dieseldog1970

Lol, yes...that could pose a problem for the people who are used to LHD!! Everything is reversed for the switch to RHD except for the transmission...this stays exactly the same as the LHD, so you are actually shifting TOWARDS yourself...not away!!! I am sure that many of us would tear up a brand new transmission if we had to go through the gears and travel any distance!!! I have driven plow trucks for about four years, and even some of the older ###### I was stuck in had some oddball transmissions that would bite you in the butt at the worst time!!!! Just imagine pulling a hill with all your iron down, full box of sand, and you go for the right gear in the wrong spot....a whole bunch of "Gosh, Golly, Gee, Darn's" come spewing outta your mouth in a hurry!!!!

.....ummm......err........there is nothing that can be said about this build that has not been said 100 times before.....speechless? blown away? If these pics were just floating around cyber space without ANY text or description....I would swear that I was looking at the real thing!!! You call yourself a "redneck", you sir....are the BIG KAHUNA of REDNECKS!!!! Thank you for sharing this freakin' gorgeous build!!!!

As the build rate went up, so did the number of employees, and more than one wanted the overtime in Final. The problem is, that some of these people drove small cars, and moving a Class 8 tractor around does take some skill! Unfortunately, there were more than one mud flap and bumper that suffered an early demise! So the company said "anyone working in final and moving trucks must have a class 3 or 1 license, or have their air brake certification"! I jumped at the chance to get my air brakes, simple deal...you pass...company pays for the course. If you fail, then it was coming off your paycheck! So I got to drive trucks in and out out Final, and this is where I found outhow strange those RHD trucks were! For my fellow modellers down under, pretty easy for you, but for us up here...we are used to worrying about the front right corner...not left!! Now jump in a RHD 6900, and man this could be an interesting yet expensive trip...I eventually got over my jitters (these trucks were in the six figure price range!) and did not have any mishaps in my many weekends working in Final. Moving these trucks through the yard with forklift traffic was at times very stressfull...can you guess how fast an unsecured hood flops forward when you hit the brakes to miss a forklift zipping by? Pretty darn fast, only did that one once...no damage, but there were a few hoods cracked from others not checking the hinges. still more.....

So here I am, working at engine drop, this is where I was introduced to the 6900 model, this truck was mostly used for off-road and severe service. Our biggest purchaser for this model was Freeport Mines in Indonesia, they would order up to 20 trucks at a time, various wheelbases, for use all over the mine. Most of the trucks were built with 3408 Cat's and Allison automatics, there was a problem early on with the transmissions. It seems that one of our trucks had a major accident, the transmission grenaded and bits and pieces ended up coming through the floor, killing the driver!! The company did not want to be held responsible for this in any way, so they decided to install a "scatter shield" over top of the transmission. This was a major pain in the butt to work around, they would schedule the 6900's for early in the morning and last ruck of the day. Overtime for a whole bunch of us, this combo could take up to an hour to install and bolt down. We would have to spread the frame just a bit with a hydraulic ram just to get the big trans under the "scatter shield". The shield was the same thickness as the frame rails and went right over top, lots of cursing and swearing, but with a great group of guys...made the job easier!! We dealt with this until Alison fixed whatever the problem was, and the trucks were eventually built without the shield. We only installed maybe half a dozen Cummins KT motors the whole time I was there, they went down under where the emission laws were not so strict(?). I believe that they finally designated this motor off-road or industrial use only, so we did not see many of them. In the other post, I mentioned that we built 2 trucks for Warren Johnson and his racing operation, my signature went on both of those motors after they were installed. more to come....

Thanks Cargostar! I would have liked to seen that operation, lowering the cabs thru the floor would have been cool to watch! Great way to utilize space, having two floors!

So when I started at the plant, I believe we were doing about 14 trucks per day, cycle time was around 15 minutes per truck. Since we did everything on one line, depending on your job, it could be a nightmare when the cycle time decreased. The guys putting on fuel tanks were not happy when they seen more than one Aussie in the day...two 150 gallon, two 100 gallon and another two 80 or 90 gallon tanks made for a busy install! Each set of tanks had a j-bracket cross over brace mounted underneath, plus each tank had fuel lines tying the system all together. IIRC they also had three straps on each of the bigger tanks, but there was always extra help from lead hands or other workers to get the job done. I went from rad drop to engine drop, doing the install of every motor/trans for about 9 months, had a 4 ton bridge crane overhead, swinging motors over the chassis, two of us would drop it in and bolt it down. Before they added the cool down booth, the chassis's would come out of the bake oven...this thing was heated to around 250 degrees!! Summers were brutal, hot chassis, warm Okanagan weather, temps outside could be in the 30's up to the low 40's (86 to 107 F). Made for long days and more than one burn, the company adjusted the line and added a cool down booth with about 8 overhead fans. This made the job much easier, plus it was a good place to go to escape the summer heat!!! to continue...

