BK9300 Posted July 31, 2024 Posted July 31, 2024 (edited) In 1991, I scratch built a snowplow truck, using a 1/25 Kenworth T600 cab and chassis, loosely based on one of the trucks in our fleet. Since then, I’ve often thought about building a second, with greater detail, but never got started. I did find MCM Forum a few years back and have been inspired by all the great modelling presented, to give the new model a go. I started on the frame in 2010, but never got back to it till last year. This model is based on a 2010, Western Star 4900FA, which was one of the new trucks in our fleet at the time. Lots of pics and measurements were taken (I could have used many more!) and I started the build in March of 2023. I’ve never posted any of my progress pics anywhere along the way, but like I said in my Intro, I felt MCM Forum was a great place to do that. I’ll start posting pics from back at the beginning and catch up eventually! I needed two kits for the cab and chassis – Italeri’s WS Constellation for the cab, and Italeri’s WS Alaskan Hauler for the hood (the hood will need to be widened from the cab to the grill, to be similar to the 4900FA). The engine in the real truck was a Detroit 60 Series and I started with a version of that from Auslowe. The truck’s attachments will all be scratch built, with extra detail from all the amazing after market items that weren’t available back in 1991! Using a Hum3D, WS cab and chassis, I made a Sketchup, 3D model of the truck in early 2022, and have used various scale printouts from that to make patterns for the truck attachments. A note to the keen observers out there – I didn’t anticipate building the level of detail I found myself doing, once I got going in 2023. The frame was started back in 2010 and the rear drives/suspension are not specific to Western Star – I choose it for the airbags – it was close to a Neway, but not identical. Along the way, the overall level of detail increased, but I could not bring myself to start the frame over again after all this time, so I just carried on. I am not totally conversant with all parts and pieces I’m making here – I was company’s financial guy (couldn’t repair them but did need to know how much they cost to buy and operate!). I may name some items incorrectly but I learned lots along the way and will do my best to get it right. Your comments are welcomed! Sketchup model of the truck – I only have one pic of my bench from my first attempt to start a new version of the plow truck in 2009 – you can see the 1991 model at the back of work area First thing I chose to do with the new model, was to make the cab’s rear, air bag/shock support and cross member. Re-worked the radiator, increasing the top tank height, adding PE mesh from CTM, the air conditioning receiver/dryer, and the charge air cooler inlets. Added fittings to the power steering racks(?) - there was one on each side of the real truck - and the power steering fluid reservoir and fittings A brief start - lots to follow - want to make sure I've posted properly before continuing. thanks for checking in. Edited July 31, 2024 by BK9300 typos! 3
Gary Chastain Posted August 1, 2024 Posted August 1, 2024 Wow Brian, nice start on your details, gonna be watching your build.
BK9300 Posted August 1, 2024 Author Posted August 1, 2024 8 minutes ago, Gary Chastain said: Wow Brian, nice start on your details, gonna be watching your build. Thanks, Gary - first truck build in over 30 years - lots of new skill needed to be learned on the fly!
BK9300 Posted August 1, 2024 Author Posted August 1, 2024 (edited) I worked on an air conditioning condenser, using the CTM radiator mesh front and back and 0.3 mm nickel wire to simulate tubes; want to build a transmission cooler to mount below the AC condenser – just haven’t figured out what to use for the thin vanes; built a drop center towing crossmember - some of our winter trucks were converted to truck and pup units for summer; started making the frame mounted supports for the rear (rear, RH side) wing plow, using the patterns I printed from my Sketchup model; made a measurement mistake and had to lengthen the rear of the frame because first attempt at the rear mount was rubbing tire – glad I made the change! drop center towing crossmember - took lots of pics of one of our trucks under construction and used the Western Star Body Builder notices as well work on the AC condenser hoping to plumb in the AC brass return line and outlet to receiver/dryer later in the build - transmission cooler to mount below yet as well patterns were trimmed and taped to 0.5 and 1.00 mm styrene sheets and cut out using razor saw - haven't made the leap to 3D printing, so lots of elbow grease sawing out parts! this front mount lowers and raises the front tip of the wing plow - another piece for it to come yet sample view from Sketchup model - this final part swivels on front mount for wing plow and the front of the plow rotates on the bolt shown as the rear of the plow is lifted lots (lots!) of pieces cut out during this build mock up of the towing crossmember and wing plow frame mounts in place - screw up with rear mount - need to lengthen frame to clear tire - the lever assembly with the brass rod going up through the “grooved cylinder” (represents a rubber component) is an anti-kickback mechanism to dampen any impact of the lower front plow blade and uneven road surface rear mount is correctly space now - no blowouts! (these are not the final wheels for this build). mount doesn't look vertical but will when finally set in place need to leave it at that for now - more to come! Edited August 2, 2024 by BK9300 Wrong text with picture 2
