ShakyCraftsman

Thanks MD Ron G

Hey all Small update, I've got the frame stretched and assembled. Took a couple of pictures while the glue dries. the axles are only there for pictures. view of the bottom of the frame. Ron G

Sounds like you got a few projects to do. Ron G

Hey guys Yeah I know another one...it's a disease...please I need help...lol? Ok now that thats over. I'm starting a build thread on a 1/16 scale Monogram Kenworth W900 Conventional kit. I plan on doing it as a tri-axle heavy haul, with custom made headache rack, custom made air lift axle, decals from Jerry at modeltruckin.com. I'm using the kit Caterpillar 3408 V8 engine, but I'm fully plumbing it with custom Cat oil and fuel filter decals. It's going to have aftermarket 385/65R 24.5 front floats, 385/55R 22.5 super singles for the lift axle and 12.00R 24.5 drive tires. I'm using the kit wheels, but I had to customize them to fit the front floats and the super single tires. I've started in on the frame construction. This kit had a flaw when I got it, the passenger side frame rail was a short shot . I was devastated because these kits are scarce as hens teeth, or OH MY GOD! expensive on Ebay. So, I found a guy on YouTube that was making a custom stretched KW and I asked him if he had any left over parts and viola! He came through, he sent me a bunch of parts both rear frame rail sections, extra cross members and extra air bags. Here are some pictures to look at. this is the kit I'm using for this build. this view shows what I'm trying to accomplish. this view shows the front float tires and wheels this view shows the super singles for the lift axle. this view shows the drive tires this is another view of the drive tires and wheels. this view shows the new, but not out yet, (it's coming around Christmas time) Diecast Masters XL120 Specialized lowboy trailer in 1/16 scale. It's going to be for their 1/16 RC Freightliner Cascadia (the blue truck in the photo). If this is anywhere near as good as their 1/50 scale diecast one, I'll be using it for the Big KW's trailer, along with a Bruder Cat 336 excavator for the load. Yeah this is going to be HUGE! front view of the trailer. rear view of the trailer. Well that's it for now be back soon with more updates Ron G

This is it.

Hey guys Short update. this view shows the drivers side door mounted to the sleeper. this view shows the drivers side door opened. I still have to do the other side and add the trim lips, like the ones I did on the cab. Ron G

Yeah tgere rc stuff is so so. I have there 1/24 scale RC Cat 336 excavator, it's all plastic gear drive, so so it was $99.95 #25001. The biggest thing is it's not 1/24 its more like 1/20:1. They actually came out with another one in 1/24 scale thats closer to 1/28:1 scale it's cheeper around $60.00 #25005. The trailer should be ok depending on what it costs. Ron G

Look for Neurumberg toy fair 2020- part 4 diecast masters by cranes etc. tv couldn't find a actual link comes in about the 12.54 time point. Ron G

The YouTube video doesn't show much, its more for the Diecast Masters 1/16 scale RC Freightliner Cascadia, and no it's not the Tamiya one. They also make a 1/16 scale RC Western Star dump truck, you csn find them at various places on the internet. Ron G

They haven't released any pricing yet, probably will find out around the pre order time. When they let me know I'll post it here. If it's the same quality as their 1/50 scale trailer it should be realky sweet! Ron G

Hey guys I have the doors mounted to the cab with there miniature piano hinges. This was a difficult, if not scary process. I had to grind down the surface on the inner side of tge cab and doors, both sides in order to fit the hinges. I did this with my trusty Foredom tool and various milling bits. I almost ground through the drivers side of the cab and had to do some repair, luckily all turned out good. this view shows the passenger side door mounted. this view shows the passenger side door opened. this view shows the 0.015" thk plastic I added to the inside of the cab for the door to close on. view from the front of the passenger side door opened. this view shows the drivers side door mounted. You can see at the top of the hinge where I almost went through the cab. this view shows the drivers side door opened. You can see the plastic trim lip that I added around the door openings. view of the drives side door with opening trim. this view shows both doors opened. this view shows the drivers door and trim. Also the floor, roof panel with CB and sde peices, back wall and side peices. I'm planning on painting this in tan and brown to complement the exterior colors. view from the rear of the interior. view of the interior from the passenger side. view of the interior from the drivers side. I have gauge decals for the instrument panel. Well that's it for now be back with more updates soon. Ron G

