Western Star 4900 FA plow truck

[BK9300]

1 hour ago, AmericanMuscleFan said:

Your air cleaner canister looks fantastic Brian, I remember trying to use an old Braun screen for a front grille but the glue won't stick on it.  In your context, being encased inside the Styrene tubes, the result is perfect once again!  Who is surprised? 😉

I won't discount that I had some luck on my side with this - thanks, Francis!

[BK9300]

Doing what I can to carry on, while waiting to do chrome paint test - might get to do that tomorrow, weather permitting.  Not making big progress anywhere at the moment - efforts at the bench feel quite fragmented - so close and still lots of little stuff to do.  Carried on with the air cleaner, which forced me to think about the intake air tubing and fittings, which landed me on needing to do the charge air cooler lines, to make sure there would be clearance for the tubing to inlet of the intake turbo.  All things I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about, way back when, and now causing me a bit of grief.

The 'tube in tube' solution for the air cleaner worked well for the grating, but the tradeoff is that extra work will be needed to hide the outlines of the tubing on the top and bottom of the cannister.  I masked off the body of the cannister, to concentrate on the ends, and at this point, I have primed, sanded and primed again, hoping the primer would be enough cover the outlines on the ends.  Not happening yet!  Let this coat cure, sand it and then apply some Tamiya white putty to see if that helps -

 

A resin motor, with a modified intake manifold and a modified radiator, means no kit parts will work for the charge air piping.  Started with a parts box exhaust that already had a few curves in it and started making pieces to line things up -

 

The driver's side piping is just sitting in place, after positioning the two pieces and CA gluing them together.  The piping will line up better with the intake, once both ends of the piping are glued in place -

 

Similarly for passenger side piping - pieces resting in place after gluing -

 

Today's fiddling around reminded me again of more things to pay attention to in the next build, as well as the need for a better order of building.  All of the engine components should have been finished long ago.  Even now, I'm not 100% certain the hood will clear the charge air piping on the turbo side - I did a quick test, and there was a bit of a rub, but the piping still needs to be glued in, so, maybe I can adjust that clearance while the glue is drying.  Need to clean up the charge air piping, get the two sections painted and glued in place so I can carry on with the intake piping from the air cleaner.

 

Edited 13 hours ago by BK9300

[Jürgen M.]

I could repeat what I just commented in Gary's C500 thread but I don't want you to think that I'm just copying to save time.

I'm speachless seeing the accuracy and tidyness of your build and it's still hard to believe that this is not a real truck. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Jürgen M.

[Straightliner59]

Brian, you've done an excellent job with overcoming previous obstacles. I've no doubt you'll handle these, as well! I love this project. Carry on with the great work, sir!