Mercedes L 4500

[Lummox]

My best intentions to post more frequently have evaporated somewhat, mainly due to a mojo dip meaning there hasn't been a great deal to report upon. There has been some progress though (albeit small) so let's have an update. But first let me respond to those who've been kind enough to comment...

 

On 7/1/2023 at 6:31 PM, echen said:

The fantastic detail continues. Inspirational for my 1/72  builds - if I can downsize the components sufficiently.

Thanks Echen. I'm truly flattered that you take inspiration from my glacial dabblings. 👍

 

On 7/1/2023 at 7:14 PM, PROPELLER said:

Paul, I can't imagine what you would do in a larger scale... Very impressive, hats off Sir!

Cheers Dan. I must admit that seeing what you've achieved with your Jeep masterpiece has made me wonder about giving larger scales a go. I hate to think how long it would take me to complete anything though. Or how much the house extension would cost to store the finished product.

 

On 7/1/2023 at 10:23 PM, Ned said:

I don't know how you do this, Paul. Are you yourself 1/35 size?

Ha, far from it Ned being 193cm and 100kg. If I was a 1/35 figure however, I reckon this one from Royal Model would match me perfectly:

 

On 7/2/2023 at 10:00 AM, Hamden said:

Have just found this build and spent a good while going through it from page 1, what a well researched and thought out project with outstanding attention to the smallest details.

Will follow along for the rest of the ride if I may?

Welcome aboard Roger, and thanks for the kinds words. 👍

 

On 7/2/2023 at 10:43 AM, NIK122 said:

As ever, insanely good!😎

Aw shucks, cheers Nik. 👍

 

 

OK, now where were we? Ah, yes, the air lines. You may recall the schematic posted previously with the strange valve thingy:

 

So is there any evidence for this on the truck? Well, yes, I think it's what we see here mounted on the passenger side of the firewall in these wreak pictures:

 

We see variations of this apparatus mounted in the same location in other L4500 pictures:

 

We also see the same thing on other German vehicles of the period; the first two being Sd.Kfz 7s, the third being being a Faun L900:

 

So what is it? Well apparently the left component is a tyre air supply, the right component being an air pressure value. I can't for certain recall where I picked up this information, but I think it was probably gleaned from one of Ron Lebert's excellent builds over on Missing-Lynx. I've tried without success to find the specific build so I could post a link. If I come across it in the future I'll let you know, but meantime Ron's work in general is well worth checking out if you're at a loose end one rainy Sunday.

I've attempted to summarise my understanding of the apparatus below. The words 'Füllen' and 'Fahrt' were kindly translated by @Jochen Barett many moons ago, these meaning 'fill it up' and 'drive'. The assumption it that when the lever is moved to the 9 o'clock position you can hook up an air hose to one of the connectors and top up your tyres/football/airbed with air supplied from the engine mounted compressor. When you're done, flip the lever back to the 6 o'clock position so you can rumble on your way.

It all kinda makes sense in my simple mind, apart from the outlet directly below the air pressure valve. We see this going somewhere in the images above, but I have no idea where, or for what reason:

 

Anyway, enough of this rambling, what about the build? Zvezda don't provide anything to represent the air supply and valve so we need to scratch something up that looks vaguely like what we see:

 

Next we need to plumb things up to the air lines created earlier. Herein lies a 'chicken and egg' problem - the valve is mounted on the firewall which needs to be added after the engine but there won't be enough room to plumb up the valve with the engine in place. Hmmm. To get round this problem we've opted for a 'push fit' mechanism composed of a peg and two sockets on the firewall onto which the valve can be attached/detached:

 

The cab can then be temporarily placed on the chassis to allow the valve to be plumbed in:

 

Carefully levering things apart allows the cab to be removed leaving the 'incredible floating valve' . It's all surprisingly stable, the lead wire being rigid enough to hold things quite firmly, but with a slight 'give' to maneuver the valve as required. Fitting the engine proves that everything still plays nice (phew!), and also illustrates how tight things are in there (plumbing the valve would certainly have been a challenge with the engine in place):

 

And that brings things up to date. I think we're now done with fiddly stuff in the engine bay (hooray!), so it'll be something different for the next update (not sure what to be honest).

