Western Star 4900 FA plow truck

[Rockford]

The utter brilliance continues!

[BK9300]

19 hours ago, Rockford said:

The utter brilliance continues!

Thanks, Steve - much appreciated!

[Scott Eriksen]

On 8/23/2025 at 10:26 PM, BK9300 said:

Spent a frustrating afternoon trying to figure out how to line up the warning stripe decals on the back of the sander - go figure.  Seems like a small problem, but the closer I get to the end of this build, the more problems I find/create to slow myself down!  Didn't get the decals on, but thought I'd share some of my frustrations and my plan for tomorrow.

 

The stripes on the real truck meet at a 90 degree angle, so I started by trimming the ends of two decal test strips at 45 degree angles.  Haven't decaled anything in over 30 years, and even using Micro Set, found it difficult to move the stripes into position on a test piece of painted styrene, so they met neatly along the 45'd edges - also discovered that the decals won't take much abuse before coming apart! (the black pieces at the bottom were test patches for the non-slip strips on the sander fender)

 

After thinking about the difficulty of getting the 45'd ends to come together, I went back to pics of the real sander.  Again, the mechanics/body shop guys are much smarter than me - I made two 45 cuts for the stripes to come together while they made 'butt' connections using only one cut.  Much simpler!  Also, the join on the real truck is still not perfect - thin line of paint shows at the joint.  Might still have some difficulty moving decals around, but won't need to fuss as much as with the 45's -

 

So, after wasting a couple decal stripes (I had ordered extra just in case), I drew out a layout using the butt joint method and should be able to work out from a Tamiya tape center line and have it work out - hopefully!

 

Tomorrow will tell if this plan works out!

 

Brian,,I use a lot of stuff from Microscale for stripes,,etc Microscale Decals: Stripes

[BK9300]

4 hours ago, Scott Eriksen said:

Brian,,I use a lot of stuff from Microscale for stripes,,etc Microscale Decals: Stripes

I've got the site bookmarked and will check it out - thanks, Scott!

[BK9300]

Lots of prep work this morning, for a bunch of small items that I got painted this afternoon -

 

Got the first colour coat on the truck's visor - 

 

All the work light housings for the sander, and a few others around the plows, have been painted - all the brass pins will be trimmed shorter, come time to glue them in place.  The mounting brackets still need to be detail painted aluminum - will need to concentrate, and brace the paint hand, to not make a mess of that job!

 

The two lights for the upper flashers, and various work light lenses, painted amber -

 

These are fittings that cover the work light lenses - didn't think I was going to use them at first, but the fittings are intended to hold the lenses in place.  A couple 'dry run', test fittings showed me they will definitely make it easier to glue the lenses into the housings.

++

 

The yellow beacon lights from Auslowe have their first coat of amber - I think one more coat to darken a bit more should be enough.  Should still be able to see the reflectors inside with one more coat -

 

Should be able to finish the assembly of the remaining bits on the sander early this week!

Edited September 2 by BK9300

[redneckrigger]

Absolutely pristine work! That looks for all the world like the real truck you are working on…..only giveaway is your tools and bench light etc.  Absolutely incredible, wish I was able to do such fine detailing!   Incredible!!!

[BK9300]

22 hours ago, redneckrigger said:

Absolutely pristine work! That looks for all the world like the real truck you are working on…..only giveaway is your tools and bench light etc.  Absolutely incredible, wish I was able to do such fine detailing!   Incredible!!!

 Very gracious of you, Tom - thanks!

[BK9300]

Adding to the many things I’ve tried for the first time during this build, I’m going to have a go at a better paint finish on the cab and hood, than on the sander.  Plus, there a few spots on the cab and hood that were left with dust bits during the final coat.  I’ve only done a bit of experimenting on the test hood’s paint, to gain a bit of practice!

This is the Constellation test hood, and it had some dust on it as well (circled in red) - lots of orange peel, too -

 

Working only on the top of the hood, I used the Micro Mesh sequence of sanding pads, 4,000 to 12,000, and finished off with the three grades of Tamiya polishing compound.  The dust bits, and the orange peel, have been dealt with - I didn’t touch the center rib of the hood, so I could see what effect all of this was having.  The treated areas definitely look better, but it’s clear to me I need to learn how to use the Micro Mesh pads better.  There are still lots of little sanding lines evident from the reflection of the desk lamp, that the pads are designed to get rid of, if I used them right!  Overall, going in the right direction -

 

Always something to learn, it seems.

Edited September 3 by BK9300

[BK9300]

I finally got around to adding the amber, flashing lights to the upper back of the sander.  Could never give you all the reasons why this took so long - I had painted them in September 2024.  Pretty certain there was a bit of procrastination along the way, but I am very glad to see them in place!   Also got the rear, roto light platform glued and bolted in place.  I laid out the two, short wire runs between the flashers and the rear roto light, then temporarily set both roto lights in place - 

Rear roto light and wiring temporarily in place - still need to make circular, flat black base plates for both roto lights.  Also need to make three or four more wiring grommets to support the wires between the flashers -

 

Front roto light temporarily in place - (the grommet is needed for a wire coming back out of the roto light, to feed a work light that will be mounted near it) -

 

Apart from tidying up the wiring and finishing the base plates for roto lights, only remaining thing to do back here are three work lights, and to make the hand crank and cylinder for opening and closing the slide gate -

 

Had meant to continue with the sander's work lights today and just got sidetracked with the flashers and rotos.  Will get back on the work lights tomorrow, hopefully!

