BK9300

Simply spectacular!

Nice job, and very interesting load being hauled away.

Very cool, Jeff - the back end of the tank sure shows off the detail added in Jurgen’s design. And, I’m imagining how it will look even better once everything is assembled and you finish it off with your excellent weathering/aging/hard use touches!

You do exquisite work, François - beautifully executed

Getting close for its final cleanup, Anton - so much excellent detail! Well done.

Excellent fabrication, Paul - lots to learn here.

Just found this, Daniel - looks fantastic! Great backdrop for your photo sessions. How the heck did you get the 'corrugated' doors to flatten out so nicely, after running them through the crimper?

No real work done today, but lots of time spent thinking about next steps. While doing that, I did some mockups, to see what I was faced with, going forward with the cab. Turns out, I've done the model building equivalent of 'painting myself into a corner', regarding the cab. The Italeri instructions for the cab show it being built around the assembled interior pan. I have always had the cab taped together as one piece, hoping to eventually be able to slip the finished cab down over the completed interior. Even allowing for the tight fit at the bottom of the cab, where the aprons narrow, I thought my original plan was still possible. No such luck - after attempting some of the mockups below, more re-thinking is needed. These next few mockup pics pointed out the problem of my initial plan for the cab - (just checking out the look of the overspray) A couple views through the windows (no dash in place yet) - Dash taped in place and about ready to set the interior back on the truck and do a test fit of lowering the cab over it - Here's the problem - I have always been able to tilt the cab slightly to get it to settle down over the bare floor pan. But, it became clear it was not possible to tilt the cab any possible way, to fit over the floor pan, because of the height and width of the attached dashboard. I then also had to consider the door card choice - one on the left, below, is from the Alaskan Hauler and the one on the right is from the Constellation. The left one is more utilitarian, like the real truck, but the top half of the Constellation card is also what the real truck looked like. Regardless, if either of these door cards were attached to the inside of the cab, the dash would not clear them. So, two separate clearance problems. From way back, the Constellation cab was converted to a day cab with a panel from Auslowe. I had hoped to glue all the cab pieces together, paint the cab and set it down on interior - that plan simply will not work. I'm now resigned to finishing the interior like building a 'ship in a bottle'. I will paint the cab exterior and day cab panel separately, assemble the glass and interior through the back of the cab and finally add the day cab panel. The fit of the panel to the cab is reasonably tight, but likely will not look as good as if I were able to paint the cab as a unit. Still lots to figure out, but at least there is a way forward. I will just need to make sure to start this next step by gluing the floor pan in the exact same spot as it has been with the day cab panel in place, because the hood and hood hinge fitment have all been determined from the existing floor pan position. No work done today, but a couple problems worked out! Take care.

Thanks a lot, Jeff - tedious stuff, and none of it would be possible for me without my magnifying lamp and a few sets of reader glasses!

Jürgen, you do amazing design work - looks awesome. Now, I'm cheering for you to get a resin printer!

Saw your new post while skimming through the forum this morning - looking forward to seeing your progress!

Beautiful job - really represents the full size truck.

Very well done - lots of little details to pick out!

Good work on your day cab, Seth. I like the photos in the sunlight, and the one through the driver’s window really highlights your changes to the radio - well done.

Past few days were productive, and frustrating, too - a bit of painting done on the floor pan and a few re-do's along the way with the mast and monitors. Also broke the monitor bracket trying to get it tilted into a better position, and, like on the real truck, the wiring out the back limits the amount of monitor angle adjustment. The monitor is not in a totally perfect, final position, but it's wired in and 'it is what it is' at this point. The real truck had considerable paint overspray on the under side of the floor pan. Before gluing the mast to the floor pan, I wanted to try to make mine look like that, too. A couple pics of the full size truck - The center area of the underside of the floor pan appeared to have been masked off before yellow was sprayed, and the rear cab air bag suspension mount was added after the cab was painted - I think this looks reasonable, and maybe better, once the cab is finally in place - Monitor and sand conveyor speed control CA glued to bracket (I had not broken the bracket at this point!) - Again, being a bit leery of how well CA glue alone would hold the painted surfaces together, I added some trusty, Top Studio bolts through the bracket, into the monitor and controller. This is where I broke the smaller, bracket tab on the right hand side - I was trying to tilt the monitor up a bit more and it gave way. I couldn't go with any more tilt, because I still needed to get at the electrical connectors for wiring, so I re-enforced the tab with some CA glue A bunch of bits ready to go for some wiring - three different size 'looms', some ignition wires and a styrene rod to make a semblance of a data download connector - Wiring underway - this is where another do-over occurred - shaky hands, crowded space, and I failed to get a couple of the white/red wires to seat in their holes in the connector before the CA glue set. So, needed to remove the wire, and re-drill the CA glue out of the connector. The four lengths of 0.5 mm spring looms in the lower left will be slid over the white/red ignition wires and in turn, these looms will feed into the bigger loom that will be strapped to the mast. The data download connector was painted aluminum So, the 'mechanic' got a bit frustrated here - again, was going to use photo etch zip ties, but they are just too sharp edged and I can't seem to snug them properly. Some laziness ensued and the big loom was 'duct' taped to the mast! All the small looms and one bigger wire have been fed into the big loom - two of the other, bigger wires were run along the outside of the loom, then down and out the opening below the control tower, as was the big loom. The four white and red wires are only representive - must be at least a 20 pin connecter on full size truck. Enough of the white and red wires remain out of the loom, at the connector, for a bit of contrast to all the dark colours of the looms The mast and the control tower are in place temporarily. I will need to take them off, briefly, to attach the windshield washer fluid reservoir to the underside of the floor pan. There are also a couple additional air supply lines to run up inside the control tower, from the bottom right corner of the cab, to supply the air valves. I know some of this will be next to invisible, when the cab is finally in place, but it's all good - I can always go back to the pics to remind myself this stuff is there! I'm thankful there were minimal do-overs, and glad to have this sub-assembly almost completed! Take care.

This pic is helpful - looks as good from this angle as it does from topside!

Awesome detail painting on your fuel tanks, Pat - looks really good.

Seems to be no end of the add-ons available in 3D printed items, no matter the subject. This will be a good build!

A real little workhorse there, Seth - looks great!

Exceptional work, Tim.

Looks better each post, Scott. If you happen to have your B-61 frame on its side while you're working on it, it would be cool to see a pic how you choose to attach the two stage pump to the frame (just curious, for future reference!)

Fabulous progress, Scott - really like all the air line plumbing and the cab is looking good in red and black!

Good to see another project from you, Jürgen - this cab has some nicely curved surfaces that show up well in your design!

Thanks, Gary! Appreciate that, Jeff - not sure, but I think the reference pic was from a truck built in Vanderhoof.

Superb engineering, Claude - awesome concept!