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A Scratchbuilt Frog Prince


RichO

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey All,

 

  It's been a while since my last report.  A week off with a summer cold.  

 

  The last report was of building the corner suspension.  The build continues.  Getting back into the swing of things, I still had much cutting to do to get all the components to come together.  I have managed to get things mounted onto the frame tho.

 

  The components of the corner suspension.

 

1DXkSh.jpg

 

I used some jewelry items for the stock bumpers...

 

7w5Qma.jpg

 

BnSGN5.jpg

 

I have the corners painted and mounted to the frame.  Everything will get blended together and never seen again.

 

QrXHvo.jpg

 

av8uAd.jpg

 

Now that I have the main components mounted, I have a ton of parts that can not get mounted until I get the top of the frame secured down to the main frame.  I don't want to secure the top of the frame just yet.  I have several items that I want to build inside the frame.  

  I need to build and install:  Air Bottles, Steering Components, Drive Axles, Gear Boxes, and Transfer Cases, all on the inside before I put the lid on.  With all that said, I can put the lid on, and work around the top, but at this point, I'd like to make life easier on my self.

 

kBn3YR.jpg

 

  The rest of the suspension components are finished and ready for install, after the top is secured. I have the Shock Absorbers and their mounts that are secured to the top outside of the frame.  These in turn are mounted through the bottom wishbone of the suspension and hold the whole assembly together.   That's it.

 

  I'm now ready to get to some of the inside frame details so I can get back to finishing the suspension.  I'll be back with starting the inside frame details.  

 

Thanks for looking!

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Amazing!!!  I was astounded by your big bottom Maz but this one is right up there too. 

 

Waaay beyond my comfort or skills level but sure is fun to watch it coming together. 

 

You must get a steep discount on Evergreen styrene sheets and strips, LOL.

 

Take care,

 

Lloyd

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13 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

I know that this is no use for your current build, but if you're going to do another MAZ, this site might be of use.

http://englishrussia.com/2018/08/20/abandoned-8x8-vehicles-deep-in-the-forest-among-the-swamps/

 

John.

Thanks John, 'got it book marked!

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Thanks Lloyd, and John, and everyone else dropping in!

 

Hey Guys,

 

  I have a few photos for this report, but not as many as I should.  I sort of got into a ZEN mode when I was building the Air Bottles and didn't get any photos of the build.  I just woke up from a deep meditation and they were built.

 

  Just like this........

 

dSG3E1.jpg

 

I didn't have clear photos of the bottle mounts, but a good idea of how they fit the frame...

 

YJw6YP.jpg

 

Getting things to blend in........

 

aCt8yj.jpg

 

 

This a bottom side view of the bottles and lines.  I used lead wire for the lines......

 

dh0lyp.jpg

 

GbtUiZ.jpg

 

The next part of the build looks to be some sort of duel compressor system inside the frame.  I have good references for these items, I just don't know what they are.  I'll show you next time.

 

Thanks for Looking.........

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On 22/08/2018 at 08:15, Bullbasket said:

I know that this is no use for your current build, but if you're going to do another MAZ, this site might be of use.

http://englishrussia.com/2018/08/20/abandoned-8x8-vehicles-deep-in-the-forest-among-the-swamps/

 

John.

There are some dead "Pigs" on STANTA Training Area

2018-08-24_12-21-48

 

Edited by John_W
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Hey Guys,

 

  More modeling madness.  I have built and installed the duel compressors for the Braking System.  These little items were not so hard to build, I just had to decide how to build them.  Everything worked out just fine for this part of the build.

 

Building and installing the Brake Fluid Reservoirs ..........

 

ckFyH7.jpg

 

Cx2HDF.jpg

 

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mIfwiD.jpg

 

nmqH5R.jpg

 

idPU67.jpg

 

xz7sij.jpg

 

The next inboard item is the Steering Linkage.

 

  I'll be back soon................

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 HEY GUYS,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

  It's been a while since I've last posted.  I thought I was going to start the Steering linkage, but not quite.  Things sort of got away from me as far as the order of items installed, is concerned. 

 

  When I started installing items inside the frame, I neglected to observe the tolerances for future items.  When I began the looking at the steering items, I realized that I needed to install the Drive Line items before the steering items.  

 

  Then, upon further observation, I had a really bad feeling.  The Drive Line needed to be installed before I installed the Air Bottles and Pumps.  

 

Hrkzas.jpg

 

In the photo above, you can see how the ends of the Drive Train ( the two round end caps with all the bolts, on either side) are next to the frame, outside of the Steering linkage.  If I install the Steering Linkage first, I'll never get the drive components installed.

 

 

oYwHXq.jpg

 

In the photo above you can see how the drive shafts are installed between the frame and steering and air bottles.  I should have installed the Drive Lines before anything else.

So now, it's off to build the Drive Lines before the Steering Linkage.

 

The parts.....

 

x3j4Y8.jpg

 

nMxVOM.jpg

 

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XRoIKB.jpg

 

 

In this photo you can see where the trans axles are located along the rail...

 

npB6rN.jpg

 

 

This is where I get into real trouble.  I have to get this axle into this place, between all the junk already installed.  I may have to remove some items to get to the mounting location...

PMYT4P.jpg

 

pLwkF1.jpg

 

  This is where I'm at today.  I have my eight axles built and ready for install.  I have a dozen "U" joints to build ( the first part with the four holes in the corners) and eight drive shafts with their respective hardware. All need installing before I get to the steering.  Will this madness never end?

 

I'll be back............

 

 

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The problem is Kev, I react emotionally to a subject, and start a project without thinking about how to build things until later.  I'm already nuts for approaching a build this way, and just get crazy when it all heads south on me.  I'll do what I have to do tho.

