BK9300

I've been distracted for much of this month, going over pictures for a couple new projects, and doing lots of idea work in Sketchup. Not being evasive, but the 'vision' for what's going to be next and how to do it hasn't been totally worked out, so nothing to let you know about yet - it will definitely be another 'maintenance' vehicle, though! Fun stuff, thinking about a new project, but I needed to put those distractions to the side and get the rest of the plow truck finished. Did the final repairs to the top of the hood and fenders, and some on the cab, and re-primed them. Now I need get on with the mirrors and air cleaner, figure out where to drill holes for locating pins and then get the hood and cab sprayed with final colour, and start the final assembly of the front end. Have done this a couple times now - light priming, repair the pinholes I see, and light re-prime and sand to see what's left. Like I said before, not my favorite part of building! All seems to be good now - any remaining defects I find after colour is sprayed will need to be sanded out as well. I had grand ambitions to do the mirrors from tubing, fasteners, etc., but I looked closer at the kit mirror parts - they look pretty decent and I may be able to save myself some work. If I can clean them up, drill in some thin brass rod mounting pins, and get them re-chromed ok, all without any breakage, then I think I'll be ahead a bit - A couple motivation pics, for the home stretch! Back in February, @Rockford asked me about issues with the cab being blue plastic and the hood being white plastic. Didn't know about that, so did a test spray on a spare hood - with grey primer, then white primer and finally a Camel Yellow top coat - it turned out well then, and there has been no bleed through since. So, after the locating pins for the mirrors and air cleaner are drilled, will carry on priming hood and cab with Tamiya white primer and then spray the top coat(s). Striping of kit chrome, and re-chroming still to happen, Then, final assembly (lots of little bits) and a few decals to come after that - take care!

First off, sorry Jeff - I missed this - apologies (and thanks!).

You are getting lots done while waiting for your cabs! Nice touch with the scuffs and scratches on the rear door.

Beautiful job on your pickup - very clean build!

Hope your recovery goes by quickly - always look forward to updates on your build.

Will be a very cool build, and what a great inspiration photo!

Looks awesome, Ron - great detail work!

Looks pretty sweet, Francis. Very accomplished result!

Looks fabulous, Scott - and always amazed at your foil work around the glass - perfect!

Coming together nicely, Jürgen. I admit it is different to see you building from an actual kit - since I’ve been on the forum, you’ve built mostly your own creations!

Waiting is a pain, but, from the pics we’ve seen, it will be worth it to finally have your cab(s)!

Just amazing detailing, Charles - how the heck did you make your set of pails?

Congrats, again - you make some of the finest trucks on the forum, in my opinion! Well done (as always!)

Maybe awhile in the making, but great update, Jeff! Was looking at the frame pic and wondered if you ever had any problems with paint drying on your airline plumbing? Some of the rubber like lines I have used took forever to finally dry, after being sprayed, and wrinkled as they dried out. Looking forward to seeing the back end of the distributor come together!

Making good progress, Jerry - the Espresso colour really highlights the snap on sleeper divider

Thanks. Gary - hope your summer is going well!

Very cool project!

Great job on your modifications - nice looking build. Also like the photography in the sunlight - crisp shadows of truck on the ground makes it look all the more realistic.

Weather was good enough today, so warmed up the shed and finally got ready to prime the hood and re-prime the cab. Yesterday, while getting ready to paint today, I was fussing about how I was going to handle the hood, to be able to prime it all over in one sitting. I settled on making a little jig that would attach to the hood, through the holes for the signal lights, and give me something to hang on to while spraying. After snugging up the two little nuts, it was out to the shed. This jig won't work for the top coat, because the inside of the hood will be masked off - The jig is quite sturdy and the hood is very secure - I can turn the hood which ever way I need to, so all of the hood gets primed - First light coat of Tamiya grey primer on the hood - second on the cab - and looks good from this pic. Looks a bit washed out, because desk lamp is right over head - Looking closer, though, I've got some work to do! Front, left of hood has a bunch of little air bubbles in the putty - right side was worked up the same as the left side, so, go figure??!!. There are several other small areas on the hood - sanding scratches and a couple divots in the putty, that need attention (hood looks darker because light angled lower, to see holes). This was a very light coat of primer and I don't know if sanding the hood back will reduce any of the holes, but I'll see. And, with the thin coat, I can still see the borders where puttied areas meet styrene. Again, hoping next two coats of primer will cover that up. Now that everything is no longer white, I like the definition that shows up better, in the hood brace and inner fenders - Even with some work yet to do on the hood and cab surfaces, I'm happy to see them both the same colour - also very happy with how the raised portion of the hood is turning out, too. Going to let things set for the day and start some light sanding and a bit of putty work tomorrow. Also need to get air cleaner and its mounts sorted before too long as well. Overall, hoping for improved results with the next coat of primer. Take care!

Fine work on the tail light panel, Scott - was thinking you wouldn’t let that stay unaltered!

For my scratch building, I log time spent at the bench in a spreadsheet and take lots of pictures to remember procedure(s) for next builds. Nearing the end of a project, with all the components needing to come together in the right order, it definitely helps me to map out the sequence ahead of time with detailed notes.

Thanks very much, Mike - really appreciate it! Definitely not a regular build. The plow lights I made up in Sketchup and @Bren printed them for me. I'm couldn't tell you how to find them, but if you get in touch with him, I think he put some of my plow truck stuff up on his page in Cults. I could also send you the .stl files for the housings and the lenses, if you print your own stuff. Let me know!

Raining today, and too humid for me to trust myself painting anything today. So, instead, had a look at something I was going to do after painting the hood, but which makes a lot more sense to do before any painting. I have been delaying work on the headlights, for no good reason, other than I wasn't really clear about what I wanted to do. Gathered up a few pieces from the two Western Star kits, and set out a plan for the headlights. Going to use the headlights from the Alaskan Hauler kit, as housings, and the headlight surrounds and lenses from the Constellation kit - The modified hood was from the Alaska Hauler, so the 'housings' fit in well - The surrounds from the Constellation kit seem, to my eye, to look like the ones on the 2010 WS - I shaved off the raised ring around the Hauler's headlights - this will give me a great surface area to glue the headlight surrounds to - Kicking around some solutions for wiring, that will feed into the spring looms coming (eventually!) from the firewall - I've also been struggling with all the chrome bits, generally. I've test tried Alclad and Revell, the two I considered would give me the best results. Not been excited about the test results from either, for the chrome on the cab and hood. Based on a few topics I've read elsewhere in the forum, I bit the bullet and ordered Alsa's, Easy Chrome, Hobby Kit - have to wait and see how that tests out. Take care!

Charles, I will definitely try the epoxy, and I do have some Bob Smith epoxy (also, good thing I have a few extra light housing pairs, in case I screw up!) I do intend to do chroming of some type on the inside of the bezel, for sure. Thanks for the suggestion!

Quick update to earlier post - got the little bolt shafts added in under the angle iron - hoping this helps with stability of the light supports - I feel better about it in the meantime!