Here's yet another view of Uli Heufs' terrific Kenworth T800W model. The chassis for the Kenworth is from Promotex, cab and hood are from Dennis Aust, and all other parts are out of Uli's parts box. Uli spent considerable effort describing his modification to the cab and chassis so we'll let him tell the story in his own words:

"The cab: Cutting the door out of the cab alone took about 1.5 hours. After that I started painting the interior. The shape of the instrument panel was perfect, but the seats and the steering wheel were quite poor. So I took the wheel from a Promotex Ford [Aeromax] and I cut out the seats of another Dodge Viper. I had to put them into an upright position to fit in the truck. I also added pedals, gear shift and some more small details like blinker lever and buttons. The cab features also a monitor (for a GPS?). All windows were cut out of transparent plastic and set in. The window of the open door is opened half way. The inside of the door got a two color scheme, a lever to open, a lever to open the window and a pocket with a city map in it.

"The Motor: I have no idea what kind of engine that is but it looks really powerful! I took the biggest engine out of my box and tuned it up with some other parts. Then I started to modify the chassis of a Promotex Ford so that the engine fits in. Steering gear for the front wheels were added. The engine had two turbo chargers so I scratchbuilt two air intakes above the cab going under it to the engine. Two exhaust pipes going the other way were added. The rest was nearly business as usual (adding fuel tanks, steps, grips, lights.) except for the radiator figure. I had two different cows in my box but both had only small horns. I didn't know how to form the horns, and because the internet didn't help, I even had to visit the zoo.

"So this was really the most difficult but also the most interesting model I've built."

Great job! Also shown in Photo Galleries 152 and 153.

Posted October 26, 2003