Uploaded March 2017 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago
Well guys.. the K'nex just weren't doin' it for me anymore.. Built primarily of wood with some metal components, the entire thing was built by me in my free time over the course of 2 1/2 years. This video is nothing like the more professional video I'd envisioned making for it, however I've just completed it and will be unable to make videos of it in the future for quite some time and decided to just throw something together real quickly while I'm still able. I figured you guys would enjoy seeing a terrible video over not seeing it all. I intended to do this outside but the wind kicked up and only got worse throughout the day, so I had to make it inside.
The hydraulics are actually taken out of a Chrysler Sebring convertible, used to open and close the convertible top. They're what I decided to go with upon initially taking on this project and because of their size, I had to sacrifice many aspects of the trucks realism to accommodate them. All things considered, I think it came out pretty well. The hydraulics are more powerful than I'd ever need which is nice, however because of that, they're more than capable of tearing the whole hopper apart should the blade get jammed up, so I never packed anything rigid and will not at any point in the future either (sorry guys :P ) Plus I'm terrified of scratching it up after seeing how nice it came out.
Some features not seen in the video include a tilting cab, suspension on all axles with a 2.5 inch range of motion, removable fuel/hydraulic fluid tank caps and yes the body does lift (by hand) to dump, however due to the light weight of the chassis, the front of the chassis tries to lift up if you do so. Neat feature, but not something you can really use unfortunately. Being that it's *now* more of a functional display model than it is a toy, I wasn't about to risk breaking it just for a quick dumping shot.
You'll notice the thumbnail shows an exhaust, which it does have (also has a rain cap "flapper" to be added) but I due to me being in a hurry, I completely forgot to put it back on before making the video. It also has a 3-D printed CCC Badge, though I haven't had the time to properly prep it, paint and then put it in place.
I will be making more visually appealing wheels for it some day using a lathe, and fully intended to in the coming weeks, however life has a funny way of changing on you, so that'll be put off for.. a long time. The ones on it now really don't look too bad IMO so I'm not too upset. I'll be painting the final wheels white anyhow as that's how the old Western Waste trucks were done up.
So Mike, what was the hardest part of building this? Well.. the tailgate actually. I couldn't even count the number of times I dropped everything and went back to the house after several choice words. I wanted to keep the realism within reason, yet I didn't want to make it fragile or unappealing visually. So I settled with what you see in the final clip. A fairly realistic latching mechanism that I'm very happy with. Also having no welding experience made that a fun time, and a rather amusing one for my dad I would imagine, being that he was watching me to make sure I didn't blow the garage to pieces..
The whole thing was done by sight too. No measurements were taken to try to get the right scale, I just started by finding a wheel size that was something I thought I could work with and from there it was one piece at a time. The whole thing was supposed to be very basic, as light weight as you could reasonably achieve and in no way fragile. It was intended to be something I could play with at any time. That slowly changed as I went for 2 reasons. The first being my inability to half-ass something, and the second being that I'm 24 now.. I don't need to be playing trashman anymore when I can just go BE a trashman. Though running an early 80's CCC low entry Centurion with a square body Amrep MSL is sadly something I can't just simply go do lol
Why Western Waste? I've always had a love for the company. No real reason though, probably just as simple as the paint scheme capturing my imagination as a kid. Later on after learning about the companies history I grew to appreciate them all that much more.
A huge thanks goes to those of you who helped me with some of the finer details. Alan for designing the CCC badge, Alex for printing it (as well as some of the building of components in it's earliest stages), and Bryn for making the awesome sign boards and bringing life into that low quality WW logo I sent you. It came out amazing. And of course my dad who somehow has an answer to absolutely every question I could think to ask him when I hit a snag.
Enjoy guys, it was tough to keep quiet about with how excited I am about it. One day I'll make a nicer video I'm sure.
Oh, and maybe one day a functional front loader of the same vintage will give this truck some company.. or a rear loader? who knows. I've got more ideas than time.....and money........and patience.
