New here... my KW WIP

[KJ790]

I've been browsing here a bit, but I figured I would finally post. I grew up on a family trucking business that my grandfather started back in the 1950's. When I was little our fleet consisted mostly of Kenworth K100's, so they have always held a place in my heart. A few months ago I came across this picture of one of my grandfather's old trucks on the internet:

I decided that I wanted to get into model trucks, and that a truck similar to this one would be my first one (since that is what my grandfather's first 20 or so trucks looked like). I started with a partially built glue bomb AMT K123 from ebay. I redid the chassis, added a torsion bar suspension, spoke wheels, and painted it all green.

I then modified the headlights on the cab to be singles, then painted the cab green, white, and gold. The truck pictured above was the first year of the door handles at the bottom of the door. My grandfather's earlier trucks looked the same, but with the door handle up near the window, and some had the spot window in the passenger door such as the AMT kit has. For this reason I let these details slide.

With this truck I am currently working on two reefer trailers. One is an Ertl Great Dane reefer that will resemble many of the trailers that were in our fleet in the early 70's. The other is an AMT Fruehauf reefer that resembles a reefer from the 60's era. I have decided to make this one stainless steel by using bare metal foil on the sides to give it the shiny look. It is currently a work in progress as well, but here is what I have so far:

I made a few balsa wood pallets as well, I plan on making more when I get time:

Thanks for looking guys. Take it easy on me, this is my first attempt at modeling, so I hope to do a better job with future projects.

[Mark R]

I like the green

Also cabovers are a fav of mine.

Oh nice work with theBMF on the trailer ! Looks real good so far...

Keep it up !

[cowboysevens]

hello and welcome to the forum!! glad to see another kw cabover gettin saved and rebiult, this is a nice project cant wait to see it done.

dennis

[codie27]

Your making good progress with the old KW and its looking great. Nice work.

[The Modeling Hermit]

KJ, welcome to the forum. That's going to be a fine tribute, and your work is quite nice.

[Old Albion]

KJ,

Your Grandfather's truck looks great in the green and white colour scheme. Your skills are also great especially painting, very impressed. Keep us posted with progress.

Dave

[chuckyr]

You're on your way to completing several authentic rigs. I like when model trucks are correct for the era they are representing.

[Jim B]

That's coming along very nicely.

[Scott S]

Welcome and Very nice work,nice save,(i'll be saveing some myself here soon)

nice paintwork also. Old rigs rule!!

Scott

[QCDOC]

Nice!

[SpreadAxle]

That is some fine work you've done. Nice paintwork. What shade of green did you use? Also, That particular collection on Hank's is my favorite. I love looking at his pix. It's like looking at the entire AMT model truck lineup in action. Great tribute to your grandfather. If he's still around I'm sure he'll be proud.

By the way, the pallets are pretty nice, too.

Edited September 22, 2010 by FlatbedKW

[KJ790]

Take it easy? I'm gonna let loose! lol. Seriously, That is some fine work you've done. Nice paintwork. What shade of green did you use? Also, That particular collection on Hank's is my favorite. I love looking at his pix. It's like looking at the entire AMT model truck lineup in action. Great tribute to your grandfather. If he's still around I'm sure he'll be proud.

By the way, the pallets are pretty nice, too.

Wow thanks! Yeah, my grandfather is still around, and so is his company, though our family sold it about 10 years ago. The new owners have downsized it a bit and it just isn't the company it was 10-20 years ago, but I guess that's the way it is. I want to make a model of my grandfather's first truck ever, a 1952 Brown, but that would have to be completely scratch built. It's hard to even find pictures of those trucks, though I have a few pics of his kicking around. I think I need some practice before trying to scratch-build a truck though.

[SpreadAxle]

Re-reading your comments on the trailer, I noticed you used Bare Metal Foil to achieve the finish. That must have been a pain with the rivets, but it looks good.

[Ben]

Looks like your doing a great job so far!!!!

[Curtis]

Sweet!!

[Paul B]

Looks great so far!

[Kostas Parchas]

Very nice rig!!!

Love the colors.

Nice and clen build so far..

Keep us posted,

Kostas.

[KJ790]

Alright, so I have been really busy with other stuff lately, but this week I finally had a chance to get a little work done. The two trailers are almost done, I need to finish some details like marker lights, air hoses, landing gear handles, and decals. I have the engine almost done for the KW, but other than that I haven't really worked on that at all. Here are updated pics of the two trailers.

[Jim B]

KJ, those are rally nice. I've got to find one of this Great Dane reefers. One of these days. Are you planning on bringing these to Fulton?

[mackinac359]

Nice old KW.. great start on a classic!

Tim

[ap40rocktruck]

Really nice to see a model with spoke wheels & minimal chrome. a worker.

AP40rocktruck

[cam]

Great job on the trailers.

[SpreadAxle]

This project is turning out great.

[impcon]

Looks great! Nice colours and detailing,, does your grandfather know that you are building this? It may make a nice Christmas present for him if he doesn't...

[TKobes]

wow first build and that thing is amazing! Great job man! A+