leafsprings Posted January 26 Posted January 26 (edited) As with so many of my builds lately, several aftermarket resin pieces were used to create this mid 60's tanker and trailer. The tanks were from Keystone and tanker accessories were donated from the AMT Gulf tanker kit. Wheels were aftermarket resin and decals were from Model Truckin. Edited January 30 by leafsprings 11
RoninUtah Posted January 26 Posted January 26 Now that’s a great looking rig! Well done! Where did the cab and hood come from? 1
Rockford Posted January 26 Posted January 26 Really nice bread-and-butter truck. Backbone of the industry that type of machine. 1
Warren D Posted January 26 Posted January 26 Well done. We never had pups in Southern New England when I was growing up, streets are too tight. 1
leafsprings Posted January 26 Author Posted January 26 (edited) Thanks for all the positive replies, appreciate it. The tanker and pup was and still is a very popular set up in western states, always wanted to do one, but nobody offered the correct style tanks until Keystone started up. The resin trailer wheels were off ebay, listed as "convoy wheels". Tanker wheels were from Scenes Unlimited. The resin hood was a long hard search on ebay, finally found one about 4 years ago, I believe it is a Griffen Design piece, unlike the Pete narrow nose, was never offered by AITM. AMT frame was extended approx. 1 1/2" to accept the tank. Dolly from the Double Header kit, but tongue was scratch built. Used Revell Chrome paint on grill. Hopefully the 3d printer people will offer more KW hoods and tanker bodies in the near future. The inspiration photo, could it be a ghost kit from AMT? Edited February 6 by leafsprings
RoninUtah Posted January 26 Posted January 26 2 hours ago, leafsprings said: unlike the Pete narrow nose, was never offered by AITM. AITM had two different narrow nose KWs, and I built both. One is a 1955 high mount; they also offered a low mount version of this cab. The other is an early 60s version, probably a 625, but pre-W 900. Yours is a first generation W 900, which came out in 1961 and was replaced in 1967 with the wide hood W 900A. It turned out beautifully, it’s exactly like the rigs I remember in my younger days in Northern California. Kudos on a great build! 1
RoninUtah Posted January 26 Posted January 26 Apparently, somebody new has taken over AITM, according to their Facebook page. Hopefully they’ll expand the lineup to include a narrow nose W 900! 1
trick my mixer Posted January 26 Posted January 26 Nice tanker truck. I remember Inland from my tanker days in the Seattle area. 1
freightshaker2 Posted January 27 Posted January 27 Sharp fuel puller! I like the color combos! Old school cool. 1
cifenet Posted January 28 Posted January 28 Nice setup here, fantastic work! What a flawless build and the tankers look great too! 1
Dutzie Posted January 29 Posted January 29 Nice looking KW! The hood looks like it would look right at home on an old Marmon. 1
leafsprings Posted January 29 Author Posted January 29 (edited) On 1/26/2025 at 4:05 PM, freightshaker2 said: Old school cool. Thanks, has twin sticks behind a 250 Cummins + turbo, which should make it a 290. Every gear in the main and aux. must be utilized with a full load. Edited February 1 by leafsprings
leafsprings Posted January 29 Author Posted January 29 (edited) On 1/26/2025 at 9:14 AM, RoninUtah said: AITM had two different narrow nose KWs, and I built both. One is a 1955 high mount; they also offered a low mount version of this cab. The other is an early 60s version, probably a 625, but pre-W 900. Yours is a first generation W 900, which came out in 1961 and was replaced in 1967 with the wide hood W 900A. It turned out beautifully, it’s exactly like the rigs I remember in my younger days in Northern California. Kudos on a great build! It gets confusing when talking narrow noses, but I believe this hood design in this build came out around 1964 when the new larger cab was introduced. Really like the '61-'63 Kenworth narrow nose tilt hoods also, one of my all time favorites, the first cab I will purchase when AITM starts up again, hopefully it's 1/25, some were done in 1/24. Yes, these tanker combos are very popular in western states, you would think AMT would have been interested in doing one of these type kits back in the day. Edited February 2 by leafsprings
RoninUtah Posted January 29 Posted January 29 I think you’re right. Although a lot of sources say the W 900 came out in 1961, Kenworth has it as 1963, which is when the new cab was introduced and the headlights became inset into the fenders. It replaced the 900 series, which is what the second AITM cab was designed to represent. I think mine is a 923. it’s really too bad AMT didn’t come up with a tanker truck trailer combo like this back in the day. It probably would’ve sold well for them. Truck trailer combos were really popular in the West back in the day, not only tankers, but also flatbeds and even some vans. I have an early 50s Kenworth bullnose flatbed truck, which I paired with a flatbed trailer. I plan on sprucing it up one of these days and putting a load of hay on it.
leafsprings Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 On 1/28/2025 at 7:16 PM, RoninUtah said: it’s really too bad AMT didn’t come up with a tanker truck trailer combo like this back in the day. It probably would’ve sold well for them. I agree! Some say AMT was more focused on eastern states trucks, short wheelbases, set back front axles, but we did get the logging trailer which was very pacific northwest!
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