cifenet

Great looking Petes! Even after 50+ years apart, they both are charming in its own way. The beautiful background works very well with the trucks also!

Ok, I decided not to repair the light position on the bumper based on the feedback from this forum. Lens covers were added as well as eight bolts to enhance the detail of the bumper. The yellow lights in the bumper are created using yellow beads and UV clear resin as pictured above. I find this method both fun and effective. Mud guard/battery box were added on each side. I decided to go simple, so they are just attached via glue (no fancy mounting bolts and such). My grille is still not done to my liking here. This time the finish came out too dark. Will rework. My intake pipe is add on top of the engine and this little piece took 4 separate painting sessions (four different colors were used). I thought this piece is important to stand out, so I spent more energy painting it. I am kept losing small parts while working on the truck. Very frustrating while trying to make progress as quickly as I can... I decided to use clear plastic bags for keeping ALL of the small parts and it seems to help. I know most of us use small storage bins, or boxes, etc. I think this is the one of the quickest methods so far. Put something in, and take something out, and I can do it quickly without opening a lid, or opening a box, etc. And I can see clearly what is in my bag shortening the search time. I think the white truck isn't bad here. Maybe I will paint the truck white. I am working on the air canister, but it is also made out of metal pipes... The truck is getting heavier and heavier, I am very worried about the front axle which may break! Should I let it go? I think I will.

Hey Jürgen, Yeah, you are right, I might be overreacting on something that isn't critical. I just went through whole exercise earlier on how everything must line up vertically and horizontally, and yet here I am with crooked parts... Thanks! Thanks for the encouragement, Steve. I sure don't want to sound like I am complaining about small things. Lately though, I have been doing lots of "fix on fix" where rework is getting somewhat tiresome. Thank you, Landon! I am following your W900 with interest and it is turning out to be one mean machine! Appreciated, stay safe and healthy, Gary!

You did fabulous work so far for sure! That Photo-etched gauges will definitely help adding the interior details too.

Good progress, you got something special and unique going here. That tri-axle is looking fantastic~

The cockpit looks super proper and well represented! Definitely worth the effort you are putting in to make it look good.

Found some time over the weekend to make little progress... This is my second attempt of building the grille. This time, I decided to attach everything before painting anything. I added my two vertical aluminum bar supports and also glued the photo-etched grille trim The grille trim actually had the vertical bars as well (three vertical bars), but I cut them off and used my aluminum tubing instead. This took multiple tries to get that trim piece to stay inside of that grille opening. And each try, I kept leaving visible glue residue... Applied a coat of black paint and then I polished the surface and will repeat the process till everything looks smooth. It is important have smooth base when painting metallic paints as top coat and I exclusively use black paint called "Ueno black" from Mr. Color which is considered a premium paint from Mr. Color. I must get the grille and the bumper right so some effort is being spent here to make them look "nice". As I mentioned in the earlier post, I want many mud guards throughout the truck, so I also made several of them using simple thin plastic sheet. Before it is too late, I had to confirm if all of the roof components are attaching correctly and properly. Not too bad, I thought. Also the kit didn't include fender guards for this truck (somewhat odd), I made them earlier using some plastic sheet and metal tubing. They are attached now. Mud guards I made were added on the top of the quarter fender and I used metal foil strips to hold them on top. Unfortunately, I find the foil strips to be distracting (too shiny with irregular reflections) here. I will keep them as is for a couple of days to see if I still like them or not. If not, I will replace the foil with clear glue to attach these top guards. The bumper has been painted and I also repainted the battery box to be more shiner. Found an issue with the bumper already and this type of problem really bothers me... Why didn't I see this before when I had so many chance to rework at it? Correcting will require some force to take the lamp housing out and gluing back. I hope I don't create more problems while doing that...

Jeff, again I appreciate you checking on this and providing helpful information. Right, the detail set is actually very useful and I enjoy using them on this truck. I just feel that I should be going through the pain of masking and painting each gauge and such. 😀 Regarding the deck plate, yes, I will try something with screen/metal mesh as the bottom which may also function as storage. Will need to do some thinking in that direction. Thanks again~

I think it is definitely different kind of fun when restoring something that was already built long time ago. I find the building experience both fun and difficult because sometimes the required parts are either in a bad shape or even missing... From the photo, looks like most of the parts are usable so that is a good thing. Interest to see how it will turn out!

