Jeff

Thanks Ron ! Yeah my first ride was a Ford Louisville 225 Cat and two sticks 5&4. Those were the days. ! 18 speeds are where my heart is now. I kept both trannys in this model, was going to drop a 15 spd into it but decided as it was to represent a heavy haul in the north of Canada an old school two sticker would probably what should be used. Thanks for your kind comments.

That rendering of the cabover in orange and black is how I would do it. That color combo looks killer

Thanks ,Phil. Big trucks are my passion. Sat in them for almost 40 years. I love the old school ones best. My back, on the other hand will tell you something different though🤭🤣

Thanks for your kind words. I appreciate that very much

Thanks , Scott !

Thanks Kevin , I was striving for some realisim with the weathering, having been a heavy equipment operator and truck driver for almost 40 years, I wanted to tap into that experience. You are very correct about looking legit and it is easy to over or under do it. The weathering took days for me to do with restraint in mind. Glad you think this is close to the mark.

THANKS Kevin , I really appreciate that.... very glad you like it..

Thanks Pal

Many thanks Hubert ! It was a fun build and the other part of the story is these birds used to fly from a local airport during fire season. They were so cool

It was a 'small' one 🥃

That is awesome , John ! Your painting is flawless ! Jeff

Awe shucks............... Thanks Martin for your VERY kind words, I certainly appreciate it....

Here is my version of an Alaskan Hauler............ for those who don't know, the Alaska Hauler ( the real ones) were built in Burnaby British Columbia, at the Kenworth plant back in the day, Kenworths are now built in Renton Washington, Chillicothe Ohio, Ste. Therese, Quebec......... Alaska Haulers were only built for a short time, they are VERY heavy and all steel.....Hill and Hill were users of Alaskan Haulers.... this is my personal take on a heavy haul Alaskan Hauler..... lots of extras on this one, all plumbed with airlines and valves that were taken from a 1971 Kenworth W 900 schematic, aftermarket conversion kit from Auslowe in Australia, resin air valves, aftermarket Dayton rims and big lug drive wheels and tires, and Dayton rim and Heavy lug floats on the front axle, elecrical cable, air lines and glad hands, resin cinches and real metal tie down chains and hooks, also an added Warn Winch, fuel tank straps scratch made with bolts, trailer slides on rear of frame, back dated battery box cover, added a frame step, added fender flares, and changed out the stock dual Kenworth Air cleanerd to a single Larger Donaldson unit. then added the mud and dirt to look a bit used.....but NOT abused, and lastly a Yukon plate...

Well................ I am a little bit embarrassed..... was talking to Martin the other day and showed him my latest build..... he says you have to post this and I lamented that there was no real specific place to post a finished 1/48 scale model , and it isn't a work in progress.... well, Martin got right on the stick and got in touch with Ernie and lo and be hold, here we are, with a specific place to show our finished smaller scale...... so this will be my first official post on this site. I usually just build for me and I am not all that good, certainly like some of the talent I see here daily, and I could name names LOL.... so as I was kind of an instigator of this particular part of the site, ... here goes... There is a little bit of a back story here, I will do my best to keep it short so s not to bore you, a LONG while ago Tony Jones ( TJTX) was asking for information on TBM Avengers that were converted to air tankers.... I happened to have a fair bit of info, so I offered up what I had, I sent Tony a number of detailed photos, I have in my collection that I got from Mario, the Chief Engineer at Forest Protection, in New Brunswick Canada. Mario was super generous with information. So when Tony got the pics and info for his 1/32 scale conversion, he was a very happy boy. So as a thank you he sent me as a gift a 1/48 scale Accurate Minitatures TBM Avenger so I could do my idea of a conversion to a tanker. As it turned out, I believe Tony gave the project to our Ernie, as Tony was so busy with his own 1:1 aircraft build and his new little girl, I called Cubby. So with the kit in hand and what I had for information, I tucked in............... but as usual, life got in the way, ageing parents, losing 3 of them, then getting the last one into care , a house sale , a move, well you get the picture... the kit languished on the shelf half done, so a couple weeks ago I got back to it..... in the end , it turned out 'OK', but not to the level of talent I see here, regularly. I am over all pleased with the final result..... so the conversion is, of course to have the rear turret removed , ( easy, just leave it in the box ) and access a rear canopy section.... I got the rear canopy section from Mike Belcher, who makes an EXCELLENT 1/48 Scale TBM Royal Canadian Navy conversion, so it is basically a copy of the rear part of that conversion.... the decals came from Andrew and Above and Below Graffics, here in Victoria B.C. I scratch built the tank from the detailed photos and info from my friend at FPL, Mario. I used, Eduard masks and their photo etched cockpit set with belts, and Quick Boost resin exhaust etc... MM enamel paints through out.... So, here we go, I hope it passes muster with you guys, I think it is kind of cool and something not seen everyday, thanks for looking guys....

And here I thought I was the only one not on the mega social media sites …. Thought I was still in the stone age, it warms me to know I’m not alone. As with some of you guys , this is all I do ‘social media’ wise. Sadly there seems to be so much ‘bad press’ regarding the big SM sites and that is kind of a sad statement on our society. I preferred to opt out of them , so here I am. Jeff

Sure don’t see many of these on the roads any more. This is a true classic. Can’t wait to see what you do with it , Ron. Did you snag that from Paul at STS? Jeff

I absolutely LOVE the low bed. I would love to have that in my collection , I am thinking of a load of the ERTL International mine truck dump box . Have seen real loads of those monsters on the highway. Keep going Ron. Always very interested Jeff

I’m quietly loving this build , Phil. Top drawer job ! Jeff

I’m interested. I LOVE this sort of thing. I may never get there to see it for myself and love to learn of what things look like today and of detailed history. I’m in Jeff

Thanks for the info. I appreciate that.

Outstanding. ! What a clean smooth finish. Just beautiful, John.

Thanks , Ron. She is sure lookin spot on. Did you use Miliput for filling those brake chambers? That is what I think I will do with mine. I sure wish we could access some good aftermarket brake chambers. Those Italeri ones on their trucks are painfully underscale and way too small. Ad always I patiently await your next update. Truck on buddy. Jeff

Lookin good Ron. Where did you get the chrome rims for the floats? They look great. Can’t wait for the next update. Cheers mate

Good job , buddy. !!! I know what the ‘extras’ are and they are awesome! VERY glad they ‘tossed in ‘ the extras with the poster !

One of my top fav’s , John. I will be following along in the back row