Kenworth W900

[W-409]

Hello, this one is my second model truck so far. It's bought from Daytona Beach, Florida. The kit looks pretty good and there are lots of parts. As usual, I started from the engine. First I removed one wire/ hose or whatever is it. That was molded to the engine block. Then I glued the block halves together and I sanded the seam smooth. Some painting, Revell Enamel paint with a brush and then some detail painting. I also made new wire/hose etc. to the same place, where I removed the original one. It just looks better. Well, progress isn't too fast, but lets have a see when comes the next update.

Here you can see pictures about what is in the box... http://s1038.photobucket.com/albums/a463/VintageDragRace/Kenworth%20W900/

[W-409]

Few more photos, thanx for looking!

[dwc43]

Off to a good start. I have one of these in the truck community build off. You should join. Got til December to finish them up.

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=37529&st=0

Watch the turbo. It has a real ill fitting seam on the one I built. I made a heat shield to cover it up. One other thing, that's a Cat 3406 and it should be all yellow including the starter and hoses. These truck engines are completely built and finished before install. And everything gets painted. I'll post you an engine ref. pic and a pic of mine.

Edited April 5, 2011 by dwc43

[dwc43]

One other thing I forgot to tell ya is the mounting of the wheels and tires. If you can find them, get better wheels and tires. I think I'll replace mine, but I was told you can stuff the tires with cotton pulled from cotton balls to stiffen up the tires and help it fit on the rims better.

I had to take a drill bit to all the mounting holes too. Mine were too tight. And leave the little guards on the sleeper step to the last minute before you remove them. I've broken the right side off about 8 times now. So far each repair is undetectable. Lucky I guess.

Edited April 5, 2011 by dwc43

[W-409]

Thank you for the tips, dwc43! I worked with that turbocharger now, first I painted part of it because it is inpossible when that turbo is glued to its place. Well, after painting, I put some Green Putty to the seam and then some sanding. I glued few parts to the engine and it looks pretty good now. It needs some detail painting before assembling rest of parts... This is coming along extremely fast!

[dwc43]

Welcome,anytime. I was too far into my build before I caught the turbo issue. I must say yours' looks a lot better than mine did.

[W-409]

Thanx, Colin! I think, that this project is not finished in december, because now I have lots of projects with somekind of deadline, and I'm having a bit of hurry with some of them, so maybe this one will be out of that CBP...

I added some black wash to the engine. First time, I added bit too much and I wasn't happy about the look of it. But now, I painted some dry yellow on it, and I think, that it looks pretty good now. Next step is to continue of course the engine, but I must make the cab ready for primer, start the chassis and interior too. But I haven't decided the color yet, so if you have any good ideas, please tell them...

Edited May 28, 2011 by W-409

[dwc43]

Typical interiors are black with wood grain dash boards. I think the interior is too dark considering all the details I am adding to it and the fact I went with a black ext. color as well. Matter of fact I have two black trucks with black int. in the works. Might check the web for pics and see if you can find a scheme you like. Know what you mean about dead lines. 6 months to go, but I want mine done in Nov. so I can take them to a show. Not sure I'll have them all done in 5 months time or not. Sitting here working on a dirt track Dart since I don't have all my detail items bought up at this time, so I'm a little stalled right now.

[W-409]

Yes, maybe the black interior isn't the best choice, interior with light colors would be great looking if the light colors just match the body colors. This is not going to be any showtruck, but of course every truck drivers wants to have a personal cab, which is not same looking as every new truck, so maybe light color would be great, thank you for that idea, Colin! I'll be able to continue this build soon, maybe today.

[dwc43]

Welcome,anytime. I'm building mine as a stock rebuild kind of truck. Both will be pulling construction equipment as loads all detailed out to an extent. I want them to look slightly used, but kept in good shape. As if the company keeps them up inside and out. The W has the sleeper, so it gets more interior detail items than the Diamond does. I tink the little touches really make the model. Since I gave away the construction equip. as the load you might find something like a yellow hard hat inside one of the trucks that the driver left behind and maybe a pack of smokes left on the dash too. I like the little details like that.

