JeroenS Posted February 15, 2020 Author Share Posted February 15, 2020 The front axle has been fixed to the chassis, thanks to last week's practice round (the rear axle 🙂) it went a little faster than I expected. Again, the jig was invaluable.  After glueing the springs to the axle, I did the inner parts of the mounts first with some L shaped strip.   With that, the springs were in the correct place and I could start on the outside of the mounts. Again, some L shaped strip to the rescue for the rear mounts. For the front mounts, a piece of square rod cut and sanded into shape.   By the way, the piece of card in between the chassis beams, seen here on the right, is just temporary for a little bit of extra strength. With the front axle and leaf springs added, this piece can now be removed.   With the wheels on:   Pretty good if I may say so myself 😉 .... A contingent of bolt heads will be added at some later stage to spice things up a little bit.  Tomorrow I will start on (and hopefully finish) the front axle stabilizer, shock absorbers and steering linkage. It will probably take me the entire day but it seems there's a storm coming so let's stay indoors for a bit anyway. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 your scratching building work is spot on, all that effort is really paying off with a fine looking chassis. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 Well, dang. Don't you hate that? One day you're sitting there feeling pretty smug, and then the next day reality strikes 🙂  As I said earlier: As the chassis curves outward, the front mount is located under the chassis, while the rear mount is located on the side of it.  Ehh no, dummy, it's more like: the REAR mount is located under the chassis, while the front mount is located on the INside of it. As soon as I realized this, early this morning, I set about making excuses not to make the change. But no, I couldn't leave it like that because I would run into serious trouble with the shocks and the stabilizer. That's the reason I discovered my error in the first place.  So... out with the knife and the TET and fix it! First, I carefully set about removing the axle from the springs. I was expecting some battle damage but it wasn't too bad. I fixed the top of the axle with some thin strip. Then I cut the rear mounts and moved them under the chassis which turned out an easy move to make. A small cut and some repositioning later and here we are, halfway there already.   The front mounts didn't turn out very hard to do either so some extra strips etc and we're done!    I'm glad I did it, it wasn't too much work and I can now mount the rest of the stuff around this front axle in a more correct way.  10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Very inspiring work! But why buy a kit in the first place 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Good decision and very well done. Better make it right while you can. Impressive work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 Steering linkage. Somewhat cruder than in real life but way less crude than the kit version, and that was the goal. I'm happy with it.    3 hours ago, exdraken said: But why buy a kit in the first place A valid question actually 🙂 So far, I have 4 kit parts in use 😋  But it will get better, with the cab of course and the wheels. I haven't been feeling very well this weekend, so I'm a little tired of the small stuff. I think I'm going to open some plastic bags and have a look at that trailer! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 Oh look, it's a logging trailer. Disclaimer: no glue was hurt during the assembly of this trailer.    I built it in under an hour, and even then most of that time was spent cleaning up the parts. I don't know what the deal is here, especially at the front. It looks kind of like there's something still missing. Also, I'm wondering what Heller's target group of kits like this actually is. It's either 10-year-olds building their first truck (in which case this is an excellent choice) or unsuspecting modellers like me who are duped by the box art and the lack of "hey this is a snap together kit" on the box! In which case it is not such an excellent kit.  Anyway I'm not going to do much about the trailer, it's a waste of time and... (warning, money shot!)   those logs really hide a lot of the crimes! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Hi Jeroen. I assume there is also a drag link between the hub and the steering box on one side. Worth including? Great work so far. I'm enjoying this tremendously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted February 16, 2020 Author Share Posted February 16, 2020 15 minutes ago, Kirk said: Hi Jeroen. I assume there is also a drag link between the hub and the steering box on one side. Worth including? Great work so far. I'm enjoying this tremendously. Thanks Kirk. Yes I definitely will include it. It's my intention to make the most of the tractor unit while I'm at it. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 I made up a steering box. I've looked at loads of them and they're all different, so I just put something together that resembles one and looks sort of nice 🙂   The drag link is fixed between the steering box and the hub. It does add some nice detail to the chassis and front axle.     7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Looks great! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 (edited) Front stabilizer added.   And, with the shocks also in place,   the picture is starting to look pretty complete.   Next up, air brake chambers on both rear and front hubs.  