2019 KW T800 twin steer tri axle rotator wrecker

[busnproplinerfan]

Here's my next major project. It's a new 2019 KW T800 rotator wrecker used by Champion Towing here in Winnipeg. The wrecker is a Miller 1075S rotator with an HHU underlift. (Miller took over Century wreckers awhile ago). This truck is 45' long, the length restrictions were recently changed. I built a similar wrecker for Dr.Hook towing a few years ago and it was limited to 40'. This truck is very pretty with the right colour scheme and is all business, approximate weight is 80 000 pounds. It has a 600 hp Cummins and standard transmission. The moose bumper (as they are called in Canada) is made by Herd.

I found a portion of my old notes and had to update a few things and redraw the pencil into fine ink. The forward section of paper is a new overlay with the updates as is the very rear where the HHU underlift is. I find it easier to draw the model out in scale and do all of your figuring out on paper. It still takes a few days to draw and or redraw all this up. Small stuff can be eyeballed as you build. Also because this truck is stored at the other end of the city, so it's a trip to get to see it and it's a very busy truck. I'm about to go on vacation so I had to pick something simple to get started on. I decided to start with the hydraulic cylinders. They are made of various Evergreen tubing up to 11 mm. I had to use a bit of tamiya tape to shim a few of the tubes to fit tight. The pistons are just going to be the ends. I'm making this as a static model that will be in a case when done. The engine will be put in and hood openable. I found a Miller PDF parts manual online that will help a lot to, just no measurements or straight on views.

Here's a link to a 1/50 Peterbilt I made for Champion Towing in 2015. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235014127-2015-peterbilt-tri-axle-wrecker-done/

 

[Cooper645]

Nice looking wrecker, should make for a great model. I look forward to seeing it in its full colour scheme as the back end is hidden away in the pictures. 

 

Enjoy your our holiday and best of luck with this build. I’ll be sure to drop in on progress updates. 👍🏼

 

Coops

[busnproplinerfan]

3 minutes ago, Cooper645 said:

Nice looking wrecker, should make for a great model. I look forward to seeing it in its full colour scheme as the back end is hidden away in the pictures. 

 

Enjoy your our holiday and best of luck with this build. I’ll be sure to drop in on progress updates. 👍🏼

 

Coops

Thanks, I have detail pictures of it, but this one is the best for overall, found a short yt of it on the road https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR5X-oUABFQ

 

[JeroenS]

Great project, looking forward to following it!

[busnproplinerfan]

Have bits done, not as much as I want. Had vacation, then work got really busy, so a month behind in everything tight now. Anyway, working on the boom first. Making everything from sheet plastic cut out to whatever shapes.

The boom won't extend since this will be a static model, less to break and once you paint the parts, it probably won't work anyway. The D-rings are rod bent around and another across the attaching part.

Here's the boom almost done. Started on the rotator weldment. That's what it's called in the manual. I should've measure a bit more, still works.

Most of the rotator done. Lots of sheet plastic pieces just like the real one.

[JeroenS]

That's some nice scratchbuilding! What's your method of bending rod, like you did with the D-rings?

[busnproplinerfan]

5 hours ago, JeroenS said:

That's some nice scratchbuilding! What's your method of bending rod, like you did with the D-rings?

Thanks. They're plastic rod bent around a pencil tip slightly heated and the other piece was added. I put some cement where the two joined to give it the rounder hole. It'll just sit in the space on the boom mounting and the ends seen through the mounting will just be painted. The actual ones have a large pin holding them to the mounting.

[JeroenS]

Do you use hot water to heat the plastic?

[busnproplinerfan]

3 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

Do you use hot water to heat the plastic?

just lightly waved a lighter under it,curved ti around the pencil tip, anything round would work, but because of the taper you have any size you want. Lightly heated it first, wrapped it then lightly heated it again while holding it. Leave it a bit long and cut the piece after.

[busnproplinerfan]

A bit more done. Made the main winches, have four more to do. These were made from various sheet, strips and tubing. The lines are soft metal wire. The winches will be painted separately then cables installed.

Edited August 28, 2019 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

The boom is pretty much done now. Finally figured out the base, eyeballed it as best I can. The lightbars are 4 mm tubing with rod inside and bent carefully with a lighter. I still had to do bodywork to the curved areas. I made the hydraulic lines from brass. I did make them plastic fist but they are so thin I thought brass rod would be much better. The tamiya tape on the hydraulics are to shim the piston so it's tighter in the tube.  I'd love to make this a fully functional unit, but it would be a lot more work and would loose a lot of strength. It would also take a lot more hours, this is already just over 60 hours to this point.

The winch beside it is the side pull winch, The square thing next to it is the cover for the gear drive. The black dots on the lightbar mount is very small lights. I was practicing to see how they could be made. I drilled a tiny hole, dabbed in some chrome silver and used the edge of a marker to make the black ring, Looks ok up close.

The diamond plate underneath is wrong, it should be smooth. I made new pieces.

Edited September 13, 2019 by busnproplinerfan

[JeroenS]

That looks fantastic!

[busnproplinerfan]

7 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

That looks fantastic!

