Hello gents,
Ha - the horrors of that formula. It reminds me that I made the right decision somewhere along the way to conclude that no, I should not, ever, try to be an engineer! Converting a picture to a model, well, that’s another story. So on we go:
Real work/my job has had me busy, so have only been able to work on this now and then. I did manage to get the engine in. The Real Model kit is pretty nice - it requires some clean up and thinking 
but with some time, it goes together reasonably well. It also requires some carving, cutting, and attaching some parts before I’d rather (like the fenders) but, that’s ok. You can see I split the exhaust, as my version of this truck will get two stacks.
Something interesting about this is as I was working on it, I realized the engine placement reminds me of a cab-over-engine tractor, actually, a hybrid of this and a standard cab, as about half of the engine sits under the cab. Which makes sense, as I understand part of the design of the truck required a relatively short wheel base, and mounting the cab like this I suppose led to that end. As a model builder I can say this is not ideal in that much of the engine, tilting hood or not will never be seen again.
As you can see in the upper left, cabover, tandem, 8x8s exist in real life too. As for mine, I extended the chassis again - it was looking short to me, so out came the saw, and on we went. There’s a bit of a twist in the frame, but I’ve already bent it back to where it should be. It’s sitting with a heavy weight (a cordless drill!) on the bed with the hope my re-twist will stay in place -
Thanks for having a look,
Cheers
Nick