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Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, Biggu said:

Spot in Brian

Thanks, Jeff (was good to see the update on your Payhauler!)

2 hours ago, AmericanMuscleFan said:

Another great update Brian, no matter what part it is, it's all done with a lot of dedication and professionalism, it seems like you make a living doing this. 👌

I'm not sure it would pay well though! 😁

Appreciate the comments, Francis.  No living to be made here!  Even at a modest hourly rate, though, I think the 'cost' of this model is approaching that of a used 2010 plow truck.

Edited by BK9300
  • Like 1
Posted

Thought I was done for the day a couple hours ago, but decided to press on a bit further.  Got the two sets of air valve control handles and another switch attached to the control tower - good way to end a weekend of hit and miss time at the bench!

 

Recalling from the truck pics, the yellow valves controlled the dump boxes -

IMG_3603.jpg.3e09b12a7d77e01d07cbd2d08c49f91e.jpg

 

The other set of air valves were also resin printed, but were too fragile and fell apart during handling.  A pair of straight pins were subbed in!  I think these two valves controlled the dump box tail gate and the other was for the sander diverter

IMG_3605.jpg.7b211641fbc20958817606088fe16434.jpg

 

Going to try to add a few decal strips that would represent labels for the valves - we'll see how that goes in a couple days - take care!

 

  • Like 3
Posted

Brian , along with your incredible scratch building skills, your painting skills are off the clock ! Those dump box air valves and guides are perfectly painted.  They look absolutely like the real ones. Your painting of the finest details is a skill few have. I have no idea how you get all this so perfectly done. Just fabulous !

Posted
4 hours ago, Biggu said:

Brian , along with your incredible scratch building skills, your painting skills are off the clock ! Those dump box air valves and guides are perfectly painted.  They look absolutely like the real ones. Your painting of the finest details is a skill few have. I have no idea how you get all this so perfectly done. Just fabulous !

Thanks for the generous comment, Jeff - truth be told, not much gets glued, or painted without the arms and wrists braced firmly on the bench, so nothing but the tips of the fingers can move (maybe stop breathing, too!) or else there'd be quite a mess!

  • Like 2
Posted
2 hours ago, BK9300 said:

Thanks for the generous comment, Jeff - truth be told, not much gets glued, or painted without the arms and wrists braced firmly on the bench, so nothing but the tips of the fingers can move (maybe stop breathing, too!) or else there'd be quite a mess!

Oh I hear that. Some days I’m as shakey as an old dog pooping razorblades ! 

  • Haha 2
Posted

Carried on today with work on the mast that supports the monitor and sand conveyor speed control.  I needed to make the bracket assembly that sits on top of the mast, that the monitor and controller mount to.  This is another tiny little bit that consumed lots of time, but am glad to have been able to make it work.

 

This monitor mounting plate with adjustable bracket, and swivel mount for the top of the mast, was the goal -

IMG_3610a.JPG.9eea20639f5b6e6e7e6f68c175cb34d6.JPG

 

Started with 0.2 mm aluminum - holes drilled for monitor's electrical connections to pass through and for mounting hardware.  Will need to bend the tab on the left hand side ninety degrees - there is a tab on the right of the cutout that has already been bent -

IMG_3608.jpg.613c7fa9e000b249708a3c199e235bf3.jpg

 

The adjustable bracket and swivel mount were made out of 0.25 mm styrene - the aluminum would be more to scale, but likely wouldn't have stood up to my needing to move the monitor wiring around into its final position -

IMG_3611.jpg.4280c8ba8ded43961f4e84d14aec70e1.jpg

 

Top of the mast drilled to accept the pin on the swivel - all this will be glued into place, but the 1/16" styrene pin into the mast, offers some additional strength to the bracket assembly.  The fasteners will be CA glued, once I have set the final angle for the monitor, and then the bracket assembly will be painted satin black - had thought about leaving the bracket aluminum, for some contrast, but haven't decided yet -

IMG_3612.jpg.782d2a381b6aee5a81005ad998aef3bf.jpg

 

Passenger side view of the bracket assembly (also added some valve control 'labels' to control tower, using some thin strips of Tamiya Yellow sticky film) -

IMG_3613.jpg.d060532c8d5852a7a4c64d1309d1627a.jpg

 

Driver side view -

IMG_3614.jpg.8cb425607375be48c7393f611ca9cb0d.jpg

 

Monitor temporarily mocked up in place - will set driver's seat on floor pan to make final adjustment for monitor angle -

IMG_3615.jpg.6f14bfd38c9583ea22eb353c4f21545e.jpg

 

When I get the bracket assembly painted, I should be able to attach the wiring to the monitor and controller and permanently attach them to the bracket.  I can then add another Wave, spring 'loom' to the mast, feed the wiring into it, glue the mast and control tower to the floor pan, and have the loom terminate in one of the tubes in the floor pan under the control tower.  Another day that was not good for the blood pressure - take care!

