1970 Kenworth K100 restoration WIP

[busnproplinerfan]

I'm taking a detour from my Freightliner FL70.

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235041358-freightliner-fl60-take-me-home-huey-hauler/&tab=comments#comment-3206869

I just started a restoration of a AMT Kenworth K100. This model was built originally by the Larry who I built the black T800 for a year ago, this was his first truck during the late '70s early '80s. He wants it redone.  I'm trying to save as much of the original parts as I can. I need to thief some parts from another pile of parts I have. I need to draw up decals, fix everything, replace the Hendrickson rear springs with torsion bars and repaint it all. Luckily it's very similar to the AMT kit. Here are photos of the actual truck, before and after when he had it. He sold the truck long ago so it's likely not existing anymore, which is to bad because it would be a hit at the shows. The paint scheme was created by the body shop here, so it's a one off. 

 

Here's the model, dark blue one. It's actually Olds engine blue. He painted the stripes by hand. I layed paper on the cab and drew out the stripes so I could scan them.

Here is everything on my CorelDraw12. I should say this was before I put the paper on the cab. Drawing it off the cab scans works until you go around corners, so paper first is better, masking tape would work to.

Here I'm test fitting the print out of the stripes on my spare cab by taping the paper to the cab, it did need some tweaking. 

I stripped the paint off, there is some silver under the blue that won't come off. Some of it did peel, have to live with it. I had to make a new windshield, I had a spare but wanted to try it out. I used the plastic from the trays from the blue wall hanging storage things. Use a cutting disk to cut that stuff. I also carefully cut out the heater grill (next to the grill) and moved it forward so it's flush to the front. AMT made the mistake of recessing it. The visor was glued on to heavily so it stays on. I did cut off the wipers and make new ones to. The bread bag ties are very useful, keep them, they are styrene.

Here's the infamous Kw torsion bar suspension. You can get these at ppvintagekits.com. This suspension was used on the first issued KW K123s and W925s. It was replaced by the Hendrickson springs on the models. The real ones are a very good suspension when maintained. It is a bit complicated, good thing I have an old built frame from one of these with this suspension, a lot of parts. I put the bars on the frame first(The line up slots were filled in on later Kw kits but can still be seen underneath) I then put one set of knuckles on the diff and one set on the bar's mounts. You have to do this slowly and one axle at a time, looking, looking, set it up and leave the axle off until the second one is set up, just makes it easier to adjust. then glue them on. Took a couple of hours to do this. Original plastic would be easier to.  The shocks are two two lengths. The longer ones go to the front diff. I also replaced the end crossmember with a 3mm frame extension and the new piece along with the frame roll up wedges you see here.

Here's the top view. I found out after, the crossmember on the blue frame is now wrong. The black frame shown has the correct one for the torsion bar set up. It's the same crossmember as the rear one over the rear diff. I'm not going to tear the frame apart for it and the fifth wheel plate covers the crossmember anyway. The older crossmembers also have two notches on the top for the shocks which you can sort of see.

I had to make new mufflers, stack tops and the crossbars for the mounting to. The tops I made from aluminum tubing. This truck had a dual air intake pipe going into one aircleaner. Today everyone has two aircleaners, even on restorations. I had to make new tubing for that to. Only the bottom part that goes into the aircleaner is original. I also filled the holes in the stack mounts since they aren't needed. Hopefully that's all the parts that need to be made so I can go back to cleaning up the original ones.

Edited December 2, 2018 by busnproplinerfan

[JeroenS]

I love this, keep it up!

[busnproplinerfan]

23 hours ago, JeroenS said:

I love this, keep it up!

thanks Joroen

[kpnuts]

Lot of work going into this.

[busnproplinerfan]

There is, I was hoping to have it done this month, should be January.

[kpnuts]

Hope springs eternal, the extra time will be worth it.

[busnproplinerfan]

6 hours ago, kpnuts said:

Hope springs eternal, the extra time will be worth it.

Yes I hope it is. Wish I could stop time for a few days for everyone else and tinker and procrastinate on my stuff.

[Mancunian airman]

Its fascinating watching this re-birth . . . .

 

'New' terminology makes one look twice to understand what you are doing, I look forward to seeing more.

 

Ian

[busnproplinerfan]

19 hours ago, Mancunian airman said:

Its fascinating watching this re-birth . . . .

 

'New' terminology makes one look twice to understand what you are doing, I look forward to seeing more.

 

Ian

thanks, I've done similar restorations before when truck models were a fortune on evilbay, before the reissues. I bought parts lots and bagged truck parts and put them back together. I actually prefer doing this than starting with a new kit. It talks to me more if that makes sense. Feel it has a history or story to it. This truck and model has a history to it.