gotnitro? Posted August 2, 2024 Posted August 2, 2024 Incredible scratchbuilding! The individual parts already show the potential for serious detailing as the build progress's
BK9300 Posted August 3, 2024 Author Posted August 3, 2024 Hope everyone’s having a good summer, staying cool as you can and clear of the fires! I’m going with fewer pics per post in hopes I can get past the moderator’s approval process for new members. I get the reason for the process so maybe shorter posts will get me there quicker! (as all these pics are from last year, I didn’t do all this work in a couple days – I’m at about a month and a half into the build at this point). Threw in a pic of my workspace around that time - lots of "stuff" in the picture and about 1 1/2 square feet to work in! I forgot to include a picture of one of the wing plow, frame mount patterns laid out before cutting – lots of sanding to get back to clean edges! Carrying on with work on the frame and added front cab supports, replacing the kit’s supports – the host truck had two related supports attached to bottom of cab with a metal tubing component passing through all four supports; worked on the truck’s air tanks and some plumbing; added some power steering lines and added four, hard lines for hydraulic runs to rear of truck – larger line goes through rear cross member for trailer use, two pressure runs that will go through a valve body out to hydraulic lift cylinder for rear of wing plow and a return line back to hydraulic tank. (In some of these pictures you'll see parts related to the underbody plow and I'll get to that in future post!) Workspace. When into it, can spend 5 - 6 hours a day here! Sharp little saw! front cab mounts - also improved poseable steering - kit provided for melting plastic pins to make steering articulate these donor tanks came from an old Kenworth kit - one shortened in keeping with real truck frame mounts for tanks tanks mounted in place - there's an air dryer from CTM that will plumbed in as well, using some fittings from Top Studio and lines from Ted's Modeling; some plumbing started aluminum wheels from Jim Russell at M & R Wheels arrived - much better fit on tires from Moluminum than kit wheels! air lines continued - as the frame was already started, my hands weren't going to get into the places where valves and lines needed to go for the rear brakes - next truck I'll be better prepared. I won't pretend to know where all the lines needed to go - I placed them as close as possible to the pics I took from the real truck power steering lines the line from the air dryer hanging loose along the frame will eventually hook up to engine's compressor; altered the front axles with plastic tubing inside aluminum, with a recessed, Walthers brass 00-90 bolt in to black portion of axle, so wheels would still turn and give me something to glue hubs to (carefully!) four hard line hydraulic runs (earlier pic showed rear cross member painted - I kind of bounced around while building, so you'll likely notice stuff like that!) thanks for looking in! 2
Gary Chastain Posted August 3, 2024 Posted August 3, 2024 Outstanding work, that’s some serious detail work.
BK9300 Posted August 3, 2024 Author Posted August 3, 2024 Thanks, Gary - so far, so good. I'm going to have trouble with the body work I need to do to widen the WS Alaskan Hauler hood. was never very good with putty at this scale!
BK9300 Posted August 3, 2024 Author Posted August 3, 2024 Been doing some priming of parts along the way – nothing like primer to show all the spots that still need work! I started on the wing plow itself – cut the pattern pieces and assembled them over a couple days, to keep the plow frame straight; in between, fabricated the wing plow’s support bracket, on the rear frame mount, for the two lift arms and hydraulic lift cylinder to mount to; added some bolt head detail where the plow mount attaches to the rear cross member – this unit slides over the end of the frame rail, into final position; worked on the lift arms and lift cylinder using aluminum tubing, more brass bolts/nuts and styrene joints; added tops of dress maker’s pins to front of plow blade (for bolt heads) and A&N nuts on washers to the back of the blade wing plow frame - front of plow is on left side - the rectangular box is reinforced box for the plow to bolt to the front, frame mount finished the lift cylinder's support bracket that is part of the rear frame mount bolt head detail on frame mount, which is now attached to rear crossmember - slips onto frame rail where the black and white pieces meet, for final positioning started work on lift cylinders mostly completed lift cylinder arms (two longer ones) and the hydraulic lift cylinder; lift arm with the spring is another anti-kickback dampener - spring was made from brass wire gripped in drill chuck and wound around tubing - whipped myself pretty good, a couple times, before I got a spring that looked okay! test fitting the lift arms and cylinder "skin" of the moldboard is attached; vertical sliding joint on the right is where lift upper lift arm attaches - the anti-kickback lift arm attaches at the bottom joint; the lift cylinder will attach to the upper lift arm making the plow blade bolt holes and bolt heads (from pins) initial mockups of rear wing plow - reinforced area of blade for bolt attachment to front plow mount still some way to go to get the wing articulating right - just about there! Enough for now - will post some more soon! 3
Gary Chastain Posted August 4, 2024 Posted August 4, 2024 Impressive work, you have strong knowledge of the working components of these snow plows.
