Rockford

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!

Been busy today. By shortening the cab I've exposed the gearbox so I had to make it look a bit better. I used a cutting disc and sliced the top off the moulding. I rounded the top of the casing sides and added a lid out of an offcut. I then added a shift housing and the KW UJ shifter and lever. I cut the securing tabs off the back of the cab and fabbed a cab mount frame out of card stock using quartered plastic tube sections for the top curves. I also detached the exhaust mounting frame from the back of the cab, fabbed some mounts and attached it to the frame as in the real thing. The sun visor was a daunting task. I've tried making a K100 visor out of ali sheet in the past and it's been a nightmare. I ended up with a sort of drop visor, not great. This time I wanted a factory looking visor. The only thing was to cut the brow off the AMT K100 cab I had. It was a hard decision but I decided I would never use the piece, it has too many flaws. After a few hours filing and fitting I've got something I'm fairly happy with. I just need to add the ends that attach to the cab sides. I'll use plastic card for that. Rubbed the roof down for the first time and I'm rather pleased with the result. Might primer it, you get a better idea of how it really looks then.

Would that be the aluminium rails? I can picture that, makes sense. They look a little more agricultural than the Pete bumpers of the time. I think the gull-wing bumper came out in the 70s didn't it?

Needs a rattle can restoration then off to the auction.

Excellent stuff!

Nice work. Where on earth can you display it? It must be massive!

Good work being done here. This thing makes my snappers look easy!

That looks like a beautiful moulding. You're suffering the modeller's curse of too many projects at once. I've always tried to limit myself to one at a time, that's why I've got about six on the go at present. I can only try.

I used the gull-wing front bumper from this kit on the W900 I'm doing so I needed a bumper for this kit. A piece of "I" beam filled the bill with one side flattened off. I used the gull-wing to mark out the tow bracket holes and drilled at each corner to open them out. Then I drilled the auxiliary lamp holes starting at 1mm and using every step size up to 4.5mm. it meant drilling about 20 holes but it stops the piece being distorted. I'm really pleased with the result.

Had another chance to work on the K100 today. Trimmed the rear of the chassis, added mudflaps. Remounted my fuel tank brackets and mocked it all up. Even got my cab to tilt, though that causes more problems than it's worth, engine etc... I'll use the Monogram battery box and air filter housing, they're a much better job than the AMT.

Ended up using bits of both the T600 and the Aerodyne cap to make up a roof cap for the cab. I wanted to keep it all red otherwise I'd have used card stock. Then slathered some filler over it and will leave it to set fully for a week. Shortened the chassis by 23mm, would have made it more but I want to use the KW tanks that come with the kit. Fabbed some cab hinges and quickly drilled the chassis and used some wire for a hinge so I may possibly be able to have a tilting cab.