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1/50 2015 Kenworth T880 fuel truck


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Since I'm waiting for decals to finish off my F-8s, I'm building a truck. I was commissioned by the KW saleman who sold the actual truck, part of a fleet to Morgan Fuels. Morgan hauls bulk fuel for Esso in southern and central Ontario and sometimes Manitoba. The model is a First Gear KW T880. I was lucky and found it on evibay. I say lucky because the truck originally had a lowboy trailer, the seller had two that he kept the trailers from. I also found an International Durastar with the near correct tank. Making one from the two. I hope to sell the IH and the leftover KW parts and get some money back. The pictures ahow the actual truck(will be #49)and the other shows what I am starting with.

Morgan_fuels_project_wip_Oct_20_2015_1.j

T880_left.jpg

Morgan_fuels_project_wip_Oct_20_2015_2.j

Had some fun with the lift axle before removing it, ever wonder what a KW would look like with hydraulics?

Morgan_fuels_project_wip_Oct_20_2015_3.j

Here's where it is right now. Lots more trimming than I expected. Lengthened the rear of the tank, this covers the hose reels. When I glue the top and bottom of the tank body, I missed seeing that it should have been a bit taller. No way to cut this up so I had to ad frame rails under the original tank frame. Added to the rear bulkhead, made a new end cap. I couldn't decide to move the under body cabinets back or just cut them off and make new ones, well I cut them off. Most of the worst parts done now. The bag of sand was inside the tank, I guess just to weigh it down for the die cast effect? Also shown is the test page for the decals.

T880_wip_Oct_27_2015_2.jpg

T880_wip_Oct_27_2015_1.jpg

Edited by busnproplinerfan
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nice project!

I see Dryden on the side of the door.... I grew up there!

Oh cool. You likely would have seen their older fleet, no idea what they used to use. Like your profile pic, reminds me of Mr.Bean. Edited by busnproplinerfan
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T880_wip_Oct_27_2015_1.jpg

T880_wip_Oct_27_2015_2.jpg

T880_WIP_Nov_3_2015.jpg

Here's most of the latest. The first two show the extension I added, this covers the reels. You can also see the frame rails I added for height. The last one shows the cabinets, boxes whatever you want to call them being started. That snady looking sausage is what was inside the tank, for weight I guess. The door handles are made from staples(not the store, these are far more useful than the store).

Edited by busnproplinerfan
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Coming on nicely. Nice to see another modeller who uses die casts as a base to build from.

It was that or scratchbuild the truck, or turn down the job. Not going to get much in the end, but at least it gets me back into a truck and it's a nice looking one.. Edited by busnproplinerfan
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Looking good, nice to see some trucks on the forum

I'm glad this sites open to various subjects, thought I'd shake it up a bit. I just realized I posted the same pictures twice. Edited by busnproplinerfan
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T880_WIP_Nov_10_2015_1.jpg

T880_WIP_Nov_10_2015_2.jpg

Here's the tank ready for a quick coat of primer....finally. That ladder was not easy, this is actually the second one. I should have soldered the rungs on the ladder, but it had to be on the tank, which is also the jig. I was afraid of getting any heat near anything plastic.

Edited by busnproplinerfan
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  • 2 weeks later...

Morgan_T880_WIP_Nov_12_2015.jpg

Morgan_T880_horns.jpg

Morgan_T880_WIP_Nov_19_2015.jpg

The latest. Here I have the frame repainted silver. I decanted Testors silver spray and airbrushed it. The tank body is pretty much done, just needs decals. You can see the body work on the back wall and roof of the cab. I had to fill the two outer windows in, I used a tom of superglue just to make sure there would be no shrinkage. The roof had a small light on top which had to be filled. I made horns (truck never had any) from brass rod and very careful soldering. I made the front snow covers from a chunck of 0.060 plastic, drilled a small hole and stick them on the horn, then carefully grinded and filed them to shape. Unfortunatley when the red was still wet, I was trying to test fit the cab on the frame and of course stuck my finger in the wet paint. Tried to just touch it up, but it wouldn't have it so I had to repaint the roof again. Barely enough paint to do it. I used mostly Testors 1104 red and a little 1103 red. For some reason both 1103 bottles I have look very orange, like a Chevy engine orange. I made a new longer fuel tank (original is the black one pictured) from 12 mm tubing with new straps and steps from strip stock. Same method used for the new DEF tank. The KW had come with a DEF tank, but it was a bit short.The interior was very light, almost an off white, which is not available on KWs, so I painted the seats, inside of cab and dash primer grey which is fairly close. The engine is a Paccar which is silver with a black valve cover. The rad and chrome engine parts are original except I painted the fan a light tan.

Edited by busnproplinerfan
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  • 1 month later...

This truck is actually done, but I will post pictures in the inspection section as soon as I get to take them. It snowed a lot and being in a city, it's hard to get a nice backround. I want outdoor pics, I'll try shortly when it's not dark. here are the last two WIP pictures. I had to get the Esso decals reprinted because the first one got scratched and a couple of others had to be redone. Luckily the person who printed them is only 5 minutes from me. I dullcoated the tank with the white area masked. I went over it with humbrol satin with gloss added to give it a bit of shine. When I did get the decals one, I masked the silver off and glossed it with Humbrol. Well the Alps printed decals do not like Humbrol, that or I did it to soon, about an hour after put on decal set. The printed area started to crack or check. I tried to dad the large wrinkles with the side of a toothpick, that just took the decal off wherever I touched it. I tried to dab a tiny bit of red on, but it just looked dark. I ended cutting about a 1 cm section of the red close to the esso name and used the earlier red decals to fix it. This time I let it dry over the heat vent and brushed a couple coats of Future on. Future is very cool and neutral. I them hit airbrushed it again with humbrol and it behaved. All the other decals on the tank except the small lettering, I carefully brushed on future so they would stand out a bit against the satin silver.

WIP_Dec_17_2015_1.jpg

WIP_Dec_17_2015_3.jpg

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T880_done_Dec_20_2015_3.jpg

T880_done_Dec_20_2015_2.jpg

A bit on the dark side, but got some pics of the truck outside in the snow. I had to take it to work to get the pictures, there's a small river right beside my work that gives a nice backround.

I just realised I did this backwards, so here's the link to the "ready for inspection" section.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234993931-150-2015-kenworth-t880-fuel-truck-done/

Edited by busnproplinerfan
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