This is the chassis so far:    Edited February 19, 2020 by JeroenS Added full chassis pic 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Apologies if I'm being overly-retentive, but it occurred to me that with that amount of steering lock on, the arm on the steering box would be nearly fully deflected rather than in its neutral position. I only mention it as I've been staring at pictures of Bad Obsession Motorsports' fabulous "Escargot " project - feel free to ignore. Lots of great references there for truck scratchers., btw... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 22 minutes ago, Kirk said: Apologies if I'm being overly-retentive, but it occurred to me that with that amount of steering lock on, the arm on the steering box would be nearly fully deflected rather than in its neutral position. I only mention it as I've been staring at pictures of Bad Obsession Motorsports' fabulous "Escargot " project - feel free to ignore. Lots of great references there for truck scratchers., btw... No need to apologize, the forum is a safe place for everyone 😉 Just kidding, feel free to think along. I myself am not of the retentive type I must say, which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes just laziness I guess. In any case, I'm still very much in the "wow I really made that" phase of scratchbuilding so details tend to sink in after the fact I've noticed 🙂 ... Plus I don't really know how deflected or neutral should or would look, not having spent particularly much time around trucks. And, ehm, it was originally meant to be further deflected but I cut the drag link too short and I had already attached the 2 "endpoints" to it haha... Didn't feel like re-doing it and the glue on the steering box arm hadn't fully set yet so the choice was made.  By the way, I checked out the "Escargot" project (didn't know about it so thanks for that), I will certainly watch the whole thing at one point. I have a 1/24 Unimog in the stash for which I have a camper conversion planned! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xffw45343tg Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Escargot is probably why I'm enjoying your build so much. They bought the Ford because they can drive it on their standard (non HGV) licence but because it is too heavy it's getting an entire running gear replacement from an LF. Great model opportunity. Anyway, keep up the good work and ignore the sniping from the sidelines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 wow this just keeps getting better as we go along, a nice save on the frontend.  For a minute I thought you the trailer was "and here's something I did earlier", showing us the completed one after weeks of work...that's a Enzo trick!  But it doesn't look as basic as the truck did.  Probably wouldn't take to much to detail it up bit.  Can't wait for the next instalment! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bowcat Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Fantastic work, I'm in awe. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 I thought it was time to put some air on the rear axle. I mounted an air tank (from the kit no less!), after an example I found online and thought was nice, with the bent channel strips on the rear crossmember like this.   The air brake chambers were attached earlier and two air hoses per chamber were connected. If my intel is correct, one hose is for the regular brake, the other for the parking brake which is a separate system.   I found a great image showing the schematics of the air systems on a truck. I'm using it as reference, though I will not go into all the details on this truck. A couple of hoses already makes a big difference when compared to a "vanilla" chassis.   I made a sort of bracket for on the axle, to which I attached some resin air connectors of which I have a whole bunch, all different types. They're 1/24 scale but it doesn't look all that bad on this smaller chassis. The PE cable ties are from Czech Truck Models, they have awesome stuff.  11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Impressive stuff happening here! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 More progress at the same stunning level of quality Jeroen  I'd almost forgot you were using a kit as the basis of this one! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 5 minutes ago, Col. said: More progress at the same stunning level of quality Jeroen  I'd almost forgot you were using a kit as the basis of this one! You're right, it's easily overlooked 🙂 ... Some more kit parts will be used in the near future though! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reini Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 49 minutes ago, JeroenS said: You're right, it's easily overlooked 🙂 ... Some more kit parts will be used in the near future though! What? I was looking forwards seeing the scratchbuilt cabin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 2 hours ago, JeroenS said: Â Â I see some kit plastic again! Â 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 7 minutes ago, reini said: What? I was looking forwards seeing the scratchbuilt cabin Well, I certainly scratched it 😉  3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 Last update for today. I made two brake chambers for the front wheels. Mind, the grey middle piece of the chambers are not kit parts but sprue 🙂   And there's some sort of rack on the side of the chassis for two little tanks that I saw on a reference pic.    I can't do air at the front of the chassis yet, because first I need to know where the mounts for the engine and cab need to go 🙄  I guess that means the engine is going to be getting some attention tomorrow. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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