fuse box - I'm also going to see if I can add the Power Distribution box that feeds this fuse box Holes for the tank mount pins and the fuse box flange bolts have been drilled into temp firewall Temp firewall mocked up in place - I know I said the temp firewall was so I didn't handle the cab as much, so this mockup really won't happen often anymore! Going to have a go at using some more of the Wave springs, different sizes, to make a highly simplified version of the harnesses between the power distribution box, the fuse box, and also make the harnesses to the three connectors that are on the driver's side of the firewall. If this actually turns out, in theory I should be able to move the tank and fuse box, and 'unplug' the harnesses and connectors from the temporary firewall and 'plug' them into the cab's firewall. Or, it might end up as a 'maybe next time' project! More slow going, but still getting further along - take care!

Good job on the air cleaners - they look good painted the body colour and not all chrome. Really like the ‘dusted’ up look, too - your weathering always turns out well!

Great looking engine and I like your headache rack and winch cage setup. Whatever you're using for winch line sure looks the part, too. Very nicely done!

My Dad had one of these as a company car - ‘armstrong’ steering, plain inside, but a good looking car to me.

The tape definitely looks toned down, and presses in nicely to show all the detail in the tread plate - good solution!

Another 3D creation has come to from the 'flat' bed of your printer - looks good, Jürgen!

Great news about the opportunity for in person measurements - terrible news about your bicep. Hope the healing goes well.

Too funny! I really do want to stick to the ‘list’, but wanted to do something while waiting for stuff - thanks, Gary.

I’m curious to see what uses you can find for it, too - looks interesting.

Looks right at home in there! You still had DD valve cover decals left over from another build?

Wonderful job on your latest creations, Francis - the closeups always bring the scale back into focus, to remind us just how small these works are!

A really fine model in progress here - your dashboard/interior looks so detailed and, well, so does your engine! Terrific results!