Kenworth K100 VIT Australia

[Jürgen M.]

Hi everyone,

since I´m taking a break in building new trucks I´d like to share some old ones.

This one was one of my first truck models. Built it when I was 15. Even got second place in a model builders contest of southern Germany in 1985.

You all probably know the kit. I´m glad I did it back then because today they´re offered on eBay for 250 - 400€. Back then I payed 35DM for it!

Since it didn´t have right hand drive like an Australian Road Train should and I didn´t yet have the experience of building a new cockpit and what else belongs to it, I made a "regular" US truck out of it.

The tires weren´t the today known soft rubber ones, the kit actually included the typical amt low profile tires even though the others are shown on the box. I remember being quite disapointed at that time but building it was fun!

 

The rack on the roof was from the Italeri accessory kit for European trucks. The cover of the spare was just a piece of cloth which I painted. Made it stay in form too.

I made it look very used too. At least I tried to and the jury in the contest seemed to like it!

 

The tanks look rusty and the chassis and engine look quite dirty and oily.

The interior also looks a bit filthy. The age of this truck of course increased that look! ?

Hope you enjoy this "oldtimer"!

 

Edited March 19, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[ChrisR]

Very nice!!

[Darbo]

Very cool!

[Jim B]

Great looking KW.  Really well done.

[TonyK]

That's a great looking truck! Funny how Revell puts "Australia" on the box but it really isn't. Disappointing for the modeler.

[Jürgen M.]

I'm glad you like the truck eventhough it's not that perfect but I think it's OK for a 15 year old! 

Yes, it is a bit disapointing when you buy a kit saying Australia and then you discover that it's just a left hand drive with a bull bar and a windshield guard.

The only kit I know that's really a road train is the White Western Star from Italeri! A nice kit and pretty huge since it's 1:24.

I'll share it too if you like! The whole rig is 1.73m long!

 

[cifenet]

Impressive and even more surprising that you built this when you were 15!  
 

The finishing work is superb and the truck is properly built.  I like how the spare tire is mounted on the roof too. 

[Force]

On 3/19/2024 at 8:34 AM, Jürgen M. said:

Hi everyone,

since I´m taking a break in building new trucks I´d like to share some old ones.

This one was one of my first truck models. Built it when I was 15. Even got second place in a model builders contest of southern Germany in 1985.

You all probably know the kit. I´m glad I did it back then because today they´re offered on eBay for 250 - 400€. Back then I payed 35DM for it!

Since it didn´t have right hand drive like an Australian Road Train should and I didn´t yet have the experience of building a new cockpit and what else belongs to it, I made a "regular" US truck out of it.

The tires weren´t the today known soft rubber ones, the kit actually included the typical amt low profile tires even though the others are shown on the box. I remember being quite disapointed at that time but building it was fun!

 

The rack on the roof was from the Italeri accessory kit for European trucks. The cover of the spare was just a piece of cloth which I painted. Made it stay in form too.

I made it look very used too. At least I tried to and the jury in the contest seemed to like it!

 

The tanks look rusty and the chassis and engine look quite dirty and oily.

The interior also looks a bit filthy. The age of this truck of course increased that look! ?

Hope you enjoy this "oldtimer"!

 

Cool.
This was the second Revell AG truck kit I built back in 1984 at 20, I still have it on my shelf but the tires has a severe dry rot problem.
The first Revell AG truck kit I built was the Peterbilt 359 Black Magic kit from 1982, same there, I still have it but dry rot on the tires here too, so it seems to have been a problem back then, they have changed tires on later versions of the truck kits.

On 3/19/2024 at 1:40 PM, TonyK said:

That's a great looking truck! Funny how Revell puts "Australia" on the box but it really isn't. Disappointing for the modeler.

Well it's not much of an Australian truck, but they put in a "Roo Bar" and a "stone guard" in the kit.

[Jürgen M.]

Thanks for your feedback!

Actually I built the "Black Magic" PB right after this one! 

I made a wrecker out of it.

Will be posted soon! ?

[Jürgen M.]

Thanks for your feedback!

Actually I built the "Black Magic" PB right after this one! 

I made a wrecker out of it.

Will be posted soon! ?

Concerning the tire problem, I haven't had that yet!

The K100 though is in restauration because actually parts are falling off due to old glue! 

Had to put a couple of parts back on like the cab rest and one of the cab hinges!

 

[Force]

10 hours ago, Jürgen M. said:

Thanks for your feedback!

Actually I built the "Black Magic" PB right after this one! 

I made a wrecker out of it.

Will be posted soon! ?

Concerning the tire problem, I haven't had that yet!

The K100 though is in restauration because actually parts are falling off due to old glue! 

Had to put a couple of parts back on like the cab rest and one of the cab hinges!

 

The old Revell AG truck tires seems to have problems with dry rot, at least mine did, and in later kits Revell AG replaced the tires and they are different.

[Jürgen M.]

I did notice that some tires were a bit sticky after all those years which is normal for that material after so many years but it was never as intense as that what you told.

That's probably why Italeri had plastic tires at that time.

But they too became crumbly. The tires of my Iveco had begun to fall apart after twenty years or so. They actually had big gaps on the side from the tread to the rim. 

The smaller amt tires, which were included in this Revell K100 kit (which I thought was strange!) seem to last the longest. 

 

 

[Bills72sj]

Thanks for sharing. This is one of my Holy Grail kits. I could bite the bullet and buy one but I already have more kits than I could build in my lifetime.

[Jürgen M.]

I'm running out of space too. Got 25 US trucks, some with trailer and 4 European ones!

More is to come though! ?

[Jürgen M.]

At the moment the K100 is a construction area.

Pieces are falling/breaking off. There's a lot to do because for every part I glue back on, two fall off!