 

  • Like 3
Posted
13 hours ago, Gary Chastain said:

Wow…just wow

Thanks, Gary!
 

 

13 hours ago, Biggu said:

Exactly as they are. Your attention to detail is phenomenal ! 

Appreciate that, Jeff - not sure, but I think the reference pic was from a truck built in Vanderhoof.

  • Like 2
Posted (edited)

Past few days were productive, and frustrating, too - a bit of painting done on the floor pan and a few re-do's along the way with the mast and monitors.  Also broke the monitor bracket trying to get it tilted into a better position, and, like on the real truck, the wiring out the back limits the amount of monitor angle adjustment.  The monitor is not in a totally perfect, final position, but it's wired in and 'it is what it is' at this point.

 

The real truck had considerable paint overspray on the under side of the floor pan.  Before gluing the mast to the floor pan, I wanted to try to make mine look like that, too.  A couple pics of the full size truck -

IMG_3626.JPG.1d135de1ec44464bc9039cf099015bee.JPG

 

The center area of the underside of the floor pan appeared to have been masked off before yellow was sprayed, and the rear cab air bag suspension mount was added after the cab was painted -

IMG_3627.JPG.49a78d486eaab19aaf9ef6b32620704f.JPG

 

I think this looks reasonable, and maybe better, once the cab is finally in place -

IMG_3629.jpg.c8f702b90e04fb4322f70061d78a607a.jpg

 

Monitor and sand conveyor speed control CA glued to bracket (I had not broken the bracket at this point!) -

IMG_3631.jpg.3b34591dbe36254a81fb5ead54c63691.jpg

 

Again, being a bit leery of how well CA glue alone would hold the painted surfaces together, I added some trusty, Top Studio bolts through the bracket, into the monitor and controller.  This is where I broke the smaller, bracket tab on the right hand side - I was trying to tilt the monitor up a bit more and it gave way.  I couldn't go with any more tilt, because I still needed to get at the electrical connectors for wiring, so I re-enforced the tab with some CA glue

IMG_3632.jpg.d11ae8e98a1e203c0320bee6ae81f3d4.jpg

 

A bunch of bits ready to go for some wiring - three different size 'looms', some ignition wires and a styrene rod to make a semblance of a data download connector -

IMG_3633.jpg.87a3d5c285b6cca415a609a9c502b2ca.jpg

 

Wiring underway - this is where another do-over occurred - shaky hands, crowded space, and I failed to get a couple of the white/red wires to seat in their holes in the connector before the CA glue set.  So, needed to remove the wire, and re-drill the CA glue out of the connector.  The four lengths of 0.5 mm spring looms in the lower left will be slid over the white/red ignition wires and in turn, these looms will feed into the bigger loom that will be strapped to the mast.  The data download connector was painted aluminum

IMG_3636.jpg.f3d7336130b62dc8739b5d4e80b0616a.jpg

 

So, the 'mechanic' got a bit frustrated here - again, was going to use photo etch zip ties, but they are just too sharp edged and I can't seem to snug them properly.  Some laziness ensued and the big loom was 'duct' taped to the mast!

IMG_3637.jpg.257a70c1c2e777e5b2fda1ea307d0eed.jpg

 

All the small looms and one bigger wire have been fed into the big loom - two of the other, bigger wires were run along the outside of the loom, then down and out the opening below the control tower, as was the big loom. 

IMG_3641.jpg.750d590b27b42bc1320307d51b51b7c0.jpg

The four white and red wires are only representive - must be at least a 20 pin connecter on full size truck.  Enough of the white and red wires remain out of the loom, at the connector, for a bit of contrast to all the dark colours of the looms

IMG_3640.jpg.6501bb36b97d583dbbf3882dc3842e50.jpg

The mast and the control tower are in place temporarily.  I will need to take them off, briefly, to attach the windshield washer fluid reservoir to the underside of the floor pan.  There are also a couple additional air supply lines to run up inside the control tower, from the bottom right corner of the cab, to supply the air valves.  I know some of this will be next to invisible, when the cab is finally in place, but it's all good - I can always go back to the pics to remind myself this stuff is there!  I'm thankful there were minimal do-overs, and glad to have this sub-assembly almost completed!  Take care.

