Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Thanks again Mario! Yeah the lights look great on there. I think stuff like that is really starting to tie it all together and that is keeping me interested. The part that I really do dislike is coming soon...paint! I really haven't been satisfied with any of my paint jobs and this one will be the most difficult(not for most but for me) so I'm dragging my feet. At least the longer I wait, the nicer the weather will be.

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Looking awesome Reg!!! All the details are really coming together!

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

As a guy who appreciates all the little details, you're doing a fine job. The air horn looks great. The bell at the end looks perfect!

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Absolutely amazing project and your attention to detail. All that aluminum makes me smile. Great job!

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Thanks for the complements guys.

Nate, I was struggling with how I was going to shape the inside of the bell but I ended up using a de-burring tool and it worked great!

The aluminum makes me smile too:D! Providing it's welding together properly:confused:...Sometimes it makes me very unhappy:mad: The trouble is, it's not the metals fault or the welder. It's the idiot trying to fuse it together!lol

Well gonna have some breakfast and get out to the shop! See what gets done today.

Reg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Well I spent a few more hours on the KW today. Wow the time is really adding up in this one. It's only been 4 months but there has been more time than I would like to count go into this thing! Todays list includes new boards for the headache rack and making up some bits and pieces to mount the trailer axles to the walking beams. I was going to machine more of the pieces but I decided it would be easier and waste less material if I bent up some sheet for the top and machined the bottom. I made everything up as one unit and then cut it into four once all the machining was done. Then I had to make some U bolts and cut a bunch of rubber strips. Once all this was done I stuck it all together and took the truck and trailer outside for a couple measurements and some pictures. The truck and trailer are about 68 inches long:jaw: and I'm guessing pushing very close to 50lbs with the battery. I still have to add some bracing and end caps on to the parts I made today and there is still more welding to do on the trailer frame. The list of big things is pretty short now though so that's a relief!

Some pictures of todays progress...

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7a3be825.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5ae6870c.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0948c42f.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2aa13d46.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps09ea7b2e.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psc483ebd8.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4b329666.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...pscd0d5111.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps72f16742.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps20dc56d2.jpg

Reg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Beautiful truck. Very nice metal work.

That air horn looks great.

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Awesome job with the trailer, Reg, and congratulations on build of the month! Well deserved.

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Like I said this a very nice scratch build your looking good Reg. Your going to need a bigger motor ,you think? Keep up the good work. Ed Ed

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Thanks to everyone that voted for my truck and thanks to Claus for nominating it! What did I win?:p

Ed, I think the motor will be fine. It's the rear diffs that I'm worried about.

I got a bottle of gas the other day but haven't spent much time on the truck because of other priorities. After work I started to weld up the caps on the walking beams but I only got two finished before the battery died in my helmet. Maybe if I'm good the Lil woman will get one for me tomorrow so that I can finish them after work sometime this week.

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psd30464b9.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5b007dd1.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psd17aca04.jpg

Thanks for looking!

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

wow! very nice truck!

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Thanks very much. I finished up the walking beam mounts last night but nothing else to report. It's been a slow week in my shop.lol The weather has been super hot here(for this time of year) the last few days. I wish I wasn't working so that I could have thrown some paint at this while it was so warm. Oh well I have some days off coming up...bring on the rain.haha

Reg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

I was able to work on this intermittently today. I did some more welding on the trailer/bunk and mounted the air tanks under the cab. The air tanks even got a quick coat of paint!

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psc8754729.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psa82944f2.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8804c6ab.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9c13f15a.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps28dece93.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4eaa6605.jpg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Welded up the reach this morning and added a little detail to the door area of the cab this afternoon....

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5538ed30.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps14048b6e.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6c7c9b1d.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5566821b.jpg

Thanks for looking!

Reg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Reg, I can't stop admiring your work, you do a fantastic job:)
And I love those TIG welds you make:D
How did you do those panel lines to the door?

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

So much to admire here. A lot of learning can be done too by watching something come together like this. Great work.

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Thanks Ari, I had a brief moment while welding the reach where I felt like I knew what I was doing:confused:. Too bad I can't weld like that all the time!