 

Cheers, and thanks for looking,

 

Paul.

[Hamden]

 

More very nice detail going in, keep up the superb workmanship it's stunning!

 

   Stay safe                Roger

[vytautas]

I think it's time for you to stop constructing, already now the engine looks more real than the real one, and this is confusing me too much! 

 

Vytautas

[echen]

1 hour ago, Lummox said:

glacial dabblings

They're not as glacial as mine!🥴

[Kelscale]

This is all looking mighty impressive 👌

 

I would check out a few walkaround images on 8 and 12t trucks with similar air supply components. You might find where that air pressure valve bottom hose ends up.

 

There is certainly a lot going on under the hood, so I reckon you are going to have to be light on internal paint coverage when the time comes.  You want that all to connect up as it is doing now.

 

 

Los

Edited July 18, 2023 by Kelscale

[Keeff]

Very impressive work and attention to detail .... 👌

 

Keith 😁 

[vaoinas]

Man, this is one of the most detailed 1:35 build I have ever seen.

Great work!

 

 

Kristjan

[Lummox]

A stormy Saturday provides an ideal opportunity for an overdue update, but first some belated responses to welcome comments...

 

On 7/18/2023 at 3:53 PM, Hamden said:

More very nice detail going in, keep up the superb workmanship it's stunning!

Cheers Roger, very kind of you to say. 👍

 

On 7/18/2023 at 4:35 PM, vytautas said:

I think it's time for you to stop constructing, already now the engine looks more real than the real one, and this is confusing me too much! 

Ha, thanks Vytautas. Still some way to go I think as the engine hasn't started dripping oil onto my workbench yet.

 

On 7/18/2023 at 4:43 PM, echen said:

They're not as glacial as mine!🥴

We could both be in the running for a prize echen - 'And the winner of the slowest build of the decade competition goes to....' 

 

On 7/18/2023 at 9:10 PM, Kelscale said:

This is all looking mighty impressive 👌

 

I would check out a few walkaround images on 8 and 12t trucks with similar air supply components. You might find where that air pressure valve bottom hose ends up.

 

There is certainly a lot going on under the hood, so I reckon you are going to have to be light on internal paint coverage when the time comes.  You want that all to connect up as it is doing now.

Cheers Los, and thanks for the suggestion on 8 and 12t trucks (nothing has come to light so fa,r but I haven't given up just yet).

Tolerances certainly are tight with all the plumbing going on in the engine bay. I plan to stuff the connecting tubes/holes with scrap wire come painting time to hopefully prevent connectors getting bunged with paint. I'm sure there will be lots of cussing post painting though when things that did once fit no longer do.

 

On 7/18/2023 at 9:20 PM, Keeff said:

Very impressive work and attention to detail .... 👌

Thanks Keith, kind of you to say. 👍

 

On 7/19/2023 at 9:49 AM, vaoinas said:

Man, this is one of the most detailed 1:35 build I have ever seen.

Great work!

Cheers Kristjan, but I think you can see stunningly detailed 1/35 builds much closer to home.  Your work is truly inspirational.

 

 

OK, what have I been up to since the last update?

