Mercedes-Benz 1628s 6x4 hookloader conversion

[JeroenS]

5 hours ago, Codger said:

Very cool little truck Jeroen ! Please build a bigger bench and translate it to 1/8 scale.

Thanks Codger! Yes, that would be the day 😎

[PlaStix]

Great looking project Jeroen. Your paintwork is looking rather good. Well done. 

Kind regards,

Stix

[JeroenS]

Another rainy weekend with nothing much else to do but painting and glueing! Just lovely. It turned out to be a nice productive weekend too.

 

I now have 4 completed rear wheels. 

 

 

Of course now I'm wondering how much of this will eventually be visible, after I've added the dirt and dust that I feel should be on the truck. Anyway it was a nice little excercise. 

 

I did a little bit of work on the "loading thing", improving the join of the vertical to the horizontal part. I also added 1 mm sheet to the bottom of the protruding horizontal part, because the fit had become a bit loose after all the sanding I did. All in all, it's much better now, and ready for its hook.  

 

 

Some work on the chassis too, adding the "rails" for the bin to sit on. The join needs more filling and tweaking, especially on the front where the chassis widens but at least they're on nice and straight.

 

 

Here's the final state of the fuel tank, I'm done changing the look of that piece, apart from the aforementioned dirt and dust.

 

 

 

 

Next I made a start on the cab's interior (snapped that %@!# shifter twice, yes there's vocabulary for that in Dutch too). 

 

 

This part also serves as the bottom of the cab which is visible and in body colour. Still no airbrushing weather so out of neccessity I took to brushpainting it, and the middle part of the front mudguard "attachment", in the Tamiya X-7 in which I sprayed the body. Let's just say (for me) brushpainting with the Vallejo paints is less challenging, when compared to the Tamiya X. It's now at a stage I'm happy with, and this part will be made "greasy" anyway so considering that it's fine. It looks good as a whole, especially in this photo which is a bit dark (daylight photo with daylight obviously lacking), but from closer up you can see that the paint didn't want to stick properly in some places so the coverage there is not as good, despite my efforts at cleaning and degreasing the part. Oh well.

 

 

The mudguards are painted with Vallejo which was much easier. This whole contraption gets attached to the bottom of the cab, with the mudguards facing front. 

 

With the bottom done I could finish the cab's interior. 

 

 

 

I'm happy with it, although I'm going to tone down the left side of the co-driver's chair, I was a bit too enthousiastic with the pigments there. Now I'm thinking about some miscellaneous stuff to put in the cab, like a coolbox. Next up is more work on the chassis, I'm probably going to have to start painting before some parts become unreachable. 

 

Thanks for watching!

 

 

[Spiny]

Looks like a very productive weekend with some great results.

 

When it comes to brushpainting the Tamiya X-paints, I feel your pain as I've struggled with them a bit too. I couldn't get a good finish with them until I tried thinning them down with about 1mm thinner to a fresh pot. Then the paint seems to be much less thick and flows better without the fish-eyeing I've had when I've overdone the thinning on other paints.

[JeroenS]

For the third coat of red I only used Tamiya's paint retarder which works well to improve the flow of the paint. I think the Tamiya paint is great for use in the airbrush but I will not use Tamiya's paint for brushpainting again (especially not larger surfaces). My recent experiences with the Vallejo paints were much better so I'll mostly be using those from now on when painting with a brush. 

[JeroenS]

Hi all, a minor update and the last one for the truck for a while, I really should focus on my sister's Fiat 500 some more. I'm not a very fast builder, there are just too many distractions 🙂 

 

Anyway I just about finished the front wheels, they will get dust and dirt later on of course but for now they're ok. 

 

Lesson learned: for the rear wheels I used Tamiya paint as a base colour, then some Vallejo chipping fluid, finished with Vallejo dull alu. For these front wheels I used Vallejo brown paint as base, then varnish, the chipping stuff and the dull alu. For the chipping, I found the Tamiya base to be much sturdier so next time when I use the chipping medium I'll use that paint as base colour. It's not affected at all by what you put on top and by the chipping process, whereas I really had to be very careful when working on the front wheels. In fact all paint came off in some spots (not counting the parts which will be covered by the tyres, I just did the edges there), and I had to touch up those spots later on. It wasn't too bad and anyway it was good to try out various approaches. 

[Spiny]

If there's one thing I've learned it's that distractions aren't needed to be a slow builder (well, not for me anyway). The wheels look good and this one is shaping up well; I would imagine returning to this will prove quite an incentive to complete the Fiat.

[JeroenS]

After over 4 months, the Benz has finally returned to the bench. I missed it! I thought I'd start with something that had been on the list for a long time which was to add some wiring to the engine. I drilled the holes and used 0.4 mm lead wire. That's great stuff, very pliable and you can keep bending it as long as you're careful. I think it represents cable or wire very well. 

 

 

I then added some colour to the wires and here we are. The engine is done as far as I'concerned. 