 

I thought about how to fire up the engines here, but I can't figure how to keep the plastic engines from melting.😉

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I'm nodding sagely and pretending to understand whatever it is you are on about.  ;)

 

Amazing work as ever Rich (even the stuff I can't identify).....You sure are are costing me a lot in kits though, I'm lining up a MAZ 537 (with trailer) now!  :P

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Thanks for the nice comments guys.

 

  Hey All,

  

  I left off with having to install the Drive Axles.  This was not fun, but in the end (ouch) everything worked out satisfactorily.  All these axles are so far to the bottom of this build, this will be last time you see these.

 

  Building the "U"-joints was a tedious process of cutting the same thing over and over.  In process......

 

HgBcsx.jpg

 

 

  In this photo you can see that both ends are u-jointed...

 

jwdymM.jpg

 

 

Fresh back from the paint shop...

 

pCAphf.jpg

 

A close up of one of these twelve u-joints....

 

hxv1Kc.jpg

 

  I knew that I had to remove a few items to get this central axle into place.  I also had a few tubes that sort of volunteered to go along.  Once I got the space cleared out, I still had a time getting this into place.  An air bottle and brake pump later............

 

fNaAC5.jpg

 

While I had everything striped out of the middle of the frame, some wise guys at the shop replaced my green air bottle with an orange one.  I also have some paint repair work to do on the replaced lines.  Everything seems to fit tho.  Below is looking down at the central driver side axle............

 

CpeyL8.jpg

 

this is the same axle on the opposite side..........

 

JXIbUy.jpg

 

 

  I still have twelve more u-joints to build for the drive shaft ends, with two gear boxes in the middle.  I'll be back.  Thanks for looking.

 

 

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  • RichO changed the title to An Ugly Frog Prince

Hey Guy's,  Just a quick report before I start building the Gear Box/Transfer Case's.

 

  I have the Drive Shafts installed and I'm ready to move on with rest of the Drive Line.  I made a little compromise with the shafts, in that I bored out a larger tube to insert a rod so I could adjust the install length of the shafts.  The rod is somewhat longer than the original. but everything works ok.

 

I didn't get as many photos as I could have, so just these few.

 

This is the Left Front Drive Shaft...

 

TbC788.jpg

 

 

I managed to get everything squeezed in...

 

iEjLHY.jpg

 

fV0ZdS.jpg

 

I'll be back with the Transfer case's next..........Thanks All

 

 

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Hey Everyone,

 

  The building of the Transfer Cases went smoothly, and installing them had a bit more space to work with.  I had a few small parts to deal with so this all just took some time to do.

 

  This is where I started...

 

3UDJuq.jpg

 

You can see that I got busy and have applied a few items since the last photo.......

 

ksbPpR.jpg

 

more various items added.....

 

PXl57M.jpg

 

Some sort of linkage here. I don't know what it dose, but it looks cool....

 

oKknZM.jpg

 

General Romi.  Someone has to do it after all.  We were going to name him Romeo, but we took him to the veterinarian to get modified.  Now there's no Romeo happening.  So it's just Romi.

 

H4WCHR.jpg

 

All painted up and ready for install...

 

0hbRTi.jpg

 

 

The install went fine, I had plenty of room to work with and mostly it slipped into place.  Getting the u-joints to line up was fun, but not to bad.

 

1FKvqY.jpg

 

The photo above was a shocker for me.  When I looked at the photo I just snapped, I saw I had installed these at the wrong end.  The Transfer Cases needed to be installed at the other end!  So I pried these out and reinstalled to the correct location....

 

You can see I pried these off just before everything set solid.  Cool looking paint affect at the prior location.

 

fedDp0.jpg

 

This top down shot shows how the Drive Lines are finally installed.  I still have two more Drive Shafts to build that attach to the Transmission ends and to the Transfer Case's.  I'll build those when I get to building the engine and transmission.

 

gqD0Eo.jpg

 

Some details......

 

dZ91oX.jpg

 

 

  Now that I have the Drive Line construction finished, I can start building the Steering Linkage, again.

 

Be back later..............

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Hey Guys,

 

  The steering has been started.  To date I have built and installed the anchor points for the steering linkage.

 

  Building these little components was not to difficult, but small and slow.  The photos below are a sequence of the corner anchor points.  These are different than the central anchor points, in that the corner anchors have to support a shock absorber assembly, so a few extra parts involved.

 

  This photos is starting these corners, getting the mounting plates bolted down...

 

BUSYdi.jpg

 

I'm building up the layers that I need to get these corners into shape...

oEo7DX.jpg

 

To get the linkage to function and steer properly, I had to drill out the center of a styrene rod, and install a brass tube to accept a metal pin for ease of movement...

uI0TK8.jpg

 

 

W0OHTi.jpg

 

Ready for painting...They look terrible at this scale, but remember that these are just barely 5mm tall...

 

kIY9nS.jpg

 

 

Ready for install...

 

xahVhD.jpg

 

 

The aft starboard corner...

 

xmTXxw.jpg

 

 

These are the central linkage supports...

 

5IM8JL.jpg

 

These sort of hide out down at the bottom of the frame and will support a linkage arm...

 

yDyCRK.jpg

 

 

Port side bow...

Czb2dw.jpg

 

Now that I have all the supports installed, it's time for the linkage.  

 

I'll be back.........Thanks All

 

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Usual high standard being continued ……….

 

It's occurred to me that if you were to tot up how much you've spent on plastic, brass etc etc etc you could probably bought a 1:1 surplus job! Could be good for getting around in the snow 😉

 

Kev

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