As a break from the fiddly work on the chassis I thought I'd do something totally different and move onto the wheels. The kit wheels are a bit strange, having a overly convex tyre sidewall, resulting in a bulged appearance and narrow tread area with an odd pattern. Some time ago I acquired some replacement wheels from ET Model which are a great improvement and are also weighted (which makes a big difference in my view):

 

The replacement resin wheels have their own problems though, namely a poorly cast hub/tyre demarcation which is quite rough and ragged in areas. The hub detail on the resin wheels is also disappointing, being more softly represented than that on the kit hubs:

 

Looking at the front wheels on the real thing we see that there is a distinct rim between the hub and the tyre, this rim being totally absent on the resin wheels:

 

It's also interesting to note the hub variations with respect to the shape, size and orientation of the (lightening?) holes. Here's five examples to show the variations, the right-most example being closest to how the holes are represented on the kit wheels:

 

So what do we do? Well the resin wheels work best but we'll need to do something about the cruddy hub/tyre demarcation and the lack of a hub rim. Following several unsuccessful experiments with wire and stretched sprue to represent the rim (challenging to achieve a true circle) I stumbled upon a tube in the spares box that was happily the perfect diameter. Firstly a band was cut from the tube which was thinned as much as I dare (masking tape being used to support the fragile band of plastic). A thin sliver was then sliced off the band which was hoped would represent the hub rim. The end result was a disappointment, the wheel appearance was improved to a certain extent but it still looked far from convincing:

 

A more radical solution was needed, so the 'heavy artillery' was summoned from the garage toolbox. Before too long we had a tyre sans hub:

 

Next the kit wheel was deconstructed, plastic was snipped and sanded, and eventually we ended up with a hub. I think you may be able to see where we're going with this: 

 

Remember that band of thinned plastic used earlier in the failed attempt to create a rim? Well that was added to the mix along with some bits and bobs to knock up a valve. Fill the remnants of the cruddy casting on the tyre, finesse the hub a little by thinning the hole walls and adding a 'valve', put everything together, and you end up with a Frankenwheel:

 

Comparing with an unadulterated resin version we now have a rimmed wheel:

 

Finally a quick shot of the new wheel in situ:

 

Yeah, admittedly the rim is a bit over-scale but I think the Frankenwheel is an improvement (which is a good job really and I've burnt my bridges by destroying two serviceable wheels to produce it!)

So it's one Frankenwheel down, only six more to go. Argh!

Thinking about it though, I don't need to worry about the spare wheel as that's kinda hidden under the bed. That leaves five.

Hang on, the rear inner wheels are hidden by the outer ones, so the inners don't really need doing. That leaves three.

Only three wheels to go then, which doesn't sound too bad. Nevertheless, I predict a lot of sanding in my future. 🤪

 

Cheers, and thanks for looking,

 

Paul.

[Keeff]

A nice update, interesting and informative if I may say so.  Your attention to detail still amazes me!  

 

 

Keith 😁 

[echen]

Hats off all round! You're very brave to attack these parts like this! Just as well that you're very skilled to pull it off so well.

[Bullbasket]

As soon as I saw that you were none too happy with neither the kit, nor the replacement wheels, I had an inkling as to where this was going........and I was right. Brilliant work Paul. The finished article is a vast improvement. I did something similar when I built my Israeli Type 4 armoured car, but I only had to do two wheels. Good luck with the other three.

 

John.

[PeteH1969]

What a great way to overcome the problem with the resin wheels.

 

It makes a big difference.

 

Pete

[APA]

Nice safe paul 👏 makes a change to work on some lumps rather than micro dots 🤣

 

Andrew 

[vytautas]

6 hours ago, Lummox said:

On 7/18/2023 at 6:43 PM, echen said:

They're not as glacial as mine!🥴

We could both be in the running for a prize echen - 'And the winner of the slowest build of the decade competition goes to....' 

 

Wait a minute, why only both? Do not think that this prize will be so easy for you to get, I am more than a serious competitor! 

 

The wheel really looks amazing, and you have chosen the vehicle to build very well. And it could have been much worse...

 

Vytautas

[echen]

1 hour ago, vytautas said:

I am more than a serious competitor! 

Got anything you started before 2016 and have not finished yet?

[vytautas]

9 hours ago, echen said:

Got anything you started before 2016 and have not finished yet?

 

It must be admitted that you are a serious opponent...