Thanks 

[busnproplinerfan]

Slowly getting along. Here's the side of the wrecker's body starting. A basic framework like the original with posts that line up with the compartment doors. It's all sheet and square stock. The angled top corners are 0.5 x 4.8mm strips with the edges beveled. I taped them to a hard straight edge then buzz the edge with a sanding drum on the dremmel. I drew the actual shape on paper first and tried to stick to that for the pattern. The side sheeting is 0.040.

I realized after I had to add sheeting of 0.020 on top of the 0.040 to make everything fit right. There will still be the compartment doors to on this yet. I think I over engineered these parts a bit and should've just went with thick sheets to start with, would've save a lot of time to. The side skirts I made in sections instead of a single piece, much easier. Found a good use for credit cards and hotel door cards, they're styrene, why throw them in the garbage? I also made it to long and had to cut about a 1/2" off the rear.

The last front compartment I just made by gluing black 0.040 sheets together and adding square stock just where the doors will attach and to make the angled corners. Much easier. Added the diamond plate and they're mostly done, just doors and trim to do. Now to move on to the rear and center section then the outriggers.

[busnproplinerfan]

 

Started the taillight parts. These aren't as easy as they look.  As you will see later on I should have double checked my references. Anyway, this is the easier way to make such a complex part. Make it all in pieces first, cutting out the holes. 

I tried to bend the strips around the angled corner around the rear top areas but it had a mind of it's own and kept breaking. I figured it would be easier to glue a large piece of plastic on and just grind away the rest. It is much easier.

Here is when I held the parts to a side photo and saw I was a bit off. I first noticed because there is a square access panel below the bottom taillights that didn't fit. I filled the cutouts in with plastic and superglue, sanded it smooth and started over. Luckily the top lights were ok. I tried very hard to make sure both side are identical. I was going to leave the rear parts off then decided it would be best to install them along with the wheel trim and all the other lighting. The wheel trim parts are 2.5 mm quarter round. I messaged the strips into a curve the cut it a bit long. Glue them on one at a time and cut off the excess. A lot easier now than when it's all painted. I also want to make molds and cast these and most of the wrecker parts.

Here's the revised taillight cutouts and panel outlines below them. The little parts to the right are the bases for the side facing work lights.

Here's another look at the work lights. These go on between the wheels(as in the photo) along the side and rear. I cut a strip of 0.060 sheet and rounded it off. I then cut that into lengths and glued them to the bases I made earlier(shown where pencil pointing). Once the glue dried, I carved them into shape. (stick these to some masking tape when working on, trust me) These will be casted in mold rubber and the lights will be made from epoxy so they will be (mostly)clear with a chrome trim painted on. There are only ten so it's easier to make the whole batch at once when mixing epoxy. These will be glued on after painting. So far this whole project has just passed 100 hours.

 

 

[pacificmustang]

this is some top shelf scratch building

fantastic work

 

Bruce

[busnproplinerfan]

12 minutes ago, pacificmustang said:

this is some top shelf scratch building

fantastic work

 

Bruce

Thanks Bruce.

[kapam]

My Word!

This makes anything I attempt in the hobby look rather pathetic.

Your scratch-building skills are simply awesome.

[busnproplinerfan]

On 10/31/2019 at 1:25 AM, kapam said:

My Word!

This makes anything I attempt in the hobby look rather pathetic.

Your scratch-building skills are simply awesome.

Thanks Kapam, think I'm over building some of it.

[busnproplinerfan]

Bit more done, should be more enthusiastic right? The front two compartment cabinets are done. I carved all the door handles. You may see a big difference on the side parts. I realized I had to widen them by 6mm on the inner sides. I built up the difference with some .040, .060 etc. New diamond plate on top and corner edge mouldings. Put on all the lights. I'm going to try set this up for casting. The center section called a wrecker subframe is built from a lot of guessing and a few pictures. It's a bit overbuilt. The cone looking thing covers the hydraulic parts for the underlift. It still has to be trimmed on the rear. The recess in the middle is for the two belly drag winches. These are optional on the wreckers, can never have enough winching power.

Edited November 20, 2019 by busnproplinerfan

[JeroenS]

Yep, I definitely think you should be more enthousiastic 🙂 ... That's quite nice, what you have there... 

[busnproplinerfan]

3 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Yep, I definitely think you should be more enthousiastic 🙂 ... That's quite nice, what you have there... 

thanks.

[busnproplinerfan]

Here's some more, slowly but surely. These are the rear upper parts of the stabilizers and the piece in the center is the upper part of the axle underlift. These are all made from sheet plastic. Some holes are filled in like the ones on top. I did this because I'm going to try to cast the wrecker parts. Means I have to make it a little differently than a finished part. Hoping it works then I can make another a lot quicker if I want. 

The rest on the underlift done.

This is the start of the housings for the stabilizes that are mounted underneath. There are two with only small differences. Here's the basic sheet structure. Notice how they are offset to point slightly downwards.

Here's the two housings made. Now there are mountings, tow eyes and other bits to add on as well as the stabilizer ends.

 

[JeroenS]

It looks very convincing, nice work on the crane.

[busnproplinerfan]

Thanks Jeroen.