1950 Kenworth Needlenose

[flatdeck]

Looks great....



Wayne

[Claus]

Wow Nathan, looking a little more gangsta than my taste but who could complain?!!! Love your custom work, every time!

[RCP57]

Originally Posted by Claus

Wow Nathan, looking a little more gangsta than my taste but who could complain?!!! Love your custom work, every time!

I have a complaint.... HURRY UP ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Espeefan]

Originally Posted by wolfws6

Bad ***, that all I can say!!!

Thank you wolfws6. That's pretty much the look I'm going for.

Originally Posted by flatdeck

Looks great....


Wayne

Thanks Wayne!

Originally Posted by Claus

Wow Nathan, looking a little more gangsta than my taste but who could complain?!!! Love your custom work, every time!

Gangsta is definitely a good description! My driver is definitely going to have to let all the air out of the seat..... Up next, the super tall shifter!

Originally Posted by RCP57

I have a complaint.... HURRY UP ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reg, what's your address? The only way I'll get this done fast is to send you the whole truck and let you finish it! I'll even let you paint it. I hate painting.

[RCP57]

Sounded great until you mentioned painting....

[Claus]

Originally Posted by RCP57

Sounded great until you mentioned painting....

I have a brand new 3" brush and a roller I could lend out.

[Izzy]

Very nice - more progress please.....

[doodlebug]

Hey Nathan, have you considered anodizing the truck instead of paint? Looking good!
cheers, Neil.

[Trucker_Jo]

Wow that's too cool Hey if you don't like painting maybe get it anodized, powder coated, or even hydro dipped like this body:



Have fun!

[Espeefan]

Originally Posted by Izzy

Very nice - more progress please.....

Thank you Izzy. I'm working on it!

Originally Posted by doodlebug

Hey Nathan, have you considered anodizing the truck instead of paint? Looking good!
cheers, Neil.

Thanks Neil. Yes, I have considered anodizing more than once. Especially for the for the chassis and axles. The thing that worries me about anodizing is I think that process builds up a protective, hardened layer on the aluminum and I haven't accounted for that. I am worried things would not fit back together again, as I haven't machined my parts undersized to allow for it. I'm also worried that some parts might get lost in the process, or in transit. For the cab, it's a casting, and not quite perfect, even though it's pretty nice. There are some minor little low spots and things I would like to smooth over with body filler. Anodizing wouldn't really cover those well, unless I went with a matte type finish, and I think I'd rather have a shiny truck. Hmmm, matte black or blue, with polished aluminum parts though....?

Originally Posted by Trucker_Jo

Wow that's too cool Hey if you don't like painting maybe get it anodized, powder coated, or even hydro dipped like this body:



Have fun!

That's a sweet looking shell, Trucker_Jo! I think if I do any painting, I'll be sending the cab out for a custom job. The chassis painting, I can handle. Actually, let's put it this way. I do fine painting single color schemes. It's the masking I am not good at, with multi-color schemes. Hydro-dipping is something I never considered. Might be an option! Thanks.

[toniolillo]

I love the paint job

[Espeefan]

Been working on these little buggers for a while now. I just finished soldering up the LEDs for one of the air cleaner light brackets this morning. I still have the other to do yet. It's a lesson in patience, soldering the LEDs inside the brackets. It took me 2 or 3 hours, but at least one is pretty much done!





Orange (front) side.



Red (rear) side.



Both, from above.

I haven't got to the breathers yet, but the plan is to mount them against the machined saddle, on the face of the brackets. Might have to get a little help making the breathers, as I don't have my own lathe......

[TRUCKMAKER]

Trucks looking good Nathan! Keep at it, it'll be done before you know it! (We Hope!?)

[doodlebug]

Hey Nathan, I see your point, So make it "POP"!
Cheers, Neil.

[heavy_duty]

Great build you going here. The attention to detail is second to none. The light bars look sweet.

Ed

[bigpipespete]

That visor looks sweeet.

[Espeefan]

Originally Posted by TRUCKMAKER

Trucks looking good Nathan! Keep at it, it'll be done before you know it! (We Hope!?)

Thanks Ken! Yes, we (I) hope!

Originally Posted by doodlebug

Hey Nathan, I see your point, So make it "POP"!
Cheers, Neil.

I'll do my best. Is there a custom painter in the house?

Originally Posted by heavy_duty

Great build you going here. The attention to detail is second to none. The light bars look sweet.

Ed

Thank you for the nice comments, Ed. I appreciate it. Especially after seeing some of your beautiful work.

Originally Posted by bigpipespete

That visor looks sweeet.

Thanks bigpipespete!

[Espeefan]

Happy Memorial Day to everyone, especially all of the veterans and those who are in active duty. My thanks to all of you who have helped maintain our freedoms and way of life!

I figured with a 3 day weekend I would (should) do some more work on my Kenworth. I enlisted the help of a friend of mine from work, who was kind enough to turn down some aluminum stock for me on the lathe. I gave him the material and my drawings, and he gave me back my air cleaners. Special thanks to Ron. They are actually pretty simple parts. I just bought some precision ground .75" round stock, so nothing needed to be turned beyond the relief cuts for the screens. All in all a pretty simple job, but something I couldn't do because I don't have a lathe. Maybe I should get one!

On with the photos!





They still need a final polishing and a bit of clean up, but it shouldn't take much to get them looking flawless. I thought for the old Kenworth strapless air cleaners would look best. Sort of going for a resto-rod project truck here.

For a little extra touch of style, I planned to illuminate the inside of the air cleaner screens with an LED. I've always loved this look on the 1:1 trucks. I have blue LEDs on order for the truck, but just to see how it would look I stuck a red LED inside, temporarily.



And one more in the dark -



Thanks for looking guys. Have a great weekend.

[Supermario]

Very nice work Nathan! and good of you to invest some time of a holiday weekend into Rc.
The air cleaners turned out beautiful. I really like the led inside. ( wish I did that on Sues truck ) . The screen looks nice and straight, fits perfectly.
So hopefully we don't need to wait for another long weekend to get some more progress and pics right

Mario

[TRUCKMAKER]

Happy Memorial Day Nathan, I'm with Mario the cleaners look great especially with the LED inside and more updates please!