[highway]

The engine is looking nice Niko!

As for interior color choices, if you decide on a light color for your body color, you might want to consider tan or gray. I have driven blue and red trucks that have had gray interiors, and a white one that had a tan interior.

Also, if you want to join the truck CBP, feel free, and don't worry about the December deadline. I'm the one in charge of it, and I feel there is a very good chance the deadline will either be extended or dropped completely! I've barely even gotten started on my builds for it yet!

[W-409]

Thanx, Colin and Matthew! What Colin said, is true, little details make the model look very good. And for the interior, I was also thinking mixture of grey and white. Grey would be maybe not as light as it would be, but not too dark. Well, if the deadline is not that tight as it looks, maybe I'll jump in with this one. So count me in with Kenworth W900.

[RS Sport]

Excellent work Niko! Do you have any colours in mind for the body?

[W-409]

Thanks! I've been thinking maybe red, blue, orange... Don't know, but maybe one of those, and the decals from this kit, the option decals, not those lightnings. The gray interior would fit those colors quite well, maybe...

[W-409]

A little update for this one. I primered the cab, and some other smaller parts. They looked fine, so I painted the cab orange, and frame is now black. The front section of the body is still in primer. I must paint it soon. Also I painted interior floor black, door panels and some other parts are painted gray. I must continue building the dash now, I have painted it brown, but it needs some orange clear to simulate wood.

Edited June 12, 2011 by W-409

[W-409]

Few more photos, thanx for looking...

[diymirage]

your going to have to stretch that body a little for it to fit that frame

nice progress

i like the orange, looks like it laid down nicely

also looking forward to see how your wood comes out, i've never heard of this particular technique before

[Ron a.k.a. Grouchy Pants]

Nice very nice. I'll def be following this one. I bought a Peterbuilt 359 Conventional Tractor 1:25 scale Revell kit recently. It'll be my first big rig when I build it, and im probably red in color. I cant wait to see this thing come along, and that orange is already looking really nice.

[W-409]

Thanks, Eelco and Ron!

I've painted for example one wooden bed for Dodge L700. First some Humbroll matt brown, and then some Humbroll's clear orange on it. Looks quite realistic, I think. Not sure what the professional builders use, but I think, it's easy job to do like that and looks good too.

I bought also one Peterbilt 359... It's a gluebomb, but actually I bought it because of I need two rear axles, from truck model kit... I'm thinking of molding resin copies from them, so I can built my "Rat Truck" ready and them the Peterbilt too.

Edited June 13, 2011 by W-409

[W-409]

The front clip has been painted from the other side long time ago, didn't remember to post a picture of it. Maybe there's one picture in the CBP topic, but I post it here too. It needs to be painted from the other side too, and then I can spray some clear on the cab and frame too.

[W-409]

I have painted that front clip of the body from both sides now. Also added decals. Some of them went nicely on their places, but some of them were really hard to install right. I had to shorten two of them and used lots of Micro Sol to make them look better. They aren't good now, but I must clear the body next week and then I can fix those decals with white paint.

[W-409]

One more picture, thanks for looking!

Now here comes a little break for building, this weekend I'll be at Finnish Drag Racing event. Finnish Championchip Finals, hope there's no rain.

[W-409]

This topic must be boring to read, because updates are coming from the body.. But I hope next update after this is going to be from chassis or engine... Anyway today I cleared the body, I'm pretty happy about the end result. I'm going to wax it next and then it will look better, hopefully. I almost failed the paintjob with this one, after clearing these parts I came away from the garage and wind turned it upside down. Luckily clear wasn't so yet that paintjob is now good yet.

One More.

[MachinistMark]

lookin good niko

[W-409]

Thanks, Mark!