Rockford

Not a lot done today because I needed to use the rare day of good weather to paint my double sleeper Bison. Applied the button VIT decal to the door panels seats and rear wall of the cab. It's quite rudimentary and it will hardly be visible but it adds to the Sundance vibe. Also polished the stacks and added the perforation decals to them, they look good.

Your pieces are looking good! If I were doing that I'd be sat in front of the printer watching every layer land! Looking forward to seeing it come together.

Jürgen Even Revell struggled with the K100 visor, so you're in good company. You might need to simplify the piece because there's so many conflicting angles in it. I only succeeded on my K100 by cutting the front brow off a spare K100 cab!

Had a bit of time last night to apply Hycote chrome effect to various parts. The battery boxes required careful masking and then the complete chassis covered. Also the bottom pan of the air filters, the fuel tanks and steps. It's not chrome, you don't expect it to be, but a sight better than I imagined when I bought it. I've learned from experience that it doesn't like being handled too much but the overall effect is worth it. The straps for the air filters are aluminium duct tape.

I had to go back and look at the first set of pictures to find the cuts in the grille. Isn't it funny that we're all in awe of a perfectly build and you're getting your vest in a knot over one tiny fault, we're all the same though, I do the same with my builds (Aerodyne!). It looked brilliant before but it looks even brillianter ? now! The only thing that would improve it is a nice old aluminium sided van trailer... ?

Interesting breakdown! Your trailer suspension looks perfectly acceptable. Leaf spring suspension is the same principle wherever it lands, just the axles it's bolted to do different things! Looking forward to seeing the trailer develop.

Fantastic! Are all these cars living in Shetland or do they make the trip across from the mainland?

I'd Google the year for Pontiac paint colours, you can actually bring up the colour chips from the original PPG catalogues. It's a factory colour by the looks of it. I do know through trying to guage the colour of the Kenworth from Movin' On that vehicles on film and TV can look drastically different from scene to scene due to lighting etc... You might already be spot on!

Fascinating to watch this come together, can't wait to see the trailer. It must be really satisfying to bring something from the drawing board to the shelf, especially in such a short time. It's a learning process too isn't it? At least that's what I find with my projects, I'm always thinking of ways I'll do something a little better next time. I suppose when you tackle something like this you realise just how much effort the model manufacturers must put in to get their kits to work. Real achievement that though Jürgen, well done.

You're very brave mate.

Tell you what, there is one advantage to being on medication. The blister packs make great little mixing pots for touching in details. Here I needed to make British Racing Green metallic so put two little pools of silver and green next to each other. Once finished put tape over the blisters and seal it in, ready for use later. Finish the tablets first of course, NOT ALL AT ONCE!

Looks great Jürgen. I've never been brave enough to clear coat decals. I don't work well with clear coat at all, always apply too much and get loads of runs.

Started bringing it all together. Started painting the interior, did a little foiling, put the mascara on the windscreen rubbers. Can't say that I'm over the moon with the colour, it does actually look better in reality but it's all I could get, it's going to have to do. On the plus side, the stance and proportions look right so not all bad.

That looks great! I do love that paint scheme and you've pulled it off very well. It's going to look excellent when it all comes together.

Very resourceful!

Just brilliant work. I'm lost for words.

That's a nice looking machine!

Nice Aerodyne. Some nice options added too!

I can't believe I built this kit originally in July 2020, under full lockdown in the UK. So, no shops etc... and I was a new returnee to the hobby, blind in one eye, and stupid, so I built it pretty much box stock. I've wanted to update it for a long time and rectify some Snapper issues. I lost 10mm out of the chassis a while ago but still felt I could lose more after looking at some K100s on the web. I lost another 8mm this time. I moved the battery box forward, equal to the air cleaner so I could relocate the tanks. Added chrome tank straps from Ali duct tape. Fitted a sliding fifth wheel, bobbed the quarter fenders, added vynil tape mudflaps and deepened the wheel dishes on the tandems. Because the weather is still rubbish, I reverted to brush painting the chassis in Humbrol enamel and the results are pretty good. I've done worse spray jobs! To me it looks just right now. It's only a tiny amount longer than the single bunk K100 I recently finished but you get a full tiltin' Hilton to sleep in. I've used this tractor as a mule for so many trailers so this time I pressed my new Trailmobile dry van into service for him. I love trucks!

Great job! I wonder if any of these ever fell flat on their face bobtailing?

Trailer looks great! I've noticed that American trucks rarely have backplates on the brakes. It was an MOT failure for us in GB. They don't really do much other than keep stones of a certain size out and brake dust in. I suppose cooling is a bit better without. They were all specific to manufacturers too, Rubery Owen Rockwell were different to York were different to Fruehauf etc... I WAS NEARLY ALIVE AGAIN THEN!

Yes, they might have some sort of trestle arrangement that they put under the chassis though I can imagine some companies just using a load of blocks! I always worked in operations where trailers were frequently swapped. One day on tippers, next day bulk powder next day flatbed delivering concrete block ...

You're right, it hasn't! The reason I'd go for is the lack of room between the tractor chassis and the hopper doors, but payload and even ground clearance could also have been an issue. I know some have simple legs that can only support the trailer when empty and use pins to fix them in the up or down position. The fuel companies in UK deleted landing gear on trailers at times to maximise payload and the trailers were only broken from the tractor during servicing in the shop.

The green has landed. Had to take the chance because this is the one decent day amidst weeks of heavy rain etc... I tried using gold under the British Racing Green to alter the shade but it didn't make much difference. For a modern paint formulation it actually covers very well, I could have got away with one coat. Green looks darker in the photos than the real thing. Happy with the finish overall. Got to leave it to fully harden, if I can find the patience.

Jürgen, great work! You're building a working truck, and "chrome don't get you home!" The aluminium was originally there to save weight, only over time did its decorative qualities get exploited. Your truck looks like one well specced from the factory with a Salem paint scheme but worked hard, quarry work doesn't lend itself to 'shiny'. Having worked with several truck fleets, I know the emphasis is very much on keeping the wheels turning and bringing money in. Your KW is going to look great though, you can't hide good genes!