Leaderboard

The boredom has worn off, and I am back on the bench. A new journey begins. Now beginning my 4th build, IMO I have realized the painting and detailing of the cab is the most critical part of the model. This will be an experiment. 5 kits will be built. Some of the mundane assembly and painting will be "production-lined" to save time with set-up and clean-up. I will try new things and test the limit of my skills. Failure is learning. One (or more) of the kits will probably be sacrificed and end up in the junkyard. I will try different paint schemes. It will also allow me to choose the "best of _____ part" for a showroom build. At the Cummins factory, holes are drilled for brass rod. It will be nice to not have to relearn every step. Some of these are from other kits with variations. "The Seem" First attempt at cutting out the doors was done with an X-Acto knife (an impossible task). The panel scriber worked much better (but still required an insane amount of patience - be prepared to take your time). A template of the floor is made for quick fabrication in the future. Pockets are fabricated for the new door handles. A thin piece of sheet is glued to support and guide an more natural curve on this PE part. The windshield wiper is carefully removed, I am getting lots of practice in manipulating the styrene.

The weather is too bad to paint the LTL 9000, so I decided to dig this Kenworth out. I bought it from Ollie's a few years back. Between the vague directions and me messing up the paint, I put it away shortly after and used it to rob parts. Now that I've built up my spares box a little, I think I can finish it. I sanded down the cab and primed it, then I shortened the frame and converted it to single axle. The 370 Cummins is almost all there and mostly built. I have a spare Ford mail truck which will give up its 27ft trailer for this one.

I have "embraced" PE (photo-etch) and am learning to work with the new material. Every part is now a learning experience. The details are removed. The fuel tank steps and straps gave me lots of trouble with adhesion. Most glues do not work well, and the steps had to be soldered. A piece of bathroom tissue is used with Elmer's Glue mixed with water. I have also taken the leap into adding some plumbing and wiring to this build. Thin thread for electrical wire, .020" & .030" styrene rod for air lines, and telephone wire for the transmission. The interior sub-assembly is finished and set aside.

Option #1 it is.