Hey all I found this on YouTube. It's a 1/16 scale XL Specialized XL120 drop nose lowboy trailer from Diecast Masters. They are making it for there 1/16 scale RC Freightliner Cascadia truck. I've contacted them via email and they said it is definitely coming out. It will be available in China in October and probably available for pre-order for Christmas 2021. I plan on using this for my 1/16 Monogram Peterbilt 359 and my 1/16 Monogram Kenworth W900L 4 axle Heavy haul (this will be my next build after the Pete) this view is pulled from YouTube of the prototype of the trailer, that's their 1/16 scale blue RC Freightliner Cascadia in the upper right. this view shows the front of the trailer. this view shows the rear of the trailer. this view shows their 1/50 scale XL120 diecast trailer. This is what they used for up scaling to 1/16. I'm not sure if this is going to be metal or some sort of plastic, but I'm assuming it will be plastic, as thats what they make their RC models from. I have a Bruder 1/16 scale Cat 336 excavator to put on it for a load. this is the Kenworth W900L model I will be modifying with a stretched frame, 12R/24.5 drive tires, 385R55/22.5 supersingles for the lift axle and 385R65/24.5 front floats. I'll be using the Cat 3408 V8 engine from the kit fully plumbed. Not sure how far I will be going on this, I'll see after I get the Peterbilt done. I will be doing a build thread on this. Ron G

Hey all I've been working on the big Pete. I cut the doors out of the cab. They were a real pain in the buttocks!...lol. The plastic is a 1/16" plus thick and was very difficult to cut. I started by scribing it with a needle in a pin vise followed by a sharp scalpel, it was so tuff it broke the needle!, but I finally made it through. this view shows the door in the opening held on with tape. this view shows the door in the open position. this view shows the cab with drivers door in place and the passenger door with one of the hinges I'm using for the doors. this view shows the interior temporarily assembled for pictures. You can just see the CB radio hanging from the roof. this view shows the clutch pedal, brake pedal and gas/fuel pedal. this view shows the interior roof panel and rear panel. I made these from 1/4" square evergreen plastic tile sheet stock. side view of the CB radio and scratch built mick cord. this view shows the CB radio from the rear. I still have alot of work to do on the interior, but I think it's coming along pretty good. Well that's it for now be back with more updates soon. Ron G

Hey guys Another small update. I have the two air cleaners done and primed. first primer coat on. I removed the printed in screens and added some stainless steel mesh ones. I added interior parts to them also. I know have to sand them and probably add some filler then paint them chrome. Well that's it for now be back soon. Ron G

Hey all Thanks guys Not much of an update, just a couple of pictures showing the frame decals. this view shows the rear frame decals. this view shows the front frame decal. These are from Jerry at Model trucking. Ron G

Hey guys Did some more work on the big Pete. I have the fuel tanks done. I'm making the tank mounts now. I mounted the shocks. The next thing to mount is the engine, radiator and hoses. this view shows the passenger side fuel tank temporarily mounted to the frame. The Tamiya tape will be replaced with black electrical tape and chrome custom made straps. Still undecided on how to paint them. this view shows the tank and tool box cover. I did the covers and deck plate with Vallejo dull aluminum metal paint. this view shows the truck temporarily assembled for pictures. another view of the truck. this view shows the motor. I added some tube clamps to the orange turbo tube and the radiator hoses. I added Cummins filter decals to all the filters, there from Jerry at model trucking. view showing the front shock. this view shows the rear shocks installed. Well that's it for now be back with more soon. Ron G

Hey all Well I have the chassis painted! Whoo hoo! It came out a little flat, so I'm going to go over it with some X22 gloss. overall view of the rolling chassis. I have to paint the yellow peices chrome silver. I think I'm going to do the tanks dark green with chrome straps to match the frame, not sure what do you guys think? rear of chassis. front of chassis. center of chassis. Well that's it for now be back soon. Ron G

Thanks guys Ok, I got started on the fuel tanks. These are made from 1 1/4" PVC pipe with Formufit PVC internal domed end caps 1 1/4" diameter. These are also available for 3/4c PVC pipe which works out to a scale 25.2" in 1/24 scale and 26.25" in 1/25 scale. They are available in multiple colors along with the pipe. this view shows the pipe and caps on the left and finished tank on the right. this view shows the kit tank on the left and my custom made tank on the right. end view of the same thing. this view shows that the tank is a scale 26" diameter. this view shows that the tank is a scale 65" long. this view shows the custom tank on the truck. Thats a 1/2" (scale 8") diameter tube for the exhaust. Well that's it for now be back with more soon. Ron G