Is your TIG on it's way yet?

The door lines are nothing fancy. It's just some soft galvanized steel wire bent to the shape of the door opening and glued into position. I was struggling with how I was going to make it look like there was a door there. I was going to dremel a groove all the way around but on the real trucks there is a lip on the door and the frame that sticks out so I gave this a shot. I think it turned out better than I expected.

Jason, I'm always excited when I see you have posted something on your builds for exactly the same reasons! Sometimes the smallest idea that someone else has can be such a huge help.

Thanks,Reg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

yea , Reg thanks for the inspiration in tig welding :) I did soso :o

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps30972077.jpg

OTOH truck looks great :eek:

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

I think, this truck is better than the original, looks great

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Welding aluminum can be tricky it seems. Too little heat and it won't puddle, too much heat and it disappears:eek: or warps really bad. I have spent a fair amount of time welding it now but have no training in welding so I'm sure I could benefit from some lessons. That would probably help my consistency.

What is that in the picture? Is that the 990 or something new?

Thanks very much Wolfgang, I don't think it is better than the original, but I am quite happy with how it is turning out!

Reg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

It's not the 990 , something smaller that I'm throwing bits and pieces together ;) somewhat welding practice :o . I had issues seeing the puddle with my old helmet , bit since I got the miller autodark :D . my next issue is feeding the filler with gloves on ( can't feel it ) . I'm self taught to , look at pro welds and try to copy :o

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Do you have proper TIG gloves Steve? If you don't they are much thinner and provide a lot better feel. I understand what you're going through though. I rarely ever wore gloves before while MIG welding steel so when I started trying this I had a hard time too. I learned the hard way though that even a tiny weld will give you a major sun burn with TIG. Probably the most frustrating thing for me is when I touch the tungsten on the work and contaminate it! I say some bad words every time I do that for sure. Sometimes I try to keep welding afterward and it's almost always a mistake with this thin stuff. I'm getting better about doing the right thing and regrinding the tungsten now though...too many wasted pieces that were time consuming to make!

Reg

Oh yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing another IH Builder thread!

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

No just my heavy welding gloves from stick and mig welding . I've got burned pretty bad with the mig . specially the face when getting in a tight spot on body work when the old helmet use to tick me off . just put my dark wraps on my eyes and have at it . That hood is .07" sheet the edge welding was fun gotta move the filler fast . Another build thread :thinking:not sure I'll do 1 of that . It's going together too fast :eek: I need to get the dozer going before anything else .

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

I finally bit the bullet on the tires this morning. I ordered up all 16 that I need to finish the log trailer and build the lowbed as well. Shipping was the same for 8 as it was for 16 so I went for it.

On the fabrication side of things I finally got some material to build the mirror posts so I got them done today. I'm starting to narrow down my to do list and its almost time for paint....

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psb7af983e.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps23a72f9b.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psb8244614.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps47fcd355.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psf87dbc3b.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psf479f377.jpg

Thanks for looking!

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Man, that's a beautiful model. I'm glad you're putting in the efforts on the details. The mirror posts look great. It's all the little stuff that will make this model come to life! So I guess this Kenworth is going to be yellow and green?

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Thanks Nate, I'm not sure if I'm spending the time adding the details to make the truck look more finished or just to avoid painting!lol I really hate painting... Yes the truck will be yellow, green and white. I'm going to try and see if I can get the original owners company logos made for the doors. I think that will really make it appealing to some of the old timers around here(and to me too).

Reg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Your looking real good Reg it is really taken shape now your on a down hill slide now. Ed

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Small update....details, details....
Made some brass caps for the tanks...
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps68ba647c.jpg
some studs for the front wheels....
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psd97e1e73.jpg
some hold downs for the hood...not very scale other than their location but they will do....
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psea16841d.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psc02c9b3a.jpg
and finally started to splash some paint on the front wheels....I greatly dislike painting:(
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps28451389.jpg

Thanks for peepin!

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Hey Reg, I'm lovin the details :cool: keep this up and we are looking at build of the year for sure! She's a masterpiece without a doubt.

