Rockford

I've had a few heavy weeks so couldn't get to anything until today. Made myself a pogo stick out of ali tube, drilled it and bent up a hose holder from wire. I never intended to use this chassis and for some unknown reason I'd glued the rear suspension together. Now, I had two empty diffs which would be on view to all. It's too far into the job to start cutting the tandems off. What to do? I realised that I still had the unused axles from the AMT W900 and they're exactly the same moulding.Using scrap card and plastic shrapnel I built two cassettes that I could shape to fit the voids. Once set I just dropped them into place on the K100. Look acceptable from most angles and the clutter around the chassis will hide any failings.

It does look a little Alaskan. Remarkable progress! The word you were looking for is "sprue". Nice variation on the General.

You'd never know with the stripes, but that Cummins will leak oil everywhere if you leave it upside down.

Looks interesting Jürgen, look forward to seeing it come together.

No scabs there mate, looks great.

Very clean build!

Looking great! What are you using for the chrome? It looks excellent!

Will and Sonny will be very pleased! Can't wait to see it.

Oh wow! That's just brilliant, what a great looking truck! Great colour scheme too! Love it.

Nice work Jurgen. Beefy looking truck.

The bigger tyres do make a difference, good move sir!

Always like a 352. Good job! Quite a challenge these old AMT kits but the results are worth the effort. Where did you get the decals from?

Lovely vehicle. I think it needs a 53' van trailer. ?

Welcome Jürgen and looking forward to your posts. You've just had teething problems, you'll be fine.

They're beautiful, every single one of them. Would love to hear more about them.

Great scratch building. Would be a great vehicle in real life, best of both worlds. A comfortable place to stay and a 359 to drive.

Excellent stuff, very informative!

Really impressed with this mate! Such clean and tidy work.

Very nice Jurgen. I like the chains and the airlines etc... nice details. Amazed that it survived all those moves, you must have spent some time packing it up. The tank trailer looks good, where did that come from?

Looks great to me! The driveshaft looks right too, it comes out off centre to miss the ring gear in the front diff. My sympathy on breaking your suspension, I'm sure it will be fine. I'm sick of working on something for a good while, then dropping the thing and damaging it. It must be an age thing. Two steps forward, one step back.

Great job on the plumbing. I know what you mean about it being awkward but it's very rewarding, I find. It really enhances a build too.

Snatched some time this afternoon. I'm a very slow worker though. Knocked up an exhaust pipe for the stacks that runs off along the frame. Just used sprue and a candle to make the slow bends. If you are cautious with applying the heat you can get the piece pliable without it becoming too soft. Just a gentle application of pressure until it's the angle you want. The downpipes were quite complex because they use several twists as well as bends but with a bit of patience I knocked them out first time. Also did the amber lights on the front fenders. I've described how I do it before in my 352 build but this time I used clear sprue because that's all I had, and added a little sliver of wire insulation to each pigtail to make a pedestal effect. I'm really pleased with them.

I'm just so glad I went for this one and not the Monogram Snap Tite version because this has the hood and cab dimensions bob-on, though at first it looks much worse than the Monogram. I'd have a an impossible job trying to make the Monogram look right I reckon, and I couldn't bear a W900 that went off half cocked.

Tried the kit glass in the cab today and it really wasn't going to cut the mustard. With adding the weatherstripping to the aperture it makes the glass even more recessed. Also there's no wiper detail. I had a spare Monogram T600 windshield piece, so I separated the panes and filed each one down until they sat in the recesses almost flush. However, they kept dropping out and going wonky so I had a moment of genius! I decided that the driver would have both sunvisors turned down on a sunny day. I made two and glued them in place. Then I glued a piece of scrap against the lower edge to finish the dash and I now had two ledges to push the glass up against. The results are good. Then I dropped one of the panes, stepped on it and broke the bottom of the wiper arm off. Miraculously found the tiny broken piece, picked it up and dropped it again. Can't find it now. I can't repeat my thoughts but I'll look again tomorrow. Kit mufflers and stacks were atrocious so made my own from aluminium tube and plastic tube. Fabbed some brackets from C section and got them glued in place. I can pull the stacks out when they are set firm, will paint the mufflers with the cab and then find some aluminium tube to slide over them. Also drilled the holes for four grab handles off the T600. So small progress, but progress nonetheless.

I know, you think you've thought of everything until you start putting everything together. I made a great job of a stack bracket once and then found it was right where my fuel tank bracket was supposed to go. Had to cut it off again. D'oh!