Thanks guys OK! the brakes and air bag plumbing is DONE! The brakes went pretty good, but the air bags were a real f#%*n pain in the but! I had to drill out some Meng 1.8mm bolt heads so I could use them as fittings (I ran out of my Detail Masters aluminum ones). I only needed 17 of them, but I end up drilling out twice as many because I was a real fumble finger modeller today! I guess I'm getting old, because I kept dropping my nuts...lol. I bet I dropped at least 20 of them lost and gone to the carpet monster. I think the chassis is ready for paint. I'll have to check tomorrow and make sure I have everything done that needs to be done on the frame before I paint. this view shows the rear height control valve and some of the plumbing for the air suspension. this view shows the front height control valve and some more plumbing. view from the bottom showing the brake lines. bottom view of the front. this view shows the air suspension plumbing. this view shows some more plumbing. hey, it's almost a rolling chassis! just a picture of what it will look like. I'm making custom fuel tanks for it. They will be made from 1 1/4" PVC pipe with PVC dome caps for the ends, I'll show pictures tomorrow. view from the front. Well that's it for now be back with more soon. Ron G

Hey all I have the brakes plumbed, But I still have a few lines left to do. I made air pressure gauges for the rear air tanks. I used some gauge decals and photo etch bezels from Airscale to create them. I also painted the shocks yellow and added some Monroe logos to them. this view shows the line from the front brakes to the right rear air tank. this view shows the air line, on the left, from the drivers side wet tank to the passenger side supply tank. this view shows the air lines from the passenger side front air tank to the left side rear air tank. this view shows the air line from the air chambers to the control valves. view from the other side. another view of the air lines. this view shows the air gauge for the rear air tanks on the top and the items I used to create them. There's one for each rear air tank. this view shows the front and rear shocks painted with logos added. this view shows a closer view of the logo. I made these from printed images scaled to fit and covered with clear tape, then I individually cut out each one then added them to the shocks. I wish I had decals but I couldn't find any anywhere. I also added some bolts to the top and bottom of the shocks, but I didn't get pictures of them. Well that's it for now be back with more updates soon. Ron G

Hey guys Small update, I did some work on the big Pete's grill shell. I carved out the cast in grill detail and added a screen mesh to the rear. this view shows the grill after I modified it and added the stainless steel mesh. I will be painting this like dull polished aluminum. (It's a work truck) close up view of the stainless steel mesh grill. This is temporarily assembled, I will be refining it later. Ron G

Hey guys I've been working on the big Pete. I've started on plumbing the brakes and the air bags, I also added the missing panard/sway bars and brackets to tge rear axles. this view shows the scratch built front quick release valve for the front brakes, also you can see the passenger front brake line. this view shows the front drive side brake line. These are braided stainless steel lines. this view shows the scratch built front rear wheel lock control modulator valve. You can also see the scratch built front rear axle panard bar. this view shows the scratch built rear wheel lock control modulator valve and rear panard bar. another view of the rear panard bar setup. this view shows the scratch built combination quick release/double check valve and front axle panard bar setup. this view shows both of the panard bars. All of the valves are for the air brake system and need to be plumbed. this view shows the shift control lines and valves that I added to the transmission. this view shows the transmission lines and you can just see the start I made on the power steering lines I added to the power steering reservoir (I need to paint it black) this view shows the 3D printed air cleaners temporarily mounted. I had to shorten them 3 scale inches, they were 36" long and should have been 33" long. this view shows the cut out to the sleeper (this is closed up in the kit). You can also see the air cleaners. view from the top showing the air cleaners. Well that's it for now be back with more updates soon. Ron G

Hey guys Here are some more pictures for yous to look at. this view shows the 3D printed air cleaners. another view of the air cleaners. this view shows the engine, I modified the turbo intake and exhaust manifold and custom made air intake rubber elbows to look more like a big cam set up. this view shows the fan belts that I made from 1.5mm diameter rubber tubing. this view shows the wires from the starter to the alternator l. this view shows the wires from the alternator to the starter. this view shows Mr. Bruder working on the engine...lol. well that's it for now be back soon with more. Ron G

Thanks guys

Small update. Found some decals to make truck look better, what do you think? I also got some scrole work decals in gold to match the outline strips. Now, I have some scratch building to do so I'm going down to the work bench, see you later Ron G