 

 

It's good modelling weather today so I expect to get some work done. Which is good because there's still an awful lot to do 🙂 

[JeroenS]

After wiring the engine I started to work on the hookloader's frame. I already had the basic components but much more work needed to be done. I'm happy with today's progress. 

 

It will be a static frame, I'm not going to make this harder on myself than it already is 🙂 ... It now has the correct length, and everything is glued in place.

 

 

In the background the truck, with dry-fitted engine and cab to be able to measure (more or less) correctly.... I'm more of an "eyeball" type of person, which gets me into trouble sometimes, absolutely. However, my other "modus operandi" is to think things through to the bone and getting nothing done at all. So eyeballing it is. 

 

Next I made two pistons which in real life lift the frame upwards and downwards using hydraulics. 

 

 

Connected to the frame like this... 

 

 

And this is how it looks on the truck. 

 

 

Not bad I think! Thanks for looking in.

[Roy vd M.]

Looks as impressive as a real life specimen.

[JeroenS]

Hi, I have a question for the true plastic surgeons among us. What would be a good way to build this? Sorry, I don't know what it's called (a flange?) so I've encircled it:

 

 

I've been scratching my head some, experimented some, but nothing good has yet come up. I sure would appreciate some pointers 🙂 

 

Besides this, a minor update on the hookloader frame. 

 

 

I fixed the pistons to the chassis (well, I can still remove them because they will need to be painted separately), and I've fashioned a hook out of 2 mm sheet.

 

Next up is the tail end. I've added air, I will attach some hoses as well. And then there's the back end with the guide wheels in the first picture. 

 

 

Thanks for looking! 

 

[Roy vd M.]

Without a lathe this is a more complex part to scratch build. 

 

You could vacuform it but that too is not exactly easy. 

 

If I were you I would try to use a Dremel or other brand multitool as a lathe. Mount a plastic or brass disk into your Dremel, rotate it and slowly but surely shape it using files and sanding paper.

 

The mentioned brass or plastic disk can be punched using leather pliers.

 

Alternatively you may try to find some sort of die to punch your brass onto, in order to get the desired shape.

 

All of this obviously regards the outward flange. The inner flange can be created with a punch and die-tool, the connecting cylinder by cutting and filing some brass or plastic rod.

[JeroenS]

Thanks Roy! I have indeed several punch and die sets, so that shouldn't be a problem. I hadn't thought of using a multitool yet (I have one). I can see that it should be a workable solution to create the inward sloping part of the flange. 

[Cooper645]

Maybe you could start from a bit of plastic tube and a couple of these screw caps

 

Screw caps

[JeroenS]

Well, thanks to you guys I got some new ideas on how to try and make the guide wheels, with their flanges. I spent a good 2 hours on them, but I'm happy with their current status so time well spent as far as I'm concerned. 

 

I started with a (more or less) square piece of 2 mm sheet. The plastic is really tough and inflexible at this thickness. Using my hobby knife, I "drilled" a hole in the middle, and then enlarged it outward towards the top of the sheet, also using the knife. 

 

 

Then I drew a circle around the hole, slightly larger than the intended size of the finished wheel, to give me some margin. I took the knife and started whittling away at the square of plastic to make it roundish. Next, sanding paper to decrease the diameter and increase the "roundness".

 

 

 

I was happy with it, then I realized I had to make another one just like it (preferrably). 

 

But that worked out pretty well. Next, I glued them onto a piece of 1 mm sheet. 

 

 

When the glue had set I started sanding again to make the dish-like shape on the outside. When that was done I sanded the wheels a little thinner, punched a 1 mm thick round piece and glued that in the middle. Bit out of focus, this one. It's zoomed in quite a bit, that does not enhance the quality. 

 

 

Maybe this view is a little better. 

 

 

A little bit of touching up here and there, but they should be fine once some mud and dust is added. 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

[Cooper645]

congratulations, sometimes a bit of inspiration is all you need.  They look really good so far. 

[JeroenS]

7 hours ago, Cooper645 said:

sometimes a bit of inspiration is all you need

True! Scratchbuilding is good fun but you can get sort of stuck as well 🙂 

[stevehnz]

I'm impressed by this, I'm an ex truck driver & interested in the tech of road transport & afaik, hook loaders are virtually unheard in New Zealand so I got up a couple of youtube clips to get an idea as to how they work, I reckon you're well along the process of nailing it beautifully.

Steve.

[JeroenS]

Thanks Steve! The hookloader trucks are very common here, I see these trucks by the dozens when commuting. With one, two or nowadays even three containers (or bins as you might call them) on the truck (two on the elongated trailer in that case). Is the cable system more common in New Zealand? 

[stevehnz]

Rubbish disposal is often performed by what we call skip trucks, an arm each side with cables that hook over lugs either side of the skip or bin. These can be quite big but not as big as a hooked container I wouldn't have thought. For shipping container size bins we go for side lifters, convertible ones can lift 20' or 40 ' shipping boxs & are mounted on semi trailer set ups with up to & 8 axles, 4 tractor & 4 semi. From this website. There possibly are hook loaders in New Zealand but I'm not aware of any in my neck of the woods.

