Bren

Now Brian - to keep this consistent with your build you are going to have to design for Jeff a 1/25 scale 3 ring binder .stl file with operating rings to go in the receptacle in the back. Go on with ya - hop to it!😆

Thanks for letting us know - I agree, very sad. Same here - don’t know him personally but dealt with him buying his extraordinary products. We are a small bunch, us truck modellers , but I think our community is tight, and we care about each other.

Firstly - it’s a blast collaborating on this kind of project. Jeff and Jurgen are fabulous to work with. Speaking for myself it forces all kinds of stretching which I wouldn’t otherwise do - and makes my skills better. I’d never resin-printed anything as big as this tank - and angling it a my usual 40 degrees distorted one end. I printed it dead on 90 degrees - it worked. I had to use Meshmixer - a .stl editing program to revise Jurgen’s files so they would print on a resin printer (Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra) - as FDM (filament) printing that Jurgen is expert at is a different beast. Steep learning curve - I don’t design or edit .stl files myself - so great opportunity to try something new. Now I have a new set of amazing files from Jurgen, I’m in my other workshop, and I’m going to try and get the Anycubic Mono 5 up and going - another chance to screw up magnificently and learn!😄 Really appreciate everyone on this forum and their open generousity. Makes the world a better place IMHO!

When life gives you lemons - make lemonade! I think it looks great Jurgen. Unfortunately water-soluble resin is quite brittle - as you just found out - not as forgiving as styrene. I think you rescued this one elegantly.

Love it ! Totally looks the part, and a nice change from yet another Cummins.

Thanks for the tip Steve. I’ll have to give that a try…..

Great idea Steve - I hadn’t thought of that. For what it’s worth I’ll try decals first - if they don’t work, no Biggu (see what I did there?) 🤣

I just don’t know if the decals would stick, and if I could kill the carrier film shine with dull coat. I thought a stencil and paint might be more doable. But I’m experimenting - so you’ll see the results here….

And the landing pad assemblies are done. So now comes the assembly of the trailer walls and mounting all the sub-assemblies. I'll post some pictures of that when they're done. I'm using @BK9300 mudflap technique with the thin vinyl and 3D printed hangers - I'm still experimenting how best to put logos on the vinyl ?paint/stencil.

Finishing up the trailer sub-frames and the dolly. Just need to plumb and wire them now.

I'm back at the bench this week so I thought I'd post some more pictures of the AMT doubles build. I never liked the simplified representation of the beams across the bottom - for simplicity AMT left the edge off them (see real trailer below) - so I cut a series of .015 x .125 Evergreen strip to correct it. Just finishing the weathering.

At risk of waxing too philosophical Brian, my submission would be that you are highlighting the difference between an artist and a draftsman. I have always contended that what we do when we build models is create “constrained art”. We decide to accentuate certain things, and omit or modify others. How each of us choose to interpret the raw materials of a kit or scratch built replica is what marks us an artist - and why we love looking at someone else’s work. How did they represent this or that - not whether they succeeded in slavishly reducing the size of a 1:1 object. Your entire project is art, in my view- you have interpreted the real object in a very creative way - I LOVE looking at your updates. Yup - the bumper isn’t dead square - gives the subject character and, as Biggu points out, it can distort that way if stressed in the real beast. My Diamond Reo hood wasn’t quite square to the bumper - which drove me crazy, until I noticed a lot of 1:1 Diamond had exactly that happen over time. So - don’t let it drive you crazy - I think if we could perfectionistically eliminate the least little variation in our work it would render it paradoxically very boring! Keep trucking brother!

This is brilliant work Michael. This is exactly where I’m stuck with my Peterbilt 353 project - I tried a modified styrene hood but it didn’t look any good. I’m trying to work up the courage to make one in brass - but I don’t have any metal-working skills. Did you use a buck to shape it? What gauge brass did you use?

Everyone seems to be talking about something different on this thread🫣. Sorry if I caused the confusion. I thought you were looking for wrecker parts in 1/32. However as Jurgen points out - you can print in any scale - these are actually 1/25 as published - and could be printed 100% for 1/25. I was just enquiring if these were the sorts of parts you were looking for. If they are - they are available on Cults. If not - no worries - just ignore. And yes - this is a great build! Nicely done.