The SRT brand is separate from the rest of the company, there was talk of a possible V8 entry level Viper, but that is not going to happen. The Viper will always remain V10 powered...and this baby is cranking out 640 horses!!!! No turbo, no blower...both the top dog Mustang and Camaro put out more horse pressure, but they are both supercharged, Viper does it all on motor!!!. Rumour is that the next possible SRT brand vehicle (besides the Dart SRT4?) is a SRT Barracuda with a supercharged 6.4 HEMI!! 2013 Viper concept was built without CEO's permission or knowledge, unvieled in the styling studio in with all of management present and wearing 32 coats of paint, could have heard a pin drop!! THE SNAKE IS BACK!!!!!

Hey Dustym, no worries about any hijack! I do have a question for you...having never stepped in another truck plant, I heard that most of the other OEM's had multiple lines for each model (Ex. one line for your W900, one for the T600). There was a comment by a Frieghtliner engineer who was on tour at WST, he was very surprised that all of our models were built on the same line. That means in any typical day, you could build 10 LHD highway tractors, 2 twin-steers, 4 RHD Aussies and 1 6900. Each day was different and like any other job, you had good days....and days where you were swearing like a....trucker!!!! LOL But the one thing that will always stand out from working there, is how if you got behind, one of your co-workers would jump in and help. This place was like one big family, you had your squabbles, but building the best...(it sounds like a cheesy commercial), that is what we were most proud about!!!

A couple years after I started, the company finally decided to separate rad drop and cab drop from engine drop area, this relieved alot of pressure on the whole line because management did not like having it down for any length of time. They eventually had it set up where the cab and sleeper (if called for) were bolted together on cab/sleeper line and dropped as a unit onto the chassis. The workers would manually push this unit across the main access lane on a overhead track and slowly lower the combo as a unit down onto the chassis. Made for a great photo op with those big (at the time) 72 inch sleepers and fully dressed cabs, had more than one tour stop and watch that happen. Before I get to carried away, what you have to picture is that everything was done basically on two lines...Line 1- frames were built, add front axle assembly and rear ends, j-brackets and battery boxes, engine and tranny mounts, wiring and piping, mask and paint, drop engine/trans, add fuel tanks and lines. Line 2- rad drop,batteries, cab/sleeper drop, exhaust install, lube station, tire station, start-up (and yes- if you were buying a new Star and came for a tour...you could be the first to fire it!!), hood drop and bumper station. There were many smaller operations that went on as well as the ones listed, but those were the major ones. Everything else was sub-assembled and brought to those two lines, we had at our peak...around 960 employees divided between plant and warehouse, with anywhere from one shift to three depending on area. Yup....more to come!

Western Star did leave all the motors as delivered from Cummins, Cat and Detroit Diesel, all that engine line did was bolt on accessories and wiring. As far as the transmissions...Eaton was usually a semi-gloss black and Fuller was a primer red...hope that helps!

Might as well start at the beginning, when I first walked into the plant, my jaw hit the floor. I had worked in various automotive shops before, but the sheer size of the place was amazing (small compared to the other manufacturers). Motors and trans on dolleys pinned to the line, cabs and sleepers sitting on racks - suspended by large hoists, frames mounted in jigs being bolted togther. Huge paint booths that would have 3-4 painters spraying each frame, racks of parts and air tanks, bins of brackets and nuts n bolts. After my orientation, I was sent to West Line North (I believe I mentioned West Line Center before, brain fart...must be the old age?? LOL), my first job on line was to install the radiator piping to the engine and drop the pre-built rad onto the chassis. This was a bottle neck area with engine drop, rad drop and cab drop separated by 5 stations. If there were any problems at engine drop, it would cause major grief for the rest of us... to be continued

I thought I should move this information since I hijacked the thread started by Rich S (sorry about that!!). I will add info if anyone asks about my time at the factory, and I am sure much has changed since the company was moved to Portland, so I can only tell ya what I know when it was in Kelowna B.C. Started in 1993 in West Line Center, installing radiators once the engine was dropped in the chassis, did 6 years in that area doing various jobs. Rad drop, engine prep, engine drop, rad build, exhaust install and mudflap install. Worked for 3 years in the warehouse doing everything related to that job...receiving, stocking, shipping and bulk transport. I was there when the very last truck rolled off the line (September 2002), Pe Ben Industries (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)bought that one to finish off their fleet. I will post pics when I unpack all my photos that were taken during the last two days of operation. Curt

When I was working on the line at West line center, only thing I seen was frame rails, suspensions and diffs and engines, never seen the finished truck unless I worked in Final on the weekends. That was good for overtime, and not as much pressure to finish before the line moved. Through the years, had various people come for tours, Roger Penske and Paul Tracey were two of the most famous. Built some trucks for some well known people too, I was able to sign both of the trucks we built for Warren Johnson (NHRA Pro Stock driver) of the three total that he purchased. First one was built prior to me working there, newest ones were for him and KJ and their pro stock operation.

