2019 KW T800 twin steer tri axle rotator wrecker

[klubman01]

12 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Nice and shiny! Those wheels came out pretty well too.

Got to agree with that!

Trevor

[busnproplinerfan]

6 hours ago, klubman01 said:

Got to agree with that!

Trevor

Thanks Trevor.

[busnproplinerfan]

Didn't realize it's been about two months, hope you got your popcorn.

I had one set of tires from Moluminum but he isn't around really much unfortunately. I made my own copies. I used a Smooth-On rubber resin that I forgot the name of but can find out, I added a black dye to it make the colour. Turns out it's the exact same material as the tires I used for a pattern. I used up all the material I had since the stuff has a short shelf life once opened. I also didn't pressurize it, I should have but they still look ok.

Trying to line up all three axle was a bit of work. Also the suspension wants a wider frame and the trailing arm parts were coming inwards a bit. You can see how nose heavy the truck is to at this point. What made this a bit hard was lining up the center of the axles to the wrecker bodies wheel opening. They seem a touch out. It's crucial that the wheels are centered. If there was no body on top it would be a lot easier but this is a wrecker not a flatbed. The Neway suspension parts and wheels(all blue parts) are from Czech Truck Model https://www.czechtruckmodel.com/    excellent parts.

I made up a series of aligning pins between the center and outside body sections to make them a more solid unit when glued together. I don't trust super glue alone to hold everything. I also had to grind the bottom of the center section smooth and level, well by eyeball anyway.

The tires opening is a touch larger than the wheel diameter so I had to made a spacer around the rims. I used two layers of .010 sheet. I tried .020 but it was harder to lay on smooth. Finished it to the edge of the rims and it looks good. Also mad a support to hold the frame up which helped a lot.

Test fitting the body, lots of small adjustments needed.

I ended up adding shims to below the airbags to get all six wheels to sit properly. If you noticed, I also am using a straight board and a lazy susan to work on so I don't have to lift up the truck continuously, just make sure to counter weight the board. I made the side mounting plates much like the actual ones. I had to raise the front of the body with a .020 spacer to make it sit more level with the tires. Also made airtanks and driveshafts. I found the resin driveshafts after these were made. Most of this will never be seen or just barely.

Wheels painted and tires weathered a bit an all installed. I painted the wheels with alclad airframe aluminum over satin black acrylic with gloss overcoat. Usually works good but went a bit duller this time. So I painted alclad chrome over it and it then looked to toy like. I painter a coat of alclad satin sheen clear over the chrome and it toned it down a bit. The center axle covers I painted with molotow chrome after an alclad treatment. I wanted the two hues to be noticeable.

The body is now glued on with mudflaps and tie down wires added. Spades are attached underneath and is the front stabilizer. Also made the fuel tank cover panels.

 

[klubman01]

Despite the problems you encountered, I think the wheels have turned out really well.

Trevor

[JeroenS]

That's excellent progress on this big unit. Very nice work on that suspension, that's tricky!

[busnproplinerfan]

7 hours ago, klubman01 said:

Despite the problems you encountered, I think the wheels have turned out really well.

Trevor

Thanks, those little problems always sneak up on you.

[busnproplinerfan]

2 hours ago, JeroenS said:

That's excellent progress on this big unit. Very nice work on that suspension, that's tricky!

Thanks, I think the suspension is more meant for 1/24 and an Italeri chassis.

[busnproplinerfan]

I forgot to mention that I boxed the frame between the sleeper and the first crossmember to make the frame more rigid. The wrecker body being glued on reduces the flex along the rest of the frame. I lost one of the casted diffs somewhere. I ended up using the front diff from the Louisville kit because it has the gear reduction on it, the cast ones don't. The wheel set come with an adaptor for metal axles.

[Pete in Lincs]

What a monster. But also what a Beauty. I like that green against the black. Great work on the wheels etc too.

[busnproplinerfan]

2 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

What a monster. But also what a Beauty. I like that green against the black. Great work on the wheels etc too.

Thanks Pete, it's Camaro sinergy green on the fenders. The green on the graphics has no name, just what look close. I like the scheme to.

[Pete in Lincs]

Thanks, Another nice Camaro green to remember.

I don't know if you know of Dennis Collins, the Jeep guy from Texas that goes around rescuing Muscle car barn finds?

I watch his coffee walks on the tube. A few weeks ago it was a late '60's Camaro in Sequoia green. That was nice too.

[busnproplinerfan]

3 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Thanks, Another nice Camaro green to remember.

I don't know if you know of Dennis Collins, the Jeep guy from Texas that goes around rescuing Muscle car barn finds?

I watch his coffee walks on the tube. A few weeks ago it was a late '60's Camaro in Sequoia green. That was nice too.

Haven't but might be something to look at. Here it's over grey primer. I did try test it over gloss black, looks really cool that with about two to three coats.

[Pete in Lincs]

Dennis puts up a new post on a Friday usually. Search Coffee walk. He and the crew go all over and rescue from wrecks to much loved muscle with elderly owners. Their Jeep restorations are beautiful. It's always interesting with something to learn. His knowledge of build codes is incredible. This weeks rescue was two split window Corvette Coupe wrecks. 

[busnproplinerfan]

The stabilizer parts are about to go on, just have a couple of bits to detail and put on. Just wanted to put an update before I get lazy updating.

[busnproplinerfan]

That center unit for the stabilizer I was told was to high so I lowered it 7mm. I had to trim up the bottom of it about 3mm so the bottom stabilizer would sit properly, seems to be fitting good still. The boom was spec'd so the whole truck would be no higher than 13' 6", the height of most trailers and it'll fit under most bridges.