Steve.

[JeroenS]

I did some more work on the loader's frame today. I had concluded that I had to make some changes, as the inner beams were not spaced widely enough. If I had left them as they were I would have gotten into trouble at the back of the frame, where the guide wheels are attached. 

 

As you can see here the inner beams should be spaced in such a manner that the guide wheel's "tube" is even with the outer rails.

 

 

Also in the picture above is the locking mechanism which I was able to finish today.

 

 

I'm pretty happy with it, of course I managed to make 1 slit too large... (it's on the other end). Also, I was a bit too enthousiastic and didn't do a dry fit until it was finished. I then found that it was too wide, I had inadvertedly put it in the "locked" position. That wouldn't do because, while it's my intention to place a container on the frame, I wouldn't be able to do that if the mechanism is locked. And no, it's not a working mechanism 🙂  So I had to shorten the rods which lock the container. But it's still ok. 

 

My reasoning is that if there's no container loaded, the locking mechanism is visible and should be in the unlocked position. If a container is loaded, the mechanism won't be visible anyway so it will not be noticeable it is in the wrong position. 

 

 

 

 

[Pascal]

Trucks are not my thing, but you've got some very fine modelling going on here.

 

Nice work.

 

Sincerely

 

Pascal

[JeroenS]

Not much progress today. I'm usually away on Sundays, until well in the afternoon, enjoying "the great outdoors". I'm in head-scratching mode, trying to figure out what, how and when. I did a dress rehearsal on the chassis with all the bits and pieces in the correct location (except not attached to the chassis). 

 

 

It's really going somewhere now, I rather like it. The cabs sits nice and high and I think everything is well proportioned. I have to make some room for the tank which holds the hydraulic fluid for the pistons. Obviously it wasn't included in the kit but I have a nice tank for it, you can just make it out on the right side of the battery box and air tanks. I considered placing it at the back of the cab but there isn't much space there as the cab is quite small and there are windows in the back. I'd like to add some hoses and pipes but I don't want to go all out. I'm looking for "just enough". I'm also figuring out how to connect the loader frame to the chassis in such a way that I can paint the loader frame separately from the chassis, but the connecting bits should already be on the chassis because I want to paint them in one go. All the tanks and such have already been painted. So it should be something like: make the connection for the loader frame (with the guide wheels) and fix it to the chassis, make preparations for wires and/or hoses, paint the chassis, assemble everything, attach wires and hoses, paint the loader frame and attach it to the chassis. Sounds simple enough if you say it like this 🙄

[JeroenS]

Before the weekend, I really felt like painting something. Well, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for... I'll try to summarize what can only be called "my truck cab painting adventure". 

 

I'd already painted the cab in Tamiya X-7 red a while ago. However, at the time I didn't do that, but I still wanted to weather the cab by chipping the paint. So I thought, well, what if I take a small piece of sponge and apply some red brown, brown and black to edges and such, like so: 

 

 

then apply salt like I did on the Blitz, and then repaint the lot in the already mentioned X-7. So I did, and ended up with this: 

 

 

By the way, I used Tamiya's Lacquer Thinner for the first time this weekend and I'll never use the X20-A again. Using the Lacquer Thinner, the paint cures in the blink of an eye, the gloss paints too. Anyway, time to remove the salt. Well, no! I just couldn't get it off and in the places where I eventually could, I could see primer. I had that same issue with the Blitz, but not like this. I must be doing something wrong, but I decided the salt method just isn't for me. So, an IPA bath it was!

 

I don't have any pictures of what I did next, but this is it:

- Tamiya fine grey primer from the rattle can

- Tamiya flat black

- Zero Paints 1K clear

- hairspray

- Tamiya flat red brown (XF-64) 

- I then took a wet cotton bud (or several, actually) and removed some of the red brown paint, which worked well

- Zero Paints 1K clear again

- hairspray again

- Tamiya X7 red

 

I then took a cotton bud to the red paint, at which point I discovered that apparently, the hairspray chipping method does not work with gloss paint! All I did was make the paint wet but it didn't budge one bit. So basically I ended up where I started, with a nicely painted cab in X-7 red. This was yesterday evening so I let it go, thinking that at least I got some time in the spray booth... 

 

However, nice as it looked, this was not what I intended so I went back to work this afternoon. No IPA this time!

- First, a respray of red brown, and a bit of flat brown for some tonal variation here and there

- 1K clear

- hairspray

- flat red this time!

 

Then I went to work with the cotton buds again and ... phew, this time it worked. I didn't go all out like with the Blitz, I just wanted some minor damage to show it's an '80s truck, still in business. I clearcoated it so the cab is ready for dust etc. Of course a truck this old will not have any shine on it!

 

 

 

 

 

Paint I did this weekend! My index finger is even a little sore from the airbrush's trigger 😋

 

All in all, it was very educational and in the end I got the result I wanted. 

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

 

 

 

[Cooper645]

The best lessons are those learnt by our mistakes apparently.  At least you have found out what does and doesn't work for you now.  Great finish in the end too.

 

Coops