 

Edited by BK9300
Typo
  • Like 4
Posted

All this exquisite detailing MUST be done under a microscope,  this is just mind blowing.  Absolutely dead accurate. 

Posted
On 5/26/2025 at 8:02 AM, Biggu said:

All this exquisite detailing MUST be done under a microscope,  this is just mind blowing.  Absolutely dead accurate. 

Thanks a lot, Jeff - tedious stuff, and none of it would be possible for me without my magnifying lamp and a few sets of reader glasses!

IMG_3645.jpg.8d2eda5b151264701ec93a23d242d438.jpg

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

No real work done today, but lots of time spent thinking about next steps.  While doing that, I did some mockups, to see what I was faced with, going forward with the cab.  Turns out, I've done the model building equivalent of 'painting myself into a corner', regarding the cab.  The Italeri instructions for the cab show it being built around the assembled interior pan.  I have always had the cab taped together as one piece, hoping to eventually be able to slip the finished cab down over the completed interior.  Even allowing for the tight fit at the bottom of the cab, where the aprons narrow, I thought my original plan was still possible.  No such luck - after attempting some of the mockups below, more re-thinking is needed.

 

These next few mockup pics pointed out the problem of my initial plan for the cab -

IMG_3654.jpg.0170e0a6f933be766c48d2888a0fb588.jpg

 

(just checking out the look of the overspray)

IMG_3652.jpg.ca0c535fa714d6e7ffbdbe3054e909f7.jpg

 

A couple views through the windows (no dash in place yet) -

IMG_3648.jpg.02465818d6f92715d68d252969663a18.jpg

 

IMG_3650.jpg.60780452cd48bfeecb3236c760545f03.jpg

 

Dash taped in place and about ready to set the interior back on the truck and do a test fit of lowering the cab over it -

IMG_3660.jpg.15787f89772d6b959df6dac05b8df8e3.jpg

 

IMG_3661.jpg.a49b66acd56fe602a5f3336e2996464d.jpg

 

Here's the problem - I have always been able to tilt the cab slightly to get it to settle down over the bare floor pan.  But, it became clear it was not possible to tilt the cab any possible way, to fit over the floor pan, because of the height and width of the attached dashboard.  I then also had to consider the door card choice - one on the left, below, is from the Alaskan Hauler and the one on the right is from the Constellation.  The left one is more utilitarian, like the real truck, but the top half of the Constellation card is also what the real truck looked like.  Regardless, if either of these door cards were attached to the inside of the cab, the dash would not clear them.  So, two separate clearance problems.

IMG_3657.jpg.e50624720a379f9f53631cf0b1503bde.jpg

 

From way back, the Constellation cab was converted to a day cab with a panel from Auslowe.  I had hoped to glue all the cab pieces together, paint the cab and set it down on interior - that plan simply will not work.

IMG_3658.jpg.8078f1271e3e9446f9fa1776c90de0d3.jpg

 

I'm now resigned to finishing the interior like building a 'ship in a bottle'.  I will paint the cab exterior and day cab panel separately, assemble the glass and interior through the back of the cab and finally add the day cab panel.  The fit of the panel to the cab is reasonably tight, but likely will not look as good as if I were able to paint the cab as a unit.

IMG_3662.jpg.f03e410d56036a639cb536f34f13217a.jpg

 

Still lots to figure out, but at least there is a way forward.  I will just need to make sure to start this next step by gluing the floor pan in the exact same spot as it has been with the day cab panel in place, because the hood and hood hinge fitment have all been determined from the existing floor pan position.   No work done today, but a couple problems worked out!  Take care.

Edited by BK9300
typo
  • Like 2
Posted
On 5/27/2025 at 9:26 PM, Jürgen M. said:

That interior looks incredible! As realistic as the rest of the truck! Fantastic!

Thanks very much, Jürgen!

 

1 hour ago, ShakyCraftsman said:

I trust you will figure it out with your abilities.

Ron G 

Thanks for the kind words, Ron - some days I create more problems than I solve - appreciate it!