And you started with а trump card. Hm... Well, return move - 2014

 

Vytautas

 

[echen]

@vytautas You win!

[robgizlu]

Hugely impressed by that wheel and the general detailing overall

Rob

[Kelscale]

FYI, Quinta Studio have just announced a "L4500 3D Decals set

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/quinta-studio-qd35085-l4500-family-interior-3d-decals--1498123
 

[Lummox]

The Lummox clan are jetting off on hols tomorrow (yippee! 😎) so I'll squeeze in a quick update before forgetting to pack something really important. Firstly though, replies to comments...

 

On 8/5/2023 at 2:41 PM, Keeff said:

A nice update, interesting and informative if I may say so.  Your attention to detail still amazes me!  

Cheers Keith. To be honest it continues to surprise me that people find my ramblings of interest!

 

On 8/5/2023 at 4:26 PM, echen said:

Hats off all round! You're very brave to attack these parts like this! Just as well that you're very skilled to pull it off so well.

Thanks Echen. I must admit I did hesitate a bit before taking the plunge with the hacking and slashing. I always had the back-stop of buying more replacement wheels if things didn't work out (although they do appear to be harder to come by now as the kit is a bit long in the tooth).

 

On 8/5/2023 at 4:45 PM, Bullbasket said:

As soon as I saw that you were none too happy with neither the kit, nor the replacement wheels, I had an inkling as to where this was going........and I was right. Brilliant work Paul. The finished article is a vast improvement. I did something similar when I built my Israeli Type 4 armoured car, but I only had to do two wheels. Good luck with the other three.

Cheers John - what's that about 'great minds think alike'?

 

On 8/5/2023 at 5:48 PM, PeteH1969 said:

What a great way to overcome the problem with the resin wheels.

Thanks Pete. It's quite a bit of work to be honest but I think the end result will be worth it.

 

On 8/5/2023 at 6:56 PM, APA said:

Nice safe paul 👏 makes a change to work on some lumps rather than micro dots 🤣

Ha, cheers Andrew, and yes, it a refreshing change not to have an Optivisor strapped to your head all the time. I keep leaving the thing on when answering the door to the delivery guys. I'm sure they all think I'm a bit of a weirdo. 🤪

 

On 8/5/2023 at 9:01 PM, vytautas said:

Wait a minute, why only both? Do not think that this prize will be so easy for you to get, I am more than a serious competitor! 

Don't worry Vytautas, the 'slow build' prize is open to everyone. The problem is that a suitable period of time has to elapse to allow the slowness of a build to be measured. The prize will therefore not be awarded until 2040.

 

On 8/6/2023 at 5:17 PM, robgizlu said:

Hugely impressed by that wheel and the general detailing overall

Thanks Rob 👍

 

On 8/7/2023 at 2:56 PM, Kelscale said:

FYI, Quinta Studio have just announced a "L4500 3D Decals set

Oooo, cheers Los, that looks interesting. I've included the image below from Scalemates for discussion purposes.

If this had been available a year or so ago I'd definitely have bought it for the instrument binnacle alone. I was curious as to why they have included two binnacles that look identical apart from the speedometer so I dug out their instructions. Apparently the top binnacle (1A) is for an L4500A (4WD) version, the bottom (1B) being for a L4500S (2WD). Not sure why an A would need a different speedo to an S to be honest. The S speedo brought memories flooding back as it looks suspiciously like the post-war tachograph that I originally had in the cab until I was enlightened by forum members. Whatever their veracity of the binnacles they look fantastic.

The Quinta Studio products look really nice. I'll have to try them some day but it's a bit too late for the L4500. I do wonder about the duplicate Notek lights for different colour schemes. Do you try to match your Dunklegelb/grau with the 3D decals, over-paint the decals with your mix, or just slam the decals on and hope no-one notices the colour mismatch?

 

 

Right, now for the update.