[busnproplinerfan]

A lot going on here. Most of the frame work is done, still have to make a new batter box lid. Made a new exhaust pipe, similar to the original. Had to because the dual intake setup interferes with the left side of the exhaust to much. I made the flex part of the pipes by wrapping thin 0.5 x 1 mm stripes around the pipe. I tried one of them with thin stretched sprue which actually looks better. The mudflap hangers are from the Italeri Frieghtliner, I'm casting them for future use. I was going to use the Revell KW W900 bumper, but didn't want to wreck it since the chrome is very nice. I only have two of these so I'm sure I will need a few more. I had to change the holes and fill the frame cutouts. Because of all that I tried to make a new one and cast it to which did turn out. I made it completely smooth and will the holes as needed. In the backround you can see the ribbed half fenders. Those are made from V-groove sheet 6.3 mm spacing, made molds for those to. The AMT fuel tanks are smoothed, I made new flat straps for them. The hood in the backround is a T800 hood that I made a mold of before and had leftover resin so I made an extra one.

Here's the new bumper, it's the pattern but I'm using it, the bolt heads are 3d rivet decals. You can see the new intake pipes. The only original part of them is the bottm that goes into the air filter and the top parts that go under the caps. The interior tub has that annoying space between the cab and floor. I added strips of plastic to fill that space and added under floor details(not shown yet) I found a could of yuktube videos thet show these details. Just behind the stack mounts are two plates that will hold the power steering resevoir and the luberfiner.

Here she's finally painted. I had used Model Master Olds engine blue at first, but it looked to light when compared to the photos. I already put three coats on. I decided to to darken it up and found a Mode Master deep sea blue spray can I had for an A-3. The nozzle was screwed, so I teefed one from another can and sprayed it into a jar carefully and dumped it into the Olds blue. Forgot to say, I airbrushed it all. Looks a lot better now. Going to take some time to dry, must be about 4-5 coats of paint on it. I'm surprised it turned out smooth, never have this luck with airbrushing. The blue is a bit light over the diffs area, only because it's all covered up by deck plates. Only a couple of small boogers on the cab which I might leave. The chrome bumper, mufflers, fuel tanks and intake pipes are Spazstix ultamate mirrior chrome. I like it way more than Alclad chrome. I find Alclad chrome always looks dark over black. The spazstix is quite bright. The half fenders, deck plates and rims are Alclad airframe aluminum. I find you have to keep the stuff shaken a lot or else it wants to go dull when sprayed.

[Codger]

Complaint -

Please take BETTER PICTURES of this fine work - too much clutter around and not nearly close up enough!

A very complex project that needs much closer inspection.

😎

[busnproplinerfan]

24 minutes ago, Codger said:

Complaint -

Please take BETTER PICTURES of this fine work - too much clutter around and not nearly close up enough!

A very complex project that needs much closer inspection.

😎

Good point, I'm not the best photographer and a bit lazy for pictures. I'll put something better on shortly.

[busnproplinerfan]

A bit better picture, Codger has a good point. The black strips are the rubber strips that go under the chrome tanks traps. I keep them separate pieces. I saw in some pictures, the framing on the rads are silver on a few of these. The parts by the half fenders are mudflap weights. The strip under the half fenders are there to help keep the shape once they were curved.

Here's a better look at the blue and the bottom side of the frame. I realized when putting on the air tanks, they should've been put between the tank mounts. I had to grind off some of one tank to fit over the transmission. I also forgot to fill the holes under the battery box. My excuse will that they are drain holes if anyone notices. I made hydraulic cylinders for the cab jacks, that took awhile. The kit comes with similar ones, but it's better to make them, not easy though. The lines to them is automotive nylon upholstery thread. The little stick looking thing at the front of the frame is the steering column. I cut the original off above the u-joint and drilled a small hole in it the u-joint and glued in a small piece of thread. I took a rod and drilled into the end of it a hole and glued it to the thread as close to the u-joint as I could.  I had to drill an elipitical hole into the cab floor just to the right of the steering coloumn. The actual truck is a telescopic part because of the cab's tilt. It now fits in the model cab as it tilts. It doesn't really line up to the steering column inside the cab, but as long as you don't make the doors open you'll never see it.

Edited December 29, 2018 by busnproplinerfan

[Codger]

C'mon BNPLF !

Even if I had TWO good eyes this would be hard to see !

 

Nice color blue but this thing is begging for CLOSE-UPS on nice light backgrounds....like this:

[busnproplinerfan]

See what you think, I don't have a photogenic house. Not as nice as your frame picture, but this colour I'm finding is hard to photograph. I know black is even worse.

 

 

[Codger]

Ahhh - much better and that's a really nice chassis. Your house is lovely I'm sure but a simple plain light cardboard/foamcore/ceiling tile/desktop or similar is all that's needed. Or even an outdoor area that's not cluttered is great.

[busnproplinerfan]

1 hour ago, Codger said:

Ahhh - much better and that's a really nice chassis. Your house is lovely I'm sure but a simple plain light cardboard/foamcore/ceiling tile/desktop or similar is all that's needed. Or even an outdoor area that's not cluttered is great.

Thanks, I have a sheet of off white cotton that might make a good backdrop I should try. Does look a lot better. I don't mind critiques and criticisms, it make us all better. What car chassis is that in your picture?

Edited December 29, 2018 by busnproplinerfan

[Codger]

27 minutes ago, busnproplinerfan said:

 What car chassis is that in your picture?

This one:

[busnproplinerfan]

2 minutes ago, Codger said:

This one:

wow gorgeuos. Now that's a car.