BK9300 Posted August 4, 2024 Author Posted August 4, 2024 Thanks, Gary. Lots of pics and measurements. I'm guessing about a third of my build time has been spent looking at all the photos, and on the web, figuring out how all the pieces work together. Was also fortunate to have had access, over the years, to the shops where our trucks were built and talked with guys making all the real pieces come together. 2
BK9300 Posted August 5, 2024 Author Posted August 5, 2024 (edited) So far, I’ve been lucky to find some version of the real truck’s equipment online (like Tenco’s Wear Parts book for the wing plow mounts), plus using my own measurements of real truck; for the underbody, no such luck with manuals, so measuring the real one was the only way to go; the curved surface of the model's moldboard was bent along “brake” lines using a steel ruler to simulate the real life machine brake lines; tried to avoid getting whipped again making the plow's lift cylinder (failed!) more patterns and cutting - 30 plus pieces - good thing for extra readers and magnifying desk lamp! pattern for surface of plow moldboard - trying to lay out the machine brake lines angle iron backbone of the moldboard and pivot brackets that plow raises and lowers around intake portion of the "skin" attached these (adjustable) brackets are the frame mounts that the plow's vertical support pins attach to Exhaust half of "skin" formed and attached resin nuts and washers from A & N attaching blade to moldboard support pins on plow and frame brackets for pins - pins is probably not a good term - on real truck these are 2 1/2 inch solid steel lengths of rod this cylinder raises and lowers the plow - end of hydraulic cylinder moves inside spring and slotted support - another anti-kickback dampener lift cylinder attached to its frame mounting bracket on left better view of cylinder frame mounting bracket - cylinder pivots slightly in this bracket as the plow is raised and lowered mockup of underbody plow - intake side - raised and lowered plow "exhaust" or outlet side - raised and lowered (had to add front tires to see if plow height was ok) a lot of hours can pass by doing this hobby - great therapy - more later! Edited August 5, 2024 by BK9300 duplicate pictures at end of post 3
BK9300 Posted August 5, 2024 Author Posted August 5, 2024 29 minutes ago, Scott Eriksen said: That thing is gonna look great! Thanks, Scott - spent a lot of time working on it this past year - good fun! 1
Mopar - D Posted August 5, 2024 Posted August 5, 2024 Awesome build Brian! Your knowledge on this truck and your ability to build it in Scale is perfect. Looking forward to seeing more progress.
gotnitro? Posted August 5, 2024 Posted August 5, 2024 ditto what everyone said about this build..love all the small hardware tying everything together sharing the actual parts really shows your attention to detail
BK9300 Posted August 5, 2024 Author Posted August 5, 2024 Thanks, Jeff - the detail is hard to achieve sometimes - been more than a couple “do-overs” along the way!
BK9300 Posted August 5, 2024 Author Posted August 5, 2024 First off, I did try to edit out the double pics in my post yesterday. Looked like I had succeeded but they still showed up after saving the edit – I’m likely doing something wrong. Another plow attachment underway – the front lift group is incorporated into the truck’s bumper unit; made the main mounting plate and frame braces back to strengthening gussets; lift arm and braces that lift cylinder attaches to; the plow's push frame coupling bracket and a start on the articulating, push arm framework (primer is great for seeing work that still needs to be done – so are pictures – I’ve seen a few things along the way that could use some work…) main body of bumper/lift group, with frame braces and gussets gussets are a little thick - may need to thin them a bit bumper wings, lift arm and braces - hole in front panel is for hydraulic lines to lift cylinder pieces for coupling bracket lift cylinder in mocked up in place push frame for front plow - will pivot on bolt in coupler and free to move up and down as well - adjustable plow shoes temporarily in place will post the rest of the front plow tomorrow - thanks for the comments! 2
BK9300 Posted August 7, 2024 Author Posted August 7, 2024 (edited) For many months last year, I’d been able to spend a lot of time working at my desk/bench (at this point in the WIP I was about three months into it). Still had lots of enthusiasm, so the final plow was underway! Started off with a printout of the front plow from my Sketchup model; worked on cutting out all the reinforcing ribs/arches for the moldboard frame; lined up the main ribs with brass rods, spaced per the template; attached the moldboard skin and worked on the anti-kickback spring units that mount on the push frame, and attach to the plow; made the manual, plow angle adjustment pole; test fit the plow on the bumper/lift group Sketchup printout - wouldn't have been able to make the arches correct without the patterns lining up the main arch pairs, to start the moldboard frame assembly moldboard completed, plow shoe adjustable mounts added to ends of push frame, anti-kickback dampener springs ready to be assembled aluminum tubing pole brace from push frame to center plow arches- the plow lift arm has a hook on it at the moment - need to change that to a U shaped clevis at some point, and add lifting chains between the clevis and the ears on the push frame some small details left to add, but basically finished (and need to trim the ends off the plow shoe mounting plates) will get to the sander body in the next few posts Edited August 8, 2024 by BK9300 missing text 1
Gary Chastain Posted August 7, 2024 Posted August 7, 2024 The detail is mesmerizing, I keep looking and looking. Well done.
Chariots of Fire Posted August 7, 2024 Posted August 7, 2024 Ok, now we're talking model building! But that doesn't just happen. Personal experience in the field, a knowledge of mechanics, a couple of good steady hands and a patient frame of mind are at the heart of it. Fabulous work with authenticity and an attention to detail make this build a special one to watch.
BK9300 Posted August 7, 2024 Author Posted August 7, 2024 59 minutes ago, Gary Chastain said: 1 hour ago, Gary Chastain said: The detail is mesmerizing, I keep looking and looking. Well done. Thanks, Gary - I appreciate you checking in. Your new build looks to be quite the truck!
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