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

Took care of a few more little bits yesterday, and this morning, before I get to painting the cab.  The control tower and mast are now permanently attached to floor pan using Scale Hardware bolts.  Also added the cover plate where the manual trans shifter would normally have gone.  Added the four, yellow air valve vent lines from inside the control tower, and out the bottom of floor.  Did some work on a steering wheel, using an O ring and the Western Star like, two spoke wheel center ribbing from CTM’s Peterbilt photo etch package, and got the steering column and steering wheel attached in place.

 

Tower, mast and cover plate bolted in place with Scale Hardware bolts -

IMG_3667.jpg.46f16f3986f7624c83af367924b6694a.jpg

 

Better visual on the cover plate -

IMG_3668.jpg.eedd957a9d8120115c0aec10b649f020.jpg

 

More detail on underside.  I applied a bit of thin CA glue to the nuts to prevent them from backing off -

IMG_3669.jpg.e1c3438a18394f2b7c3f804aea08c393.jpg

 

So, the O ring I'm using for my steering wheel is the same outer diameter as the kit wheel, but I'll admit a bit over size in the rim width - it does remind me of the steering wheels in some of our trucks that the guys had added aftermarket, rubber covers to.  Most of all, I was glad to be able to make the two spoke steering wheel arms from CTM's Peterbilt upgrade kit work.  I made little slits in the inners sides of the O ring and eased the edges of the photo etch into the slits with tweezers.  A little CA glue on the back side of the attachment points seems to be holding stuff in place and then I painted the ends of the photoetch flat black.  The O ring is a bit oversize and the spokes a bit undersize (1/25th), but I am happy with the result -

IMG_3674.jpg.00d3ed1fd6d041ef87855a821f5bf73f.jpg

 

Added a couple wires, that will just tuck up under dash.  I drilled out the steering column, cut the 'horn' bit off the kit wheel, and added a length of a bolt to the horn cap.  I did this because, once the steering wheel is held in place by the CA glued bolt, the steering wheel will still rotate (manually!), to be in keeping with any posing of the front wheels -

IMG_3675.jpg.8bbfddfe6fdd0ae1a3bc26cddf02845e.jpg

 

Steering wheel/column assembled -

IMG_3677.jpg.7d0e13ced667697a9eeb2bb9b60f6e39.jpg

 

IMG_3678.jpg.453315b4d9e31dae0ba037317da52b7d.jpg

 

Steering column CA glued in place and the two seats taped in place for a mockup -

IMG_3682.jpg.38fc4de537078905492349d5c87a63ee.jpg

Overall, I'm glad how the steering wheel turned out - you can see it has been turned a bit to the left, from the previous picture -

IMG_3683.jpg.d0e4656ccd516c7c51cff4814daf9d05.jpg

 

Going to start on the remaining clean up of the cab, tomorrow, before starting to prime and paint the cab, and finish the interior through the back of the cab.  One of the remaining problems is what to do with all the chrome bits that are needed to add to the cab after painting.  Cleaning up sprue attachment points leaves unpainted areas, so I'm thinking of stripping the kit chrome - I just haven't decided on what to re-chrome everything with, that won't get messed up when I handle them.  Thankfully, the problems are getting fewer!  Take care.

Edited by BK9300
typo
  • Like 5
Posted

Hellooooooo Brian. Haven’t been on here for a bit. I see the magic continues. Absolutely fabulous work my friend, your attention to detail is amazing.

Posted
11 hours ago, Steve H said:

Hellooooooo Brian. Haven’t been on here for a bit. I see the magic continues. Absolutely fabulous work my friend, your attention to detail is amazing.

Yes, Sir, still plugging away, but the end is in sight!  Thanks, Steve.

  • Like 1
Posted
9 hours ago, Jürgen M. said:

That is absolutely..... I don't know a word to describe it! 

Fascinating! Amazing! Beautiful! ...

Thanks very much, Jürgen!

  • Like 1
Posted

I don't have enough free time to keep up with your impressive progress Brian!  What is constant is your precision and your talent, I am always amazed by the quality of your work, it is great art! 👌

Posted
On 5/25/2025 at 10:25 PM, BK9300 said:

Past few days were productive, and frustrating, too - a bit of painting done on the floor pan and a few re-do's along the way with the mast and monitors.  Also broke the monitor bracket trying to get it tilted into a better position, and, like on the real truck, the wiring out the back limits the amount of monitor angle adjustment.  The monitor is not in a totally perfect, final position, but it's wired in and 'it is what it is' at this point.