Nice update, love the color and interior finish. Very classic indeed!

That driver came out quite nice, good work. I can actually see his facial expression!

Did you wrap the bumper with foil? Came out quite nice. The exhaust pipe looks super cool, definitely will add the "mean/tough" look to the truck.

Beautiful metallic finish on the truck!

Gorgeous details and great choice to simulate the air line plugs!

Looking smooth and clean!

Fun seeing the surgical work on this and the dash is looking nice right now!

My my... This is one beautiful beast and looks super amazing at this stage. Those aluminum steps sure do look fantastic on the truck too~

The kit gives you TWO catwalk plates (deck plates) to cover the top portion of this frame. If you are attaching the sleeper, then you end up using one deck plate as shown above. With the fifth wheel plate + catwalk on it, you won't see ANY of the details underneath. I personally don't like this setup, I will still try to find some other way to open up the top so "some" detail work can be seen. This is my "quick-but-works" jig for assembling the mirror parts (this is the back side of catwalk plate). 😎 Measured the distance and mounting points on the truck mirror mounts and marked on the jig so I can temporarily assemble to create one unit. Building it was somewhat tricky since the bottom support has slight upward slanted angle. Luckily it fits well, now I just need to create opposite one ... Not skillful to do some brass tubing/soldering work, I relied on aluminum tubes and CA glue... Lastly, my tank straps are attached and now I need to complete the other side (which will make this truck even more heavier)...

Good to hear from you Gary!! 💪

While I was going through some impediment, I also sent my air filter canister to the bleach bath. Starting over... I am going to build a longer/better looking canister with a help of brass/aluminum pipes. I think I can... My A/C unit that sits on the roof isn't perfect. Both sides have very bad indentations. I only got to find this out while laying my first coat of paint. Fix it? Or let it go? Should I repair it? Or don't bother? It just became a road block and I can't decide which way I need to continue. 🤔 I also worked on my dashboard today. I decided not add any interior details, but I cheated and got myself an interior detail kit. I used light curing clear resin to simulate the instrument gauge glasses. And lastly I painted the steering wheel with cream color thinking it will accentuate the interior decor. In addition, my drive shafts are in and they are made out of simple aluminum pipes. I have total three driveshafts connecting the engine all the way to the rear axles. I can only guess how expensive it would be for the repair bill if the truck had to replace all three shafts at the same time... 🙄

This update is going to be about random build topics. I also took some steps backward thinking I could do better. This is the first time the truck is standing on its own wheels now. My fronts were the WEAKEST point, the front wheels wouldn't hold, no CA glue would withstand the weight of the truck. After some struggle, I had to use 2 part epoxy to attach them securely. Since the truck was quite heavy, I had to support the front (jack stand) and position my front wheels with positive camber while epoxy was curing. Once the epoxy fully cured and the jack support removed, the wheels were able to hold the load and naturally became zero camber. Some setback! (as usual) The more I look at the grille, I didn't like how it came out. Mainly the metal finish wasn't as sharp as I wanted. This was bothering me for awhile so I decided to redo.

Hey Rob, Right, the contour looks to be off also. While examining the correctness of the hood piece and the front of the cab, I also saw slight difference in thickness. Nonetheless, I am hoping I can complete the build without allowing the minor inconsistency to ruin the outcome at the end... So I keep checking and adjusting as I build... 😁 Thanks again for your support and info! Those tank straps came out tremendously clean and convincing, Bill! Thanks for the info on your solution. I think having those "black" (edge) liners do make them visibly interesting on these trucks!

This one came out very fantastic and it is definitely special! The diorama setting is also very interesting and well made. I like the small details such as the hanging bucket and plastic wrapped boxes on the back. And the beautiful weather you got going.

Progress so far looks very promising! And the color looks super cool, I can see metallic flakes!

Looking very good! I like how you added the support "L" bracket on sleeper too.