leafsprings2

Your actually quite right Peter! We tend to generalize a lot on terminology, they are ventilation holes, but we like to take short cuts and call them hand holes because it is quicker. The air valve stems are centered in the ventilation holes and you must put your hand thru the ventilation hole to air up the inner dual.

Great to see another Illini being built, excellent job on this one! Really like this era of trucks without a lot of unnecessary chrome to get the job done, it's all business, the paint scheme, tag axle, intake exhaust system work looks right at home and the period outside rail trailer is a perfect match to this classic.

The front end looks great, never seen such painstaking work done to them, with your attention to fine details are really paying off. Really enjoy your build thread. One little comment on the wheels, I've been doing a Budd steel wheel thread pointing out differences in wheel design types, but, your running aluminum Alcoa type which I haven't covered in the thread. Your rear wheels represent modern solid 1 piece aluminum 22.5" wheels on tubeless tires, however, your front wheels represent the older 2 piece Alcoas, (very common in most AMT kits) which are 20" and have those lock rings for tube type tires. Your 20" front wheels might be fitting a little loose in the larger scale 22.5" tires. You could use the AMT Freightliner 22" lock ring Alcoa's for a better fit or use 22.5" one piece Alcoa's, very nice versions are found in the Ertl IH cabover or conventional kits.

The soft rubber ST Supply "cross bar-super lug" tires are very similar to the soft rubber tires once offered by Double Take, both accept scale 22" AMT Freightliner rims ( wheels used on Movin On KW) and aftermarket 22" resin wheels sold by Moluminum with very minor stretching. The scale AMT 20" rims fit loose in them. Last photo shows the difference between AMT 10.00-20 tires ( far left) and ST Supply 10.00-20 tires( middle and right). IMO, ST Supply offers a perfect set for the first season Movin On KW. I did the second season KW which had highway tread on all positions. Hood, engine and extended frame from AMT kit, cab, sleeper, front bumper, battery box and fuel tanks from Revell kit

The 3 hand hole 17.5" tubeless version was used on '62-'66 1 ton Fords, Dodges and Internationals.

Sounds like a good idea, could be used on several mfg. cabs too. The Fords were "single wheel" F 350 1 tons. A '72 F 350 version was used in one or two episodes. But in this day and age, best chances for this in the aftermarket 3d resin.

Paint job looks great!

F 350 4x4 with special order Napco 4x4 conversion. Bed is 9', wheels are 6 lug.

Great build, like the paint scheme and extra detail work!

Here is a good shot of the steering wheel and column angle.

Very classy looking service truck, like the paint, accessories and chrome steelies!

Good looking no frills, low cost dumper. Nice to see new 3d offerings being built. Cab fit is very nice on the Louisville frame. I think is worthy of at least one air horn!

I believe "Truck Mate" was just a gingerbread company that sold accessories and or chromed items. Thru research, big players in truck rims were FIrestone, Goodyear, Budd and Motor Wheel Corp. Thanks for doing these style wheels, appears they just need some standard front and rear hubs.

Was an ebay resin piece marketed as a Pontiac Super Duty scoop, however, did not come with a front vent.

Finally got a coat of paint and decals after a long break.

It appears that there were several manufactures of the "Diamond hand hole" 2 piece rims. According to my research, the first wheel of this design was introduced in 1962 by Motor Wheel Corp. Then followed by FIrestone, then Goodyear.

By 1973, manufactures were designing new solid Budds specifically for use with radial tires. This wheels handholes look very similar to the older 2 piece Centrue light wheel.

Great subject matter from Strato, great work and progress!

I agree, was a popular pumper back in the day. I built a couple of AITM Big Jobs and found the fenders should be more elongated. As is, the cab would have to be jacked up for tire clearance. Would be nice if the hood was a separate piece also, but, it is what it is, were lucky to get another chance to pick it up even with a few flaws.

Wow, you're really getting the 3d printer down to a science! NIce to see you tackle this rare piece of trucking history. It looks spot on, really like all the 1962 period details incorporated into the build!

A very nice non uni body cab was done by Motor City Resin Casters. As with many resin offerings, buy them while you can, you don't know how long they will be available in the future. I used the cab to build a '62 F 250 a while back.

Very nice job on this Revell KW, really like the Don Mills wheel upgrade! Really wish Revell would have done this one in 1/25 scale back in the day!