Western Star 4900 FA plow truck

[BK9300]

20 hours ago, redneckrigger said:

The details are amazing.  You have a real knack for it.  I think the window rubbers came out great.  On my crane, I’m going to have to make the actual rubbers and make them overlap the window opening. I then paint them black and assemble to the cab with the glass going in behind it.  Kind of a pita but it works.  I like your work better!   Looking at your build, if photographed with a realistic background it would be about  impossible to tell if it were real or a scale model.  Cant ask for much more than that!!

Thanks, Tom - generous of you as always!  Don't know what to use for a background when the time comes - have an idea, but would be a project in itself.

[BK9300]

Not big progress today, just carrying on!  Was raining today, too humid to spray the chrome test, so an opportunity to try something a bit different, from the 'list'.  (before doing that, I did brush a coat of grey enamel on the interior of the cab and day cab panel)  What I worked on today was a possible solution for the small flags that are mounted on each end of the front plow.

The front plow flags I saw were made of plastic and were a bit stiff.  I settled on using a piece of semi-transparent plastic film from a water bottle label.  I tried to CA glue it to the brass support rod, but didn't take.  Fortunately, the plastic did stick using a bit of epoxy -

 

Once the epoxy set up, I used an old hair dryer on High setting and a bit of 'flag' shape was achieved -

 

I have some experimenting to do, and think I can improve this initial flag, but the idea looks like it could work - 

 

With lots of rain for next few days, I might be a bit stalled, because I need to chrome the cab door handles before assembling the cab.  Apparently, the Easy Chrome can be brush applied, too, so I'll have a go at part of the parts tree this afternoon and see how that goes!

 

Edited Friday at 10:29 PM by BK9300

[Jürgen M.]

That flag looks cool. Great idea!

Is a chrome pen an option on the door handles? I like using them for these small parts!

Edited Saturday at 04:53 AM by Jürgen M.

[Straightliner59]

Brian, I love the cab interior. Looks just like an office! Different equipment than any of mine have had, but, it looks as it should. Excellent work, sir!

[Wolf]

Brian,

I’ve had a chance to read through your entire build thread. What a magnificent build and show of scratch building skills. Most impressive indeed Sir!

Cheers,   
Wolf

[Gary Chastain]

Every part gets the Brian touch, well done professor, that interior is a work of art. 

[Biggu]

You guys have NO idea how accurate this whole build is. I drove these trucks and Brian has NOT missed one detail. This is as exact as a scale model can get. It is nearly 100% correct. It is more astounding than what meets the eye. A true world class build. Museum quality. 

[BK9300]

14 hours ago, Jürgen M. said:

That flag looks cool. Great idea!

Is a chrome pen an option on the door handles? I like using them for these small parts!

Thanks, Jürgen!  Couldn't think of anything else that I could make work for the flag.  You and Jeff have both suggested the chrome pens.  Although I don't have any I like at the moment, I think I need to look at them for the future - for now, I going to just press on with the paint I have already and get this thing done!

 

13 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

Brian, I love the cab interior. Looks just like an office! Different equipment than any of mine have had, but, it looks as it should. Excellent work, sir!

Good to hear from you, Daniel, and thanks.   Most of it will be out of sight, unless a person looks at the build book I want to make, but everyone here will know about the details!

 

10 hours ago, Wolf said:

Brian,

I’ve had a chance to read through your entire build thread. What a magnificent build and show of scratch building skills. Most impressive indeed Sir!

Cheers,   
Wolf

I appreciate you checking this out, Wolf - thanks for the kind words!  Based on what we've seen so far on your International, and Jeff's testimonial, really looking forward to seeing where you take it.

 

6 hours ago, Gary Chastain said:

Every part gets the Brian touch, well done professor, that interior is a work of art. 

Thanks, Gary - I need to stop 'touching' and get this project finished!