 

The real truck had considerable paint overspray on the under side of the floor pan.  Before gluing the mast to the floor pan, I wanted to try to make mine look like that, too.  A couple pics of the full size truck -

IMG_3626.JPG.1d135de1ec44464bc9039cf099015bee.JPG

 

The center area of the underside of the floor pan appeared to have been masked off before yellow was sprayed, and the rear cab air bag suspension mount was added after the cab was painted -

IMG_3627.JPG.49a78d486eaab19aaf9ef6b32620704f.JPG

 

I think this looks reasonable, and maybe better, once the cab is finally in place -

IMG_3629.jpg.c8f702b90e04fb4322f70061d78a607a.jpg

 

Monitor and sand conveyor speed control CA glued to bracket (I had not broken the bracket at this point!) -

IMG_3631.jpg.3b34591dbe36254a81fb5ead54c63691.jpg

 

Again, being a bit leery of how well CA glue alone would hold the painted surfaces together, I added some trusty, Top Studio bolts through the bracket, into the monitor and controller.  This is where I broke the smaller, bracket tab on the right hand side - I was trying to tilt the monitor up a bit more and it gave way.  I couldn't go with any more tilt, because I still needed to get at the electrical connectors for wiring, so I re-enforced the tab with some CA glue

IMG_3632.jpg.d11ae8e98a1e203c0320bee6ae81f3d4.jpg

 

A bunch of bits ready to go for some wiring - three different size 'looms', some ignition wires and a styrene rod to make a semblance of a data download connector -

IMG_3633.jpg.87a3d5c285b6cca415a609a9c502b2ca.jpg

 

Wiring underway - this is where another do-over occurred - shaky hands, crowded space, and I failed to get a couple of the white/red wires to seat in their holes in the connector before the CA glue set.  So, needed to remove the wire, and re-drill the CA glue out of the connector.  The four lengths of 0.5 mm spring looms in the lower left will be slid over the white/red ignition wires and in turn, these looms will feed into the bigger loom that will be strapped to the mast.  The data download connector was painted aluminum

IMG_3636.jpg.f3d7336130b62dc8739b5d4e80b0616a.jpg

 

So, the 'mechanic' got a bit frustrated here - again, was going to use photo etch zip ties, but they are just too sharp edged and I can't seem to snug them properly.  Some laziness ensued and the big loom was 'duct' taped to the mast!

IMG_3637.jpg.257a70c1c2e777e5b2fda1ea307d0eed.jpg

 

All the small looms and one bigger wire have been fed into the big loom - two of the other, bigger wires were run along the outside of the loom, then down and out the opening below the control tower, as was the big loom. 

IMG_3641.jpg.750d590b27b42bc1320307d51b51b7c0.jpg

The four white and red wires are only representive - must be at least a 20 pin connecter on full size truck.  Enough of the white and red wires remain out of the loom, at the connector, for a bit of contrast to all the dark colours of the looms

IMG_3640.jpg.6501bb36b97d583dbbf3882dc3842e50.jpg

The mast and the control tower are in place temporarily.  I will need to take them off, briefly, to attach the windshield washer fluid reservoir to the underside of the floor pan.  There are also a couple additional air supply lines to run up inside the control tower, from the bottom right corner of the cab, to supply the air valves.  I know some of this will be next to invisible, when the cab is finally in place, but it's all good - I can always go back to the pics to remind myself this stuff is there!  I'm thankful there were minimal do-overs, and glad to have this sub-assembly almost completed!  Take care.

 

that is a work of art there,,,yepper

  • Like 1
Posted
On 6/1/2025 at 8:57 AM, AmericanMuscleFan said:

I don't have enough free time to keep up with your impressive progress Brian!  What is constant is your precision and your talent, I am always amazed by the quality of your work, it is great art! 👌

Thanks very much, Francis - very generous, indeed!

 

23 hours ago, Scott Eriksen said:

that is a work of art there,,,yepper

I appreciate that, Scott!   Also been appreciating that art work of your own - hand painted decals - not sure how you do it so accurately!

  • Like 1
Posted

Going to be off till later this week - have an opportunity to take some pics of a couple potential, 'next' projects.  Definitely back at soon!

  • Like 2

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