Mario

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

That's a pretty bold statement Mario! I think there are a few other builds going on that best it for build of the year(Like that guy from Finland building the excavator;)) but I guess you're allowed to be bias because you contributed to the project:p! I'm actually enjoying some of the detail work on this. There are a few things that I should do that I'm having trouble finding the motivation for but I will try to keep pushing forward and not get impatient...

Reg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Hi Reg,
got possibility to copy some KW broschures (doing a story about KW 90 year for a magazine) on loan. Might be a little late into this fantastic build now but want to share it anyhow! Both KW 850 and little brother 849 shown.

http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/...ps192294b4.jpg

http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/...psaab1be62.jpg

http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/...psba29bf45.jpg

http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/...psa658d376.jpg

http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/...ps94a99e88.jpg

http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/...ps23df3402.jpg

/Dan

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Hey Dan, very cool! I had never seen the pre-loader brochure before! Thanks for posting that. Do you have much history on the plant in Burnaby BC? I think they stopped building trucks there in the 80's but I'm not positive what year. I think the last 850's were built in 1988 so I'm guessing it was around then. If you have any info feel free to share it on here. I think it is cool that all the off-highway logging trucks(no matter the brand) were built right here in BC for the local forest industry. The fact that so many of these trucks are still operating today is a testament of their build quality!

Thanks, Reg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Ok, I got a little carried away and you are absolutely right about the other amazing builds going on right now......There's just something bout those old K Dubs I just love:).
How about build of the year nominee?? ;):rolleyes::)

Mario

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Haha, Fair enough Mario! Nominee sounds good enough to me.:D Don't get me wrong I would love to win build of the year and I'd like to think it's a worthy candidate, but there always is some stiff competition!

A few more tweaks to the truck today... and some big chunks seen some paint!

I made up a little fake drain pipe and ball valve for the water tank. The piece that "T"s off to the front will have a hose pushed on it and the one pointing down is meant to look like the ball valve. I will paint the handle red later....

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps393ed5f5.jpg

I wasn't happy with the look of the water tank on top so I added a guard to each side of the "V" notch. I can't tell from the pictures I have if it is correct but this is how my Dad remembers it so I will blame him if it is wrong:rolleyes:.

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7951394a.jpg

Next up I did some mud work on some of the seems and began the application of School Bus Yellow!...Oh and some more white on the rims....

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psb45130b4.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psd0d369bc.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4d587750.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psda378878.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2e229bfd.jpg

Reg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Sorry Reg, did not have anything more about those trucks.
Yes, the logging truck up at your place looks real cool, A Hayes wouldn't be to bad to have sitting around the corner.
Dan

850 looks good in paint too!

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

I hate painting too, Reg, but so far it looks like you are getting some great results!

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Some more paint....

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0f03d5b8.jpg

With a little primer, I think the wire I used to make it look like door frames turned out well.

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psf8a3eb1a.jpg

The front fenders should have a triangular piece welded in at the front where they're bent instead of the way I built them so I machined a step in the sides of them to make it look like it is multiple pieces.

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psc96edf50.jpg

a couple extra colors too...starting to look like the real deal!:D

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps182b98de.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...pse5e21fb2.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps135d6f3e.jpg

Thanks for following along...Reg

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Nice work on the door trim Reg :cool: it looks great!
We could all tell your metal skills when it was in raw form but like the old saying, paint shows all imperfections and yet, the cab and front end looks nice and clean with paint on them. Awesome job!
Have the tires you ordered arrived yet?

Mario

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Hey Reg, on those hood latch orings, have you considered sticking them in a vise with wax paper, then fill the centers in with black silicone????
Just an idea?
Looks better every day!
Cheers, Neil.

Re: Kenworth 850 Off Highway
 

Thanks Mario,

I spent a little more time on the roof(filing and sanding) before priming so that the only place there is any mud in the whole cab is where the windshield meets the firewall cowl. I really want to make the metal do what I want and not have to use filler! Some places though it is better to cheat and use it rather than trying to weld and entire seem.

The tires shipped out on Monday afternoon and I see that they cleared customs this morning so I should get them soon.

Neil, I switched to a lot thinner O rings and it looks much better but I may have to give your idea a try!

Reg