 

4 hours ago, Biggu said:

You guys have NO idea how accurate this whole build is. I drove these trucks and Brian has NOT missed one detail. This is as exact as a scale model can get. It is nearly 100% correct. It is more astounding than what meets the eye. A true world class build. Museum quality. 

Much appreciated, Jeff!  Doing what I can for the details, and, thanks to that experience of yours, I've been able to add in a few things along the way, that I hadn't considered.  Thanks, again!

[Straightliner59]

10 minutes ago, BK9300 said:

everyone here will know about the details!

 

Most importantly, you will!

[BK9300]

Everything can't be a milestone, but it felt like it today - got the headliner and interior 'tub'/floor pan glued inside the cab!  Also spent a good bit of time making the brass fittings (basically just brass tube bits) that pass through the cab for the air lines from the control tower to the air over hydraulic valve manifold that sits beside the hydraulic tank.

 

I used epoxy to set the headliner in place and the epoxied the front wall of the interior tub to the back of the firewall - a flange on the dog house enclosure has always been the main locator for the interior to the firewall.  I didn't epoxy the back edge yet to the cab edges - that will be done when the day cab panel finally goes in.  Used more of the RC heat shield tape for lining of the dog house-

 

 

For some 'fittings', I cut short, brass sections from .7mm tube, all the same length, and epoxied them from the back side, locating them flush with the inside pass through plate, so each tube section was the same length on the outside -

 

From back on page 24, this is a sample of the air lines that need to be fabricated and attached to the valve manifold -

 

The Auslowe day cab panel didn't come with glass - I found a decent section of some thin, plastic packaging, cut a templated piece out and epoxied the rear window in place -

 

I want to get going on the firewall attachments next - the hood supports, coolant overflow tank, fuse box, etc,.  I will still need to do just a bit more work on the engine, before I can glue the cab to the cab supports.  Still haven't been able to do the chrome test yet either, so that's on a wait list.  Once the firewall attachments are on, and the chrome done, the cab and sander can be glued in place.  Then, I will need to work with the truck on it's side (hoping not to break anything else!), to be able to run the various looms/air lines under the cab and hide their termination along either side of the frame.  Some of the lines from the sander will need to be routed under the cab and up into one of the pass through tubes in the floor pan.  So close - yet lots of little stuff to do!

[Gary Chastain]

Ok, so once you get the fuse box on, how are you going to wire under the dash? Won’t that be a bit of a challenge?

 

Sorry, just had to throw that out there.😆🤣🤩, really like the insulation on the firewall, THAT is a great touch. Got to get some ordered. 

[BK9300]

3 hours ago, Gary Chastain said:

really like the insulation on the firewall, THAT is a great touch. Got to get some ordered. 

If I can save you a bit of temporary grief, if you get some of this tape, I suggest that any piece you use for the firewall insulation be cut to shape before you try and attach it.  I first tried to use a piece that was slightly wider than the opening, hoping to trim it after with an X-acto blade by running the blade flat, along the outline of the opening.  What I ended up with was a couple big wrinkles and a very messy cut edge.  The tape has a cross hatched pattern to it that is made with tiny strands of poly? threads, and while the tape cuts nicely on a flat surface with a blade, trying to cut it like I first did left a bunch of the thread ends exposed.  So, removed the tape, made a paper template and laid it in more carefully.

 

sample of me trying to trim an over size piece of tape, against an edge of styrene - foil tape gets cut by blade, but not the threads -

 

 

A couple of tries at a template for the tape ended up with this, and laying the tape in went much easier -

it

[BK9300]

Burning the midnight (1:00am?) oil tonight.  Got started this afternoon working on the cab, hoping to have door cards, seats and day cab panel on by dinner time.  I did manage that, and got a start on the firewall bits, too.  Adding in some down time for dinner, by the time various hoses were made, paint drilled out of mounting holes on firewall, gluing a few things in place, and running one of the wiring runs, it was midnight!

