Happy Friday gents,
Ahh, this is indeed the project that keeps giving…me grief. Things are moving right along, but the more I review the walkaround photos from @18bravo, well, the more I see that I need to fix or replace what I did wrong…perfect. Obviously, I don’t have to do anything, except, when I started this, the goal was to make a better version than I did the last time I tried. So, the knife keeps coming out.
First, the majestic front fenders, and their big vents:
So, a real problem with my last try at this was the mediocre job I did on these big vents.
This time tho, I thought I had it nailed. The pic on the right is how it turned out, and stayed until yesterday afternoon. Ideally I would have just cut out the space behind the vent - all good. Except, what you can’t see is that inside the fender are several “ribs” that provide the structure that allows the overall shape to work - so no cutting.
That said, I really didn’t like just seeing straight through to plastic. This annoyed my enough to get after pulling the louvers off, and adding a second screen within. Tho it’s hard to tell in the photo, it looks a lot better now, in real life. And I’m betting with some paint, will look better still.
Ok - on to other exciting problems:
Well, it turns out the lower portion of the hull steps up, directly behind the alignment of the driver’s door. I figured out the importance of this “step” as I was detailing the lower hull - there is a tilt out bracket, which I think is used as a small storage deck. I made up the little deck with scrap material - easy enough, but then I noticed there is door for the fuel filler on the real truck and I was out of room… 
why??
Well, because the hull gets bigger there - perfect. So, I made mine bigger/taller too, and added the cover to the fuel filler, and since the photo was taken, have reinstalled the bolt heads on the bracket holding the filler door. They are now evenly spaced.
Similar problem on the other side, except, the “step up” is on the forward side:
I have also been adding grab bars and other odds and ends:
I included the photo directly above because at some point, I decided it might be a good idea to fake in an engine. It turns out, with the right light, this was a pretty good idea.
Finally for today, the mirrors:
Before I go on, that seam on the shackle…very nice. I’ll try and scape the seam off. You can also see another of the various grab bars, right behind it. It turns out this truck has several of these, which are hung on braided cable, now, mine does too.
Back to the mirrors. I was hoping I might be able to use the parts from the M1083. Well, I used the mirror, which I added some really small evergreen to for mounts, then went on with wire and remnant etch. This took some patience, but it’s done now!
Ok, happy weekend, and thanks for having a look,
Cheers
Nick