Rockford

Very tidy build, looks spot on for the stance etc... Like the paint too!

You pulled that off really well. All the wiring looks great!

That interior looks brilliant. The gauges look brilliant.

Hey don't apologise, Stefano sounds more sophisticated!

Hey Aerodyne, very well done on the progress. So glad you went with the high impact green! Looking great mate!

Very nice work! I love Astros, masterpiece of design. So ahead of its time, beautiful dash too. That truck would still look good on the road today.

Thanks Hermann. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I'm going to miss it when it's finished. I've caught the modelling bug again!

Thanks Aerodyne. Don't be worrying about talking about fire trucks. In GB we have a national standard for livery etc... but I think in America each district chooses their own colours etc... so if you want to do your truck high impact green then you do so.

Got the interior together. Probably shouldn't have a white steering wheel but they just look so right for me, can't resist them. Not really much left to do now. Got to put the stripes on, just a simple yellow line. I also have an exhaust pipe to meet the bottom of the stack. Then it's just the mirrors and glue the cab on. I'm going to miss it.

you are very knowledgeable about trucks, Oh Aerodyne, I think you give me too much credit but thanks very much for the compliment. How to do the fire truck? I'd look at the web as the pumping equipment is manufactured by a few companies and installed on various manufacturers' chassis. You should be able to get a very good idea of the colouring etc... and then you just need to pick a colour scheme that you like from one of the pictures.

Looking good mate, I saw it on Under Glass first ao I asked you where the rear duals came from but you tell us here. Quick turnaround on this, well done.

That was quick! Love it! Where did you get the trailer wheels from? They look great. I wish I had room for trucks and trailers too, problem is it doesn't stop me buying them! D'oh!

Starting to look close to finished now. Found a piece of flat kit glass covered it in masking tape and scribed the outline of rear window into it. Carefully filed it down until it pressed into place in the rear wall (kept it snap-tite!). My fallback option was to just glue a piece of clear acetate inside but the recess would have been too deep. Made myself a better shift lever for the Fuller box, using scrap from my odds and ends box. Managed to add the trigger for the high and low range. Gave the grille a black wash, put some red on the KW emblem, added the licence plate and 'bingo' plate foiled the marker light recesses in the front bumper and then gave them some clear orange. Added the roof bling and couldn't resist mounting the exhaust stack temporarily. Looks better than I ever thought when I mocked it up. Doesn't look anywhere near as awkward as it did initially.

Nice truck, British plate from 1976. Remember them like yesterday. Yes there were other trucks in Europe other than Scanias at one time. Brings back memories... When I worked for Tate & Lyle sugar refiners they had one of these on demo. Not sure if it had a Fuller gearbox in it because GB didn't really like ZFs. The driver who had it boasted that you didn't split the top gear into "high" until 73mph and it just kept pulling until you ran out of numbers on the clock. That was in the days before speed limiters. The same driver set his trailer on fire through a blown tyre and had to be pulled over and told about it by another driver, that's how much he used his mirrors! His nickname was Roadrunner

Nice KW, K100s have high cheekbones like Faye Dunaway! On engine colour, didn't KW paint all engines white (regardless of manufacturer) to reveal oil leaks?

TarheelRick, you're right , it did come through, but in some lights it's not there, in others it's quite apparent. I thought the primer had done the job but once the topcoat went on there was a tinge perceptible. It's an amazing effect, how it does it I don't know! They say put a coat of silver on it first and my paint mixing days would say use a blue to knock the red out but never mind. Most times it looks fine. Aerodyne, some of the interiors are better than others on these kits, the Mack is a poor one , I don't blame you for not taking too much time on it.

Now that the topcoat has cured it's time to start on the cab. I painted the lower half of the skirts in semi gloss black. Foiled the steps, turn signals, wipers and doorhandles. This is the first time I've foiled the emblems before painting, then rubbed them back afterwards. They've turned out ok. Used a black marker to colour the window rubbers etc... Then the millionth mockup. Nearly there. Just realized, I haven't made a window for the hole I cut in the rear wall. I could just put a piece of acetate across it but I'm going to see if I can find a flat piece of kit glass to file down to size.

Did a little work over the weekend. Turned my attention to the usual very basic interior. The Kenworth classic flat dash is there but precious little else. I decided to cover the whole dash in bare metal foil, painted it with Humbrol flat brown to mimic the plastic wood veneer, then picked out the dials and vents with a black marker. After that I rubbed a flat pencil eraser across it to bring the chrome out on the high spots of the dash like the dial surrounds and the switches etc... looks ok.

Well you wasted no timon this one Aerodyne! Rapid progress indeed and looking good! Well done on the scratch building.

You bet Aerodyne!

F7, the forgotten Volvo, F10 got all the attention! We had F7 six wheelers tanks in Tate & Lyle and they were very civilised. Those days there so many good trucks, DAF, Volvo, Mercs, Scania, ERF, Seddon Atkinson, even Leyland T45 Roadtrains weren't that bad. Now everything is a Scania.

Scary moment! Painted the cab. Was dreading it going pear shaped like the chassis but it turned out fantastic straight out of the can. Just got to wait for it to fully harden up now. While I wait for that to happen I did little work on the chassis. I added air lines and draped them over the pogo stick. Can't find anything to replicate glad hand couplings so for now I've just painted the ends of the hoses silver. I'll keep on the lookout. I also wound some single core, red insulated wire around a drill to form an electrical cable which I left lying across the tread plate.

GeeBee - thanks for the information, I'll feel more comfortable using the Hycote now, and yes, it was £2 cheaper per can. Aerodyne - That shopkeeper likes you a lot! The fire truck is everywhere but that's an early Monogram version so it will be well moulded, the newer versions are a little tired. And the Mack tractor and tanker is a great kit that is going for incredible prices on the web. I've seen the trailer alone going for $120! However, it's not how much they're worth in my view, kits are to be built.

Crusader I usually use Halfords' rattle cans and I've found them to be so easy to use with an almost guaranteed finish. I've had some fantastic results with them and never had a reaction. I often use Tamiya fine surface primer with Halfords topcoat. It was their plastic primer that let me down this time - a disappointing first for me. Because of the lockdown I ended up in a shop that stocks Hycote so I tried their stuff. I think Halfords was shut at the time. F7s and F10s, used to work on them! You might have passed me on your way in from the M57!

? I'll have to TREAD carefully there!