[busnproplinerfan]

OH OH, yes, now that it's starting to look like something's wrong. I'm unhappy with it. The rear frame was to long and that after I added what I thought was needed. I had to cut 5 mm out of the rear to bring the mudflaps closer to the tyres. I also had to trim the ends of the torsion bars slightly.

Here it is reattached. The deck plate was also shortened at the front, it tucks under the fifth wheel plate anyway. While you here, here's rear fenders and new tyres mounted. The tyres are from KJ Humpreys  http://kdhumphr.wixsite.com/double-take-replicas

The rims are the original AMT parts from a parts truck, the brake drums on the original ones were glue bombed and glued crooked. I decided to made new brass axles too.

Here's an overall look at the frame pretty well finished. The front rims, I drilled out and put a brass pin into since the original parts couldn't go back together or function like they should. The front tyres are the original set from the parts truck. I realized after this, the stacks are a bit anemic, so I'm making a new set of tubing that will snap over top of these with a lengthwise section cut out . They aren't shown here. The current stacks are held on with a small brass wire just like the U-bolts are that hold the real ones on. You can see one at the bottom of the muffler. The exhaust tubing was a lot nicer at the Y pipe joint. It's the thick walled Plastruct tubing that is supposed to be superglued only. Well. nothing really holds it, it's not bad for heating and bending because of it's thick wall. They do make 40 and 90 degree elbows just for it, but I ran out from another project. As long as no one grabs the parts, it'll be ok. The thread on the back of the cab hinges is there to keep the cab from falling over. The tabs on the rad are just small pieces of sheet plastic attached at the top or maximum bonding. This is the only time I could put this on. I thought of other methods that would still look correct, but this won't be seen once it's all together. The hydraulics aren't long enough for it to go any farther over. One other thing is the lower rad hose/pipe. It's meant to go around the outside of the frame, but it interferes with the cab's hydraulic cylinder. I cut the top off and turned it slightly to meet the back of the waterpump instead of the side and ran it inside the frame rail. I made an imitation hose connector at the top. Looks like it would make sense.

Here's the new stack covers, one in place, one showing the cut out. I'm going paint them chrome and make a decal for the holes. The ugly spot on the tank was from me cleaning a paintbrush and a the golden BB of thinner hit the tank. I'm not going to rip the tank off, it would be to much to rebuild the straps and repaint it all again. Maybe I will redo it, I know it would lose points for that in a contest.  It took some test fitting and shimming to fit the rad to the engine's fan. I also shaved 1/8" off the top of the rad's tank to clear the cab's tunnel. A lot of test fitting needed in this kit. When I painted the intake pipes. I painted the silver and or chrome over the whole part. I then cut some very thin strips of Tamiya tape and wrapped it around where the clamps would be and the ends of the rubber connectors. I then painted the flat black by hand. After that I mad small bits of rod and glued them on to look like the screw parts of the clamps and dabbed the silver on.

The interior. Left it alone and just painted it. The brown is Testor's military brown brushed over the blue. The paint streaked a bit, which is ok. The blanket is a paper towel glued down. Unless you open the doors, you don't need the pedals, you'll never see them so save them for something else.

Some of the small trim parts. I made antennae from brass wire drill through the original springs on the kit antennae with a little flat piece of sheet for a base. This is all glued to the tops of the "towel racks". I cut the kit's mirrors apart and will make little tabs from angle to attach them to the brackets. The headlight bezels are outlined in black and the lenses are outlined in chrome marker. I took a pin and made a small dimple in the center on the headlight bezels to mimic the bulb part. I also drilled a small hole on the backside for a piece of thread which looks like the light wiring. The thread will glue to the bottom of the floor later on. The signals, I painted the outside edges and one facing side with chrome marker. The chrome side will get some clear red. I made some amber by taking Tamiya clear yellow and clear orange and mixing it till it looked nice.  The Tamiya clear orange is to dark and looks red.

Edited January 8, 2019 by busnproplinerfan

[Pete in Lincs]

That looks good. And complicated!

@Codger was right about the background, I need to pay attention to that myself.

That spot on the tank, how about a sticker over it? STP or something?

[busnproplinerfan]

2 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

That looks good. And complicated!

@Codger was right about the background, I need to pay attention to that myself.

That spot on the tank, how about a sticker over it? STP or something?

If it was staying my truck I would put something over it. I might be able to get it off, was looking at it. Yes I like Codger's idea of the backround to. This is just a large sheet of stained plastic and a paper envelope.

[busnproplinerfan]

I did pull the tank off and will repaint it. Came off pretty good, straps are fine.

[Spiny]

Looks great. I know it's annoying to have to go back to correct bits like you have done there, but I would be willing to bet that now it's all sorted you'll feel a lot of satisfaction for having overcome the issues and got it looking right.

[busnproplinerfan]

8 hours ago, Spiny said:

Looks great. I know it's annoying to have to go back to correct bits like you have done there, but I would be willing to bet that now it's all sorted you'll feel a lot of satisfaction for having overcome the issues and got it looking right.

As long as the paint comes out good. Don't want to have to explain what is is when I deliver it.