[vincen47]

It continues to impress and inspire!

[BK9300]

19 hours ago, vincen47 said:

It continues to impress and inspire!

Appreciate that, Victor!

[Gary Chastain]

I’m running out of things to say, such a well detailed build with such outstanding craftsmanship 

[BK9300]

19 hours ago, Gary Chastain said:

I’m running out of things to say, such a well detailed build with such outstanding craftsmanship 

I’m just glad you’re still checking in - thanks, Gary!

[Rockford]

Just brilliant stuff. The hood is already better than any paint job I've ever done. 

[Scott Eriksen]

Brian when your done you should send pics to the manufacturer!  Looks A+!

[BK9300]

On 9/5/2025 at 12:13 PM, Rockford said:

Just brilliant stuff. The hood is already better than any paint job I've ever done. 

Thanks, Steve - pretty sure a lot of credit goes to the polishing compound!

 

21 hours ago, Scott Eriksen said:

Brian when your done you should send pics to the manufacturer!  Looks A+!

Was thinking about sending one to Western Star - maybe they will give some info on their frames for my next build!  Thanks, Scott.

Edited September 6 by BK9300

[BK9300]

Not much gets accomplished in my bench sessions this last little while - doing lots of fussy detail painting and it takes me forever!  And I seem to post lots of repetitive pics, but almost every pic shows me something to that needs more attention, to get it right. So, not much to show for the day's work, but another bit of that fussy stuff off the list.

 

Final coat on truck visor, roto light bases painted black, and the insides of the various light housings all got a coat of Tamiya, Chrome Silver-

 

Good thing I didn't take a video of me doing this detail painting - a bit of back and forth had to be done.  Silver on the inside, then touch up flat black where the shaky hands made the silver stray, then a tiny bit of silver again, on where the black touch ups screwed up!   Also got the mounting brackets on the work lights to stand out a bit, using the magnifying lamp.  Roto lights were masked off and the bases sprayed -

 

Still hope to finish off the tiny bit of work left on the sander, before returning to the cab and hood.  Also need to make a semblance of that electrical/aux. air connections plate that sits on the frame behind the cab, and that a power cable to the sander will finally plug into.   What I hope to model was used on some of the real trucks in the past, but had been discontinued in later model years, I am told, because there was too much salt damage to the connections.  I'm choosing to do it this older way, because it will make the final connections of the sander wiring a bit easier on me!

 

Edited September 6 by BK9300
Typo

[Randy D]

Just awesome details being added now Brian!!!!  Your yellow paint looks great.

Randy

[Bren]

I haven’t been commenting much Brian - but just……WOW! This thing is museum-quality stellar! Humbling to look at your dedication and modelling chops. 

[BK9300]

7 hours ago, Randy D said:

Just awesome details being added now Brian!!!!  Your yellow paint looks great.

Randy

Thanks, Randy - lots of details, but looking forward to having them all finished - they take as long as some of the scratch built parts!

 

 

1 hour ago, Bren said:

I haven’t been commenting much Brian - but just……WOW! This thing is museum-quality stellar! Humbling to look at your dedication and modelling chops. 

Not to worry, Bren, and thanks for your generous comments!

[BK9300]

Yes, more pics of sander, but this time all the work lights and roto lights are glued in place and wired in!

 

This is where my session started today, about 4 hours ago! -

 

 

 

 

I appreciate your patience with all the pics of the sander - like I said last time, each pic gives me a chance to see 'what's what' and make any changes if need be.  Should have the ladder on tomorrow, and I'll get under way with the slide gate cylinder and crank, and then the sander will be finished!

[Gary Chastain]

Geez Brian, this looks like an advertisement from the manufacturer who makes this bed, where’s the brand logo?

[BK9300]

3 minutes ago, Gary Chastain said:

Geez Brian, this looks like an advertisement from the manufacturer who makes this bed, where’s the brand logo?

Made me laugh!  I have one on each side - sander was made by Henderson Products - currently out of Manchester, Iowa

[vincen47]

Absolutely fantastic progress, even if it takes more time than expected. The results are obviously worth it. And I agree, sometimes you don’t notice issues until you post the photos here on the forum, and look at them later. That’s often been the case for me. Another reason why the forum is helpful.

[BK9300]

1 hour ago, vincen47 said:

Absolutely fantastic progress, even if it takes more time than expected. The results are obviously worth it. And I agree, sometimes you don’t notice issues until you post the photos here on the forum, and look at them later. That’s often been the case for me. Another reason why the forum is helpful.

Yes, some pics really show things up - I got some surprises at the beginning of this build I wasn't expecting, and still do.  Thanks, Victor!