Well guys.. the K'nex just weren't doin' it for me anymore.. Built primarily of wood with some metal components, the entire thing was built by me in my free time over the course of 2 1/2 years. This video is nothing like the more professional video I'd envisioned making for it, however I've just completed it and will be unable to make videos of it in the future for quite some time and decided to just throw something together real quickly while I'm still able. I figured you guys would enjoy seeing a terrible video over not seeing it all. I intended to do this outside but the wind kicked up and only got worse throughout the day, so I had to make it inside.
The hydraulics are actually taken out of a Chrysler Sebring convertible, used to open and close the convertible top. They're what I decided to go with upon initially taking on this project and because of their size, I had to sacrifice many aspects of the trucks realism to accommodate them. All things considered, I think it came out pretty well. The hydraulics are more powerful than I'd ever need which is nice, however because of that, they're more than capable of tearing the whole hopper apart should the blade get jammed up, so I never packed anything rigid and will not at any point in the future either (sorry guys :P ) Plus I'm terrified of scratching it up after seeing how nice it came out.
Some features not seen in the video include a tilting cab, suspension on all axles with a 2.5 inch range of motion, removable fuel/hydraulic fluid tank caps and yes the body does lift (by hand) to dump, however due to the light weight of the chassis, the front of the chassis tries to lift up if you do so. Neat feature, but not something you can really use unfortunately. Being that it's *now* more of a functional display model than it is a toy, I wasn't about to risk breaking it just for a quick dumping shot.
You'll notice the thumbnail shows an exhaust, which it does have (also has a rain cap "flapper" to be added) but I due to me being in a hurry, I completely forgot to put it back on before making the video. It also has a 3-D printed CCC Badge, though I haven't had the time to properly prep it, paint and then put it in place.
I will be making more visually appealing wheels for it some day using a lathe, and fully intended to in the coming weeks, however life has a funny way of changing on you, so that'll be put off for.. a long time. The ones on it now really don't look too bad IMO so I'm not too upset. I'll be painting the final wheels white anyhow as that's how the old Western Waste trucks were done up.
So Mike, what was the hardest part of building this? Well.. the tailgate actually. I couldn't even count the number of times I dropped everything and went back to the house after several choice words. I wanted to keep the realism within reason, yet I didn't want to make it fragile or unappealing visually. So I settled with what you see in the final clip. A fairly realistic latching mechanism that I'm very happy with. Also having no welding experience made that a fun time, and a rather amusing one for my dad I would imagine, being that he was watching me to make sure I didn't blow the garage to pieces..
The whole thing was done by sight too. No measurements were taken to try to get the right scale, I just started by finding a wheel size that was something I thought I could work with and from there it was one piece at a time. The whole thing was supposed to be very basic, as light weight as you could reasonably achieve and in no way fragile. It was intended to be something I could play with at any time. That slowly changed as I went for 2 reasons. The first being my inability to half-ass something, and the second being that I'm 24 now.. I don't need to be playing trashman anymore when I can just go BE a trashman. Though running an early 80's CCC low entry Centurion with a square body Amrep MSL is sadly something I can't just simply go do lol
Why Western Waste? I've always had a love for the company. No real reason though, probably just as simple as the paint scheme capturing my imagination as a kid. Later on after learning about the companies history I grew to appreciate them all that much more.
A huge thanks goes to those of you who helped me with some of the finer details. Alan for designing the CCC badge, Alex for printing it (as well as some of the building of components in it's earliest stages), and Bryn for making the awesome sign boards and bringing life into that low quality WW logo I sent you. It came out amazing. And of course my dad who somehow has an answer to absolutely every question I could think to ask him when I hit a snag.
Enjoy guys, it was tough to keep quiet about with how excited I am about it. One day I'll make a nicer video I'm sure.
Oh, and maybe one day a functional front loader of the same vintage will give this truck some company.. or a rear loader? who knows. I've got more ideas than time.....and money........and patience.
