BK9300

Thanks Dan. I likely have a lot to learn about posting properly but I'll get there

My first recollection of building models dates back to seventh grade (I’m 71, so going back a bit). The kits I chose initially were 1/72 scale airplanes – no particular reason, just fun to build and paint. I remember some MPC model cars along the way as well, and in my late teens found my way to 1/25 scale big rigs. Many unbuilt kits have found their way into my storage over the years, but, as is a familiar storyline in this forum, I lost interest along the way and didn’t make another model until 1991. Later in life, I was a partner in a group of companies that did highway and bridge maintenance for our provincial government and our equipment fleet had loaders, graders, sweepers, dump trucks and of course, plow trucks for the winter road conditions. Starting with a 1/25 Kenworth T600, I built a mostly scratchbuilt version of one of our plow trucks (it turned out ok and I had it in my office until I retired in 2015). In 2010, I had taken a bunch of pictures of one of our, at the time, new trucks and thought I might make a better detailed version of a plow truck. I did start working on the new model’s frame, but much time passed without any progress. In December 2021, I joined MCM forum with the hope of restarting the build, but it wasn’t until January 2023 that I started gathering parts and pieces to work on the plow truck. My wife and I had some renovations done in our house a couple years ago, and I had used Sketchup to 3D model what the changes might look like. I thought I could use Sketchup to model some of the attachments for the plow truck so I could print out projection views of the parts and cut them out of styrene plastic – haven’t found my way to resin printing yet. Instead, I bought a digital Western Star 4900FA, cab and chassis from Hum3D and ended up modeling the whole plow truck in Sketchup. With the help of the Sketchup attachment printouts, I started work on the real model in March 2023. I have always been struck, not only by the variety of skilled modeling displayed in this forum, but by the camaraderie of the modelers presenting. I don’t have social media accounts and have never shared any of my work online, but your forum seems like a welcoming place to do so. I’ve taken a lot of pics of my progress on this model truck over the past year and a half (some time off in between) and will start a WIP topic soon. In the meantime, I’ve added a few views of the Sketchup model truck that I’m using as my guide for the model.