Rockford

Frighteningly good! You build so cleanly mate, really impressive.

Time waits for no truck. Now that the W900 is finished I turned my attention back to the Bison. I did the procedure for deepening the wheel dishes on the tandems. I'm getting a good little system together on this now. Improves the look no end. Many thanks to Force for encouraging me to do it on the Sundance job. I've wanted to try making some half fenders out of ali sheet for some time now and this truck seems a good candidate. Shaped the fenders around a mop handle. Used some 2.3mm ali tube as brackets because I'd already drilled the chassis for the kit ones. Wired them together and installed a rear support using 1.5mm brass tube. Before assembly I polished the fenders with Solvol Autosol metal polish and the felt wheel on my rotary tool. (Evidence that I can't drill a hole in the right place!) Couldn't resist a mock-up.

Really Pruitty! ?

Thanks for the support and advice lads. I'm going to be naughty and say Håkan, your turn!

Well, I think I'm at the point where any more fiddling around with it will just cause me to damage something and I won't be able to live with myself! It looks good to me. So I'm leaving it here now and posting it in Under Glass. Still can't quite believe that I've done it after 50 years.

Well, I'm calling it done. There are little details I could add and some things I could improve, but I'm not risking ruining it. I've loved this truck since 1974 when I first saw it on the TV in my childhood home in Liverpool GB. The fact that one of my dad's heroes, Merle Haggard, sang the theme tune just made it perfect! I've wanted to have a proper model of it ever since. I've made a few poor efforts many years ago and I've looked at some of the "replicas" you can buy but they all fall short of the mark. So here in 1/32 scale is my Sonny Pruitt's Sundance. Starting with an assembled AMT Snap-Fit kit from eBay and a Monogram Fruehauf dry van I hand built the torsion bar rear suspension, quarter fenders and sleeper roof then did all the mods I made to my other AMT W900. On the trailer, functional landing gear, F2 lightweight suspension and fitted a side door. The AMT kit is terrible but it has good bones. All my boring details are in the WIP. Drew up my own licence plates but couldn't bear to cut the step hole in the front bumper so might use a black square decal in the future. I am thinking of making a W.Chandler truck in the future. "Big wheels rollin' Movin' On"

I found some KW emblems for the mudflaps. They were from the green T600 version from Revell AG. However, the mudflaps I'd made would curl up if I applied them so an alternative was required. I salvaged some clear acetate from a box . It was only 0.25mm thick. I wrapped it in electrical tape with the bracket included at the top. The final width was only 0.5mm so looks nice and thin still. Then I could add the KW decals. Look good. Also added the trailer mudflap lettering and license plates. I printed two "FLEET FLYER" insignia but they just shriveled up when I soaked them. I'll try again on my next print.

It was really like the old wandering cowboy series of the sixties, only instead of horses they got around in a Kenworth.

Good thinking on the rig switch! I suppose a good place to hide a production rig is in a truckstop! Thanks lads.

Long shot here. Does anyone know what this "drom" is in the background of this shot? It appears to have valances that drop over the chassis. Looks like a Marmon too.

Explain this. In one season Sundance went from one plate to many plates, then a different set of many plates. Only the bingo plate and Idaho stayed.

Jürgen, all you need is rear view of the engine so I wouldn't worry too much. What you've done so far seems way too much in terms of detail. The transmission is more visible, probably a Roadranger of some sort. The rear end of the block appears to be about level with the rear wall of the cab so I'd just work to that. Modelling is like art, my old art teacher used to say 'you paint what the eye sees, not what you know to be there'. Sometimes we can destroy ourselves on details that will never be seen.

Jürgen, I've found the page you got those pictures from and that truck actually has a 290 Cummins in it. I can imagine it is a tight fit and I wouldn't want to do an in-frame on one! https://barnfinds.com/1975-international-cabover-conco-transtar-4100/

And I've just realised that I've got my trucks mixed up! Apologies.

Great pictures! Thanks for posting. It doesn't look like an "old" truck, it still looks current, probably because its descendants are still knocking around at work. I can imagine the gold emblem was highly valuable at the time, I know Twinsticks on YouTube had trouble getting one for his Smokey and the Bandit tribute.

Beautiful! Such a shame they didn't stick around like the 352s, the Transtars and the K100s because there's no doubt they were a fantastic piece of kit.

I've only just realised that Movin'On is 50 years old! Which means that the W900s in the series would be 50 years old too! Wow!

Nice clean build

Really well done!

This is now on the verge of completion. The main issue is licence plates. Using a still photo Force sent me I copied the plates on the front of the truck. There's a shot of the trailer too with 3 plates so I made them. I draw them at 100% and print them at 3%. They come out very crisp. Here's my test prints:- Tomorrow I'll use decal paper for a sharper image.

That looks fantastic! The interior is amazing. Great job.

Found it, covered in road dirt but still looks fantastic.

Always thought these were a great looking cabover. They tried to sell them here in GB but the LHD wasn't good. I think the idea was to buy them for work into the EU. That looks beautifully done too. You've done a great job so far. I remember seeing one in book in the 80s with brilliant factory paint scheme on it, looked like the mesas in Monument Valley, I'll see if it can find it.

From what I've been able to find on the interwebs it is indeed conventional cabover which is a bit of a muddle but I suppose it doesn't fall into any one category. Didn't KW have CBE- cab beside engine, but they were genuine one-man cabs. Mack had the offset cab but that was a true conventional. I don't think IH chassis were really any different to any other except I have seen some with a height change just before the front suspension, ( have I got that right?). Sorry to hear about your screen, have you tried turning it off and on again? ? Whatever path you take it will be an interesting project to follow. Looking forward to seeing it take shape.

What an odd looking truck! That's the first time I've ever seen one of them. What does CONCO stand for:- CabOver Not CabOver? The driver got the worst of both worlds with that cab, barrow conventional type cab on top of the engine! Either way, it's an interesting project. I knew you wouldn't be able to last, you're as bad as me when I open boxes to look at what's inside and start gluing things together! ? Looking forward to seeing this take shape. Are you going to make your own chassis? You could use a Transtar chassis couldn't you?