Tom Hall

I like AMT kits...even with their little, or big, quirks...depending on how you look at it. I drove truck for 43 years and I came to the conclusion early on that there were two kinds of large cars made in the world...Kenworth, and all the rest. That explains my infatuation for the AMT KW W900 kit. I always have three or four in my stash. There is one pet peeve I have with this kit and that is how weak the hood hinge/mount is. Inevitably when I was working on the model, and usually when I was about done, I'd be ham-handedly be handling the frame when I'd break the hood hinges...grrrrrr. I did come up with a solution. May not be the only one but it's mine and it works for me. #1 I converted the stock kit hood into a narrow nose model which meant the stock hood hinges as outlined in the kit would not work. I decided to shorten the space between the hood hinges by adding plastic to the front of the frame on the inside of the stock kit ears. After the glue set, I drilled through the stock ear holes, through the now wide ear area thus not only solving the width problem but also strengthening the stock ears. #2 Here is all you need to do this. The stock hinge pieces, a piece of rod which started life as kit sprue, two .020 pieces of flat stock. I'll explain in another photo. #3 install the hinges into the newly strengthened frame ears. Do not cement. Now cut that piece of sprue/rod to fit tightly between the hinges thus ensuring the hinges stay in the frame. Make sure they are parallel. You can see I used one of the myriad pieces of wood/plastic or rubber blocks that I use in my builds. #4 Now you see how I use the flat .020 stock. Gluing them on the front and backside of the hinges strengthens them and gives you a wider gluing area to attach the backside of the grille to the hinge. You do scrape the chrome before gluing...right? #5 As you can see this 'fix' is fully functional. Best part is that the only thing visible on the finished project is that piece of sprue showing between the hinges. In some photos of the real thing show similar 'bar'. Either way if your frame is black if it shows it will belnd in anyway. 6. Pardon the blurry shot but as you can see my narrow nose grille will fit perfectly on my new, harder to break, hood hinges.

Nicely done...good details.

The resin casting is too heavy to separate the hood from the cab. However, I did put a 6V71 in the chassis so when viewed from beneath the model does have an engine. Research said the V-6 Detroit was available right alongside that V-12 gasoline motor that was quite popular in the B7000.

While rummaging through eBay I came across a resin cab/hood for a GMC B7000 which was the GMC General of the late 50's/early 60's. I was looking for an older model semi-truck I could convert into a semi-wrecker...a large car wrecker as it were. Perfect! I ordered one, a bit pricey but it's only money. It arrived and I started building almost immediately. Aside from the scratch-built wrecker unit and the resin cab the entire model was built using spare parts from my spare parts totes, I have four of them. It took the better part of the winter of 2022-2023 from start to finish.

It's plastic...make it fit. I don't mean that to sound like I'm a smart a**. I scratch build a lot and have learned that any problem can be solved if you sit and think about it. Also having a Dremel helps...lol. All a trailer king pin does is slide into a fifth wheel. They are also not as big and beefy as you might think but have a great deal of 'shear strength'. Cut the kit 'kingpin' off and glue another one in its place. My motto is "it's just plastic...make it work".

In 1959, my younger brother came home from the hospital with all the stuff our parents bought him to keep him occupied while there. I was 10 years old. One of those things was an AMT 1/25 model of the 1959 Corvette. That single event led to my interest, enthusiasm, passion (pick one) for model cars. I am 76 years young now. Do the math...67 years of breathing all kinds of odors associated with playing with model cars and trucks. My wife says that's the reason I'm as weird as I am. I think I'm okay, so I don't know what's wrong with her. Or our friends....??? Anyway...I've built kits from almost every manufacturer, and I confess to being partial to AMT despite the problems they sometimes present. My motto is "it's plastic, I can fix it". I actually have a 10 by 12 yard shed out behind my garage dedicated to all the kits I've built over 6 1/2 decades, along with just as many that I bought and haven't' gotten to yet. I once told the wife, upon hearing her complain about all those kits..."Well, I don't smoke or drink. Allow me this one vice". That was about 1985 or so. Couple of weeks ago I got a kit I bought off Evil Bay for way too much money. She looked me square in the eye and said "it's time you started drinking and smoking!" When semi-truck model kits came to be, I bought one for fun and that lit a second fire in me. I am now an avid truck builder of the 'large car' variety. Since 1972 my work involves big rigs, with an occasional model car thrown in for good measure. Because of the huge variety of subjects in the world of commercial vehicles I became a fairly competent scratch builder because, like '1957 Chevys, you can only build so many Peterbilt semis, if you get my meaning. For the last three years I have been building a fleet of semi-truck wreckers for an imaginary towing/recovery company. Back of cab forward...right from the kit. From the cab back...100% scratch built or modified kit part. So anyway...here I am...glad to be here...and looking forward to learn how to do something I don't know how to do yet.