Door cards and driver’s seat in place - again with the repetitive pics, but I wanted one showing the door card glued in -

 

Ran the two supply lines for the air valves in the control tower, up from under cab - 

 

 

This turned out to mostly be a test to see if the CA glue would hold the plastic ‘air lines’ in place, as these won’t be visible at all when closed up - I’m using Gopher ignition wire for the lines -

 

Day cab panel glued in place, finally! -

 

Didn’t get away Scott free with this process - I test fit the panel half a dozen times and it always looked good, but once glue was in play, didn’t seem to fit as tight.  Don’t know if the unpainted portion of the edge can be covered up ok without a big mess.  And, while holding the cab in two hands, to put some pressure on panel, I cracked the opening around the air intake plenum - 

Lots of time for this bit of progress, but got the coolant overflow tank, the fuse box, and my version of the harness from the fuse box down to the Power Distribution Box glued in place.  When cab is mounted on frame there is a red cable from the starter to attach to this box as well -

 

Tomorrow, I want to work on installing the group of three control modules on the driver’s side of the firewall, the AC/heater manifold, the hood support brackets, and the ECM.  Need to make a few more clamps to hold some of those harnesses in place.  It all had a place on the test firewall, back when, so hope everything plays nice tomorrow, and I don’t break anything else!

[Straightliner59]

Utterly fantastic work, Brian. Your choices of materials are excellent. All looks like it should. Even if it's not completely prototypical to the truck, the insulation could easily be a thermal blanket, applied later on.

[Gary Chastain]

My highest respect for your skills, well done

[BK9300]

5 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

Utterly fantastic work, Brian. Your choices of materials are excellent. All looks like it should. Even if it's not completely prototypical to the truck, the insulation could easily be a thermal blanket, applied later on.

Thanks, Daniel - I appreciate the generous comments!  About the insulation, I don't know what's in place for other makes of trucks, but our Western Stars from the 2000's all seemed to have them; this is a pic of inspiration truck's firewall (was new at time of pic, in 2010) -  

 

[BK9300]

3 hours ago, Gary Chastain said:

My highest respect for your skills, well done

Very kind words, indeed - much appreciated, Gary.

[Scott Eriksen]

This build should go in an issue of the magazine ,IMHO

[Biggu]

42 minutes ago, Scott Eriksen said:

This build should go in an issue of the magazine ,IMHO

It ABSOLUTELY should ! I hope someone from the magazine is watching this build. 

[BK9300]

3 hours ago, Scott Eriksen said:

This build should go in an issue of the magazine ,IMHO

 

2 hours ago, Biggu said:

It ABSOLUTELY should ! I hope someone from the magazine is watching this build. 

Thanks, Scott and Jeff - I'm thinking it's all in the name - 'Model Car Magazine' - might not be any room for big rigs, yet!

[BK9300]

Worked most of the day today, on firewall items - making a few more loom clamps, the AC/heater manifold, and attaching the rest of the harnesses I had previously made.  Don't know about you, but getting to the end of an intense day like this leaves me wondering where all the time went, so quickly.  Little details sure take a long time!

 

Made up the AC/heater manifold and wired it back to 'somewhere'!  Four more fittings need to be made to hook up the AC lines to/from the receiver/dryer, and the two heater lines.  Looking at the fittings on the overflow tank, I know they are not correct, but I didn't have it in me to wait for another order of parts to arrive before carrying on -

 

Most of this was seen mounted on the temporary firewall, back in March (?), but it looks a little neater laid out on top of the painted firewall -

 

An upright view - all the loose ends look a bit chaotic, but I do have destinations for all of them! -

 

A final check at the end of the day - the hood is being held in place, tight to the cab and the hood support brackets on the firewall still line up with the supports on the hood - pretty happy with that! -

 

Still some work to do on the firewall - some pass through air lines, just below the ECM and more air lines that exit the cab on the driver's side slope of the floor pan.  Then need to think about getting all this on the truck!