BK9300

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!

You're very kind, Ron - just know that I think you have some serious skills, too - I keep going back to one thread you have, some pages back, of a Jeep, lowbed and stinger. Fabulous scratch building - can see lots of effort made to 'get it right', for sure!

Carried on today with work on the mast that supports the monitor and sand conveyor speed control. I needed to make the bracket assembly that sits on top of the mast, that the monitor and controller mount to. This is another tiny little bit that consumed lots of time, but am glad to have been able to make it work. This monitor mounting plate with adjustable bracket, and swivel mount for the top of the mast, was the goal - Started with 0.2 mm aluminum - holes drilled for monitor's electrical connections to pass through and for mounting hardware. Will need to bend the tab on the left hand side ninety degrees - there is a tab on the right of the cutout that has already been bent - The adjustable bracket and swivel mount were made out of 0.25 mm styrene - the aluminum would be more to scale, but likely wouldn't have stood up to my needing to move the monitor wiring around into its final position - Top of the mast drilled to accept the pin on the swivel - all this will be glued into place, but the 1/16" styrene pin into the mast, offers some additional strength to the bracket assembly. The fasteners will be CA glued, once I have set the final angle for the monitor, and then the bracket assembly will be painted satin black - had thought about leaving the bracket aluminum, for some contrast, but haven't decided yet - Passenger side view of the bracket assembly (also added some valve control 'labels' to control tower, using some thin strips of Tamiya Yellow sticky film) - Driver side view - Monitor temporarily mocked up in place - will set driver's seat on floor pan to make final adjustment for monitor angle - When I get the bracket assembly painted, I should be able to attach the wiring to the monitor and controller and permanently attach them to the bracket. I can then add another Wave, spring 'loom' to the mast, feed the wiring into it, glue the mast and control tower to the floor pan, and have the loom terminate in one of the tubes in the floor pan under the control tower. Another day that was not good for the blood pressure - take care!

It certainly is a tough looking truck, for sure. Nice progress, Ron.

You're ambitious! And the tudor is looking pretty special, too.

Wicked looking truck, Warren - well done!

Wonderful progress - the engine is such a major part of your builds - looking forward to more.

Hinging the hood turned out well, Scott. Paint job is really going to pop on this one!

Thanks for the generous comment, Jeff - truth be told, not much gets glued, or painted without the arms and wrists braced firmly on the bench, so nothing but the tips of the fingers can move (maybe stop breathing, too!) or else there'd be quite a mess!

Looks good, Seth - did you add the cord to your CB or did it come with it?

Nice to see an update on this - looking good, Mike. The fender change suits the truck!

Thought I was done for the day a couple hours ago, but decided to press on a bit further. Got the two sets of air valve control handles and another switch attached to the control tower - good way to end a weekend of hit and miss time at the bench! Recalling from the truck pics, the yellow valves controlled the dump boxes - The other set of air valves were also resin printed, but were too fragile and fell apart during handling. A pair of straight pins were subbed in! I think these two valves controlled the dump box tail gate and the other was for the sander diverter Going to try to add a few decal strips that would represent labels for the valves - we'll see how that goes in a couple days - take care!