That looks BAD....well you know what!!! LOL

I was working in the warehouse around that time (2000)...receiving, stocking and shipping, I would be 100% positive I would have had your engine sitting on the forks of my forklift! Running bulk parts like engines, tranny's and diff's on a daily basis, I could go through TWO thirty pound tanks of propane in an 8 hour shift, the warehouse was a constant beehive of activity. Still recall unloading that John Deere diesel for one of the show trucks, not very often we would see that colour in the staging area!!!

Hey Leo, sorry to hear about you not being an O/O anymore, what year of Star did you own? The truck market has always been an up and down business, WST did not rely on the north american market for sales, we built trucks for all over the world. Everything from mine trucks to those wildly painted trucks going down under!! The one thing that bit Frieghtliner in the butt was their "guaranteed buy back program" The market was booming in the late 90's, and they had a deal where if you did not like it, they would buy it back! The market took a dump, and they were stuck with a whole bunch of used and sales bank trucks!! We got caught with a bunch of overstock too, had trucks all over Kelowna in empty fields, took quite awhile to get rid of them all. I remember taking the first Italeri Western Star (Kit#790) from the warehouse directly to the head office for final approval, I asked if I could have it after...guess somebody needed it more than me!!! LOl I would love to see one of the model company's tool up a Lowmax, that thing looked wicked parked next to a standard 4900!!

Well Leo, if you have owned 3 Stars, then depending on when they were built...I probably had a hand in there somewhere!!! Best job I EVER had, could have not worked for a better company...had plans to retire out of there at 55, would have been 32 years into the pension! Oh well, new adventures around every corner!!

Well.....after reading through this build, I have come away somewhat dissappointed! Building a highly detailed GL, and not even having a functional filler neck?? What is up with that Davin, you go to the extreme of having functioning lights when you open the console, but use a simple piece of plastic for the filler neck?? That is just plain sloppy!!! Hopefully Danno will be able to build the bestest GL ever, and Davin...you will have to forever live in his shadow!!! But seriously....despite all the frivolous you know what that went along the build...Davin, you have done one heck of a job!! My hats off to you for sticking with it and challenging yourself with all the PE and detail work!!! That is the first time I have seen someone use the PE MCG spring set, turned out looking really good!! I can't wait for your next build Davin, hopefully you can show us how to build and install a functional 8.4 touch screen in the Chrysler 300!!! LOL!!

Here is something you don't probably know, J.D. Powers rated WST number one in customer satisfaction 4 years in a row!!! Including 2002 when they were shutting the doors and moving the operation, not bad for a company that only held 2-3 percent of the truck market!!! In fact, when they had the second plant going in Charleston, South Carolina...we had quiet a few of our southern neighbours wanting their trucks built in Canada!! I have a brochure for export trucks packed away, when I get the house selling/shopping done, I can scan the pics and post here. There is a REALLY cool military 4X4 that I would LOVE to build!!!!

Nice job Nick, working with what ya had....good for you!!!!!

Terry Peabody sold everything to Freightliner EXCEPT for the rights to Western Star Australia, when the plant closed, he wanted to keep control over that. Freightliner also bought Detroit Diesel just shortly after purchasing WST, spent some big dollars with the two purchases...PLUS the cost of moving everything south. Found that hard to figure out when they were running in the red, and WST was the only one making money...guess if ya can't beat em..buy em!!!

This build truly leaves me......speechless!!! The attention to detail from the uniforms to the HVAC system, it is hard to look at this and wrap your brain around the fact it IS 1/25!!!!! One day when I get all my stuff unpacked, hopefully my builds will look half as good as this!!! THANK YOU for sharing!!!

Personally, I will leave the numbers matching cars to the collectors who have the bank account to purchase them, these cars are pushed in and out of enclosed trailers at car shows. My hats off to the people who have the time and money to restore them, this is done as a true labour of love!! I will find that low line car, build it the way I want, and PROUDLY claim that it is a clone....BUILT to be driven and enjoyed!!! Scumbags who try to pass of clones as originals, well.....I wish them nuthing but the worst!!!

Got a question for you, back in the day, were the Kenny's shipped to Victoria partial built to be finished out to save on importing costs? Or were they built completely there?

Nice pics, I remember installing one of those that the customer requested the valve cover and intake be chromed!!! Shipped from Detroit Diesel all shined up!! Only one I seen in 6 years on the line!!