Kenworth T900 Australian questions

[wilbur]

Hi Guys, I'm building my first truck after many years of model building, the Revell Germany Kenworth T900 Australian. This seems like another Kenworth model that Revell just threw in an extra sprue and new box art and decals. The instruction sheet looks like it was drawn by a child with a crayon leaving one to guess the correct placement/sitting of parts, and I've built many Revell model kits.

The extra sprue is numbered 300. There is a part numbered 302 which is on the chassis and seemingly the rod part would go up into the cab. If anyone has this kit or has built it and knows please tell me what this part is.

Does anyone know what the yellowish tan color is? I would like to build this as the Australian version. Someone noted that this needs a lot of work to do that. If anyone could fill me in I would appreciate it. It calls for the chassis to be painted the body color (tan) and I don't know if this is correct

Do most of you remove the oob chrome and repaint? Since this is my first truck I will probably ask some general questions related to truck modeling along the way.

This particular truck works in very dirty conditions in the outback. Do any of you weather your trucks when called for?

Thanks for responses and nice to be here.

[Deleted]

I asked the same questions over on an Australian truck board, and the Cliff Notes version of the answer I got was this:

Engine incorrect - use a cat 3406A or B, Cummins NTC or KT, or a Detroit 6V or 8V
Sleeper incorrect - 60" sleepers weren't used in Australia due to strict length requirements. If you want a sleeper us a 36" sleeper
Wheelbase too long - apparently 196" was popular, but 220" was the max
Hood too long - kit has the long US hood that was rarely seen in Australia. There is a correct resin conversion avalable from Melbourne Model Truck Accessories. You can also use the hood from the AMT kit, but the MMTA hood has the 7" Australian headlights.
Wheels incorrect - these type of spiders (as they're called in Australia) were not used. Closest 6-spoke spiders are avalable from Plaskit or Sourkraut
Bull bar incorrect - bull bar should be more vertical
Exhaust - kit has it run UNDER the frame actual Australian trucks had it run ABOVE the frame which causes them to sit a little higher.

Removing the kit chrome is up to you. Soem people do some don't. Depends on the look your going for.

You are correct, Revell of Germany just added new decals and some "Australian" parts to the US W900 kit. As far as Part #302, that should be your Right Hand Drive power stearing assembly.

[plastictrucker]

Wilbur,welcome aboard.I'm not sure what part your talking about,looked here public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thscale/ for some insight,but nothing.
Jimb beat me to some answers
The problem with this truck is that the wheelbase is too long for an aussie.Aussie trucks wouldn't have the double bunk with a long hood together.Its doubtfull they would even have either one.Single bunks seem to be the norm.I'm sure an Aussie member can tell you the maximum wheelbase used
I've used whestleys tire bleech to remove chrome many times.
I want to get one of those kits ,build it as a Canadian truck with the spoke wheels and tall air cleaners,got lots to finish before that happens
Kevin

[wilbur]

Thanks Guys, I appreciate the answers. Jimb thanks for the details. Well this being my first truck model I don't think I'm going to into all the reconstruction. You'd think if Revell was going to do a model of something they would do it half correct. Man.

Anyway the right hand power steering that makes sense. I will have a non accurate model to practice truck building with.

[Deleted]

Correcting it would be a challenge. Good luck, and have fun. So you know, the Caterpiller 3408 should be either white or Caterpiller Yellow (depending on the year of the truck), not silver. Out of the box, the truck represents a 1972 to about 1982. Prior to 1978 (or there abouts) Kenworth had all their engines painted white regardless of manufacturer. Of course OEM colors did slip in from time to time.

If you want, I have a Word document that another modeler made that explains how to make this a US truck. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

[signature600]

Jul 14, 2010 15:04:11 GMT -5 @jimb said:

Hood too long - kit has the long US hood that was rarely seen in Australia. There is a correct resin conversion avalable from Melbourne Model Truck Accessories. You can also use the hood from the AMT kit, but the MMTA hood has the 7" Australian headlights.

One thing to note here is, the hood that MMTA sell is a short hood W model,which measures 1600mm from end of hood, to start of grill (true measurement) and not a T series hood, the T900 has a completely different hood, as does the T950 etc
the notable difference is the square shaped guards, not the rounded type like the W model

[Deleted]

Ok, didn't know that. Thanks for the info, Tony. Is there a T-series hood out there? How about a SAR?

[signature600]

Jul 17, 2010 8:18:18 GMT -5 @jimb said:

Ok, didn't know that. Thanks for the info, Tony. Is there a T-series hood out there? How about a SAR?

Jim
Auslowe do a nice conversion of the iconic SAR, one of Australia's most famous models ever built by KW Australia, and I think every KW fan should have at least one in there collection
The T900 was introduce in 1991, if you where to build a T900, you would be better to use a T600 cab and chassis , and modify a W model bonnet, would have to move the front axle 15mm forward
The T900 was fitted with a T600 cab, was also the first Aussie KW to be design with CAD/CAM
Will see if I can find a photo/brochure of the T900 to show the difference in the hood

[andy950]

also the t900 was never fitted with 2 stroke detroits, or 3406b's, they had 3406c and 3406 e, series 60 detroits and n14 cummins. the 'T' inT900 denotes the T series cab. if you have a look at my tanstar4300 post i have a picture of my old T950,you can see the squarish gaurds onit. the only difference between the T950 and theT900 is the T950 sits higher and has a sloped bonnet, takke the battery box away from under the cab, drop the cab down onto the rails and you have aT900.on wheel base lenths, you can have any lenth you like in australia, the only problem being is over all lenth restrictions, that being 19 meters for a single trailer combo, thats abovery *friendly* persone max from front to back, and seeing tha most trailers over here are around 45 foot( about 13meters) it doesnt leave much room out the front of the trailer. hope that helps

[78KW]

This has been pretty informative. I wonder how inaccurate Revell AG's Austrailian Road Train trailer is.

[mark379]

Does anyone know if the Revell W900 (Snap-Tite) hood will fit this cab? I just got back into building model trucks after about a 20 absence. Would like to build a Movin On truck. Thanks

[andy950]

The snap tite bonnet is the right length for an aussie version of a w model, and yeah it should fit, they both mount the same way. Oh yeah the roadtrain trailer is way off for aus spec
Cheers Andy