I love this build Hessel. Which Italeri kit did you use as a donor?

Hey Scott - sorry I’m not up on my wrecker types. Would either of these function for your needs? Holmes 550 I believe. They could be printed in 1/32.

Hakan, I just have to say your knowledge base is amazing. Every time you post I learn something new. Thank you!

And speaking of trucks that look like motels - did you see Alfa Centauri has a new hi-rise Kenworth out on Cults?

Nicely restored. I, too, love the trailer, and would like more details on the ‘how’. Congrats!

Great to see your 3D skills growing by leaps and bounds Ron. This is a great example of a subject that will never be kitted being made possible through this new technology - and you’ve done a fantastic job of it. Keep inspiring all of us Ron!

I’ll take you at your word when you said advice or suggestions welcome😜. As a guy fond of weathering, my own golden rule is “less is more”. These trucks can cost a better part of a million dollars, so owners don’t like to see them looking like mud-boggers. To say nothing of getting a ticket for pelting motorists with rocks and mud! The Tamiya line of weathering chalks are reasonably cheap and produce subtle effects. You apply them with a make-up foam wedge available at any grocery store, and fix in place with matte clear coat. Dry brushing is another simple technique to bring out the tire lettering and edges - experiment on some spares. I like Tamiya buff on an old brush almost dry. Pin washes with dilute flat black can make panel lines pop and there are specific panel line washes for sale if you don’t want to mix your own. A TINY bit of gloss black carefully applied is great for oil stains around the engine or greased joints. Another technique is to experiment with “streaking” - there are YouTube videos on that - but it involves oil paint like burnt umber, applied very sparingly, thinned with appropriate solvent, and drawn downward across body parts where rain would naturally streak dirt. Or fuel filler necks - but again - less is more. I’ve seen some model fuel tanks looking like the trucker got more on the ground than in the tank! I see you’ve done a nice job on your fuel tanks there and even have the rubber gasket under the strap. Your trailer main beam also looks nicely detailed with some chipping where the air hose supports rub. You might want to try some powder on the air hoses to damp down the dark black. A standard trick which can look great is to mask the windshield wiper pathway and lightly fog a dusty colour with your airbrush. Peel off the mask and you’ve got shiny ‘glass’ where it would realistically be. This may be too late for you as your wiper blades are already in place. Chipping and rust are advanced techniques which need practice - but both can be used to great effect when done right. AK makes an extensive line of rust products - and it goes without saying but I’ll say it anyways - consult 1:1 pictures to see where rust realistically develops - usually high wear points on steel parts. Careful - fibreglass and aluminum don’t rust - I’ve seen attempts to ‘rust’ fibreglass hoods and aluminum fuel tanks and the like. Oops! I hope these little suggestions help Lewis. This is a great build - clean, visually interesting and great colour selection. A tiny bit of weathering would be the finishing touch. Thanks for entertaining my suggestions.

Ron is correct - depends on what material is used. Most typical for small parts is resin - and water soluble resin tends to be brittle but sands well and takes putty or paint. The dust is an irritant so use a mask/gloves. However - they are bringing out new resins all the time - and the most popular now are the more flexible/tough ones - which I have no experience printing. I suspect water-soluble resin will improve rapidly over the next short while. Not to hijack Jeff’s thread here, but if you want to see what 3D printed small parts can do for your model look at some of the aftermarket threads in this forum. I posted a bunch of examples of 3D truck parts there.

You are very welcome Jeff, I had fun printing them. I have spoken to Brian, the wizard of CAD who designed the .stl file and he agreed I should put them up on Cults - the 3D website - so that anyone that wants them can download them. I think that’s the tremendous value of this forum- guys working together to provide something we all want/need for our builds. I’m also going to post his hydraulic pump design and dump-truck tailgate latch - I think lots of us could use those for our builds too!

Gutsy move Jurgen! I get it though- if one of my models isn’t right, it just sits there bugging me to fix it! The larger wheels/tires should really improve the look of your KW. I’ll be watching with interest.

Started on the trailer side panels too.