BK9300

Your WIP was a pleasure to follow and your results are magnificent. A person might think they were looking at a limited edition Danbury Mint creation, although you have more detail. A very well done build!

I’ll second that - fabulous work. I’m doubt I’ll ever find my way to machine work like yours, Francis, but watching the steps you take with metal gives me inspiration to try similar process with styrene (not machining, but fabricating and assembling!). Learning lots along the way.

Your mock up a couple pics back looks very cool with the cars in place - going to be very impressive with a full load!

Thanks, Dan - was just curious.

I agree - great colour combo!

Had some good success with the hinge mounts today - got them painted and glued in place, with lots of fussing (and a bit of cursing!) and baby sitting them till the solvent glue set up! Not much else to say - really happy that the hinges finally co-operated and set up in the right position - once they were set, I removed the spacer plastic from the bottom of the grille surround, taped the surround to the hood and set the hinge bolts back in the hinge mounts and took some mock up pics. . . Hood and cab are now sitting at what will be their final heights Feels good - now to get on with some cleanup on the hood, the front cab mount made and fixed in place and maybe some work started on interior. Paint is a little ways away just yet - take care!

Made me laugh because I've likely had the least 'hands on' mechanical experience of the people who post here! The hinge detail looks good in pics, but will probably blend into the frame once painted - thanks in any event, Steve! Thanks, Scott! I really tested the eyes making them - pretty much at the edge of capabilities here!

This is an awesome build, Jon - one to be very proud of!

Beautiful craftsmanship, Andy - well done on a very nice build.

This is cool - great progress so far!

Striking amount of detail in your engine compartment, Pierre and just a wonderful job on the interior and steering wheel especially!

You did an awesome job, Scott - from the scratch building to your engine detailing and all parts in between - very cool build!

Was able to finish assembling the hood hinges last night and this morning, with a little cleanup left to do. Now I need to modify existing frame brackets to make a bit of room for the hinge mounts to fit to the frame. Then will get the mounts painted and glued to the frame and get on with the rest of the hood/cab alignment. Everything assembled last night and left to set up over night. 'Bolts' going through hinge mount are just sitting in place - will CA glue them in place once the hinge mounts are glued in position on the frame, and holes drilled in frame for bolts. Getting the grille surround ready for a test positioning on truck The existing frame bracket behind the hinge mount needs to be modified a bit before the hinge mount will snug up tight to the frame - getting closer! Might need to temporarily pin hinge mount to frame, without gluing the mount, to see if the grille surround (and hood) will lay out properly when opened. Lots of plastic 'dust' to clean up, despite my efforts to keep assembled parts clean. @Steve H posted about getting a Dspiae mini vacuum for his bench - have to look into that. Have a good rest of your weekend and thanks, as always, for having a look!

It must be hard to do what you want in a build, having arthritis - all the knowledge is there, so, hoping your build goes ok!

David, been following along - you and Dan are making very complicated trailers! Have you noticed whether or not the trailer frame deflects when loaded with your model cars?

Thanks, Steve - I keep replacing the paper on my work space - if I had kept it all, there would be a scrap book full of my doodling about how I might have to make things. Can’t do without drawing along the way!

Too funny! I could make a neat incision, but that would be all I would know how to do!

That, and having a very steady hand like yours, to do the detail painting - very precise!

Progress is happening! Your decisions along the way may be deviating from your initial plan, but all your attention to detail will pay off in the end!

Tremendous work, in crafting your hood - looks great,

Been stressing a bit about the hinge mounts. I needed to get the finished size to be as close to my Sketchup design as possible, or I would be off center with the hinge bolt that passes through the upper part of the hinge mount. Then it became clear that, if I built the hinge as designed, but mounting it on the hinge bolt first, rather than on the frame, I could locate the hinge mount to the frame much easier than the other way around. So, didn't get much bench time in yesterday, while messing with the design in Sketchup, but ended up feeling better about how to proceed! I added this pic in because I don't do all my 'design' work in Sketchup! (mostly, I do though, because I'm a messy writer) While making sure about the hinge design, I imported just the hood, grille and front plow lift bumper from the truck 3D model, to better see the fitment of everything involved - all the items in the next two pics are exactly the size they are, or will be, on the physical model. While doing this, I could also pivot the hood open, centering on the pin in the hinge bolt, and it became clear that, in spite of all the measuring along the way, the hood might not quite open all the way before contacting the plow lift arm. I can't (won't) move the hood forward slightly, because that affects the hinge bolt, hinge mount placement and then lastly, the fender wheel openings would be off center with the front axle - it's going to stay that way at this point! A final reference pic printed out to keep checking back to as I cut out all the pieces for the hinge mounts Partially assembled, lower hinge mount portions (at right), with upper section pieces waiting to be assembled Upper and lower hinge mounts made, with light filing/sanding done - 'rubber' washers need to go between upper and lower sections and the front of each hinge needs to be drilled for the hinge bolt. I'm going to use 0.5 mm brass pins to connect together the upper sections, rubber washers, and lower hinge sections to strengthen the whole mounts. Will also pin the mounts to the frame after they have been glued in their final position on the frame. Enough for today - progress on hinges feels good at this point but we'll se how it goes come time to attach hinge mounts to frame! Take care.

Excellent detailing on your engine and painting on your front suspension parts. Like the idea you came up with for the aftermarket wheels - good stuff!

Very well planned and executed build - love all the functioning doors/hood - beautiful job!

Well done, Jürgen - another fine addition to your display area!

Beautiful work, Randy - might almost expect the monitor to light up - very fine (tiny as well as excellent) work being done here!