Firstly, a quick status report on the wheels. The two fronts are now done, and a production line has started for the rears:

 

As a break from the wheel drudge (sanding is very boring truth be told) I thought I'd work on the various iconic Mercedes-Benz three-pointed stars that adorn the front of our truck. We have three stars to deal with: one on the top of the radiator cap, one within a small badge below the filler cap on the radiator housing, and the large star on the radiator grill: 

 

Voyager provides etch for the radiator cap and star emblem. We won't use the etch for the cap as it's far too 2D, the kit cap being a better representation. We will use the star emblem though, but not folded over as one side of the star will be fine:

 

The star emblem sits on a graceful conical plinth which is poorly represented by the etch. Brass tube was therefore shaped with a round file, cut, and fitted into the radiator cap to produce a makeshift plinth:

 

The 'plinth' on the etch star was then slimmed to produce an elongated pin which could be sheathed in brass tube of an appropriate diameter to slip into the new plinth. Offering up the etch star with the kit equivalent we see that there is no comparison (this is why we all love etch). We end up with a radiator cap emblem which looks fine and dandy. Or does it? 🤔

 

The star looked odd to me, and then I realised, it's far too big! Comparing with pictures of the real thing (attempting to keep the radiator housing size roughly the same) we see that the star is comically mahoosive, probably about twice the size that it should be!  The etch star is the same size as that in the kit, so I suspect that Voyager have blindly copied Zvezda. The radiator cap looks to be Lizzo size too for good measure. Oh dear.  😞

 

So what to do? Well, while looking at period reference images you do find that more often than not the cap star is missing (maybe too vulnerable, or maybe nicked as a souvenir, who knows?) Leaving it off is therefore a valid option, which would be a shame, but may be for the best. We don't have to make the decision right now as it can easily be slipped on/off, so we'll see how things go. As an aside, I wonder why they replaced the star with a decapitated head in that last image? 🤪

 

Moving on to the radiator grill, Voyager provide etch for both the star and the grill. Unfortunately the etch grill doesn't reproduce nicely in photos (Moiré interference or something when image resolution changes) so you'll have to trust me when I say the grill doesn't look so cruddy in real life. I've included the kit grill that I chain drilled out for comparison. The middle of the star on the kit grill was used to fabricate the small Mercedes-Benz badge on the radiator housing (the Quinta Studio 3D decal set seen earlier includes this badge by the way as item #2):

 

And here we see the radiator grill in situ. Everything is just sitting in place for now so things may look a little squiffy (I'll be leaving the grill off during painting so it doesn't get clogged up, hoping that a separate light mist coat will keep the grill holes clear):

 

The move I look at it the more I dislike that radiator cap star. I think it'll have to go.

 

And that brings things up to date. Cheers, and thanks for looking,

 

Paul.

[APA]

Have a great holiday Paul 😎👍

 

Andrew 

[Lummox]

It's getting on for two months since I last posted. Blimey!

Not a great deal to report on to be honest, primarily due to an unexpected rush job at work. It's great living out of a hotel firefighting a failing project that you know nothing about. 😞 But hey, it pays the bills I guess.

 

Just to show I haven't given up on this, here's a short update on what little progress there has been...

Those of you with good memories may recall that I was messing about with wheels. The fronts have been done so focus shifted to the rears. Clear images of the rears are harder to come by, but looking at pictures we do find we see hubs with pronounced rims and also an internal riveted strip thing:

 

The kit and resin wheels are similar to the fronts in that the hub rims are indistinct and unconvincing. The internal riveted strip is noticeable by it's absence:

 

This is what we get following much reworking of the rear outer wheel. As can be seen the problematic hubs on the rear inner wheels are pretty much hidden, so thankfully the resin wheels can be used 'as is':

 

Being away from the bench for long periods I started looking for something simple that I could fettle with in a hotel room when time permits. A figure would fit the bill nicely, so this refueling chap was packed into the travel case along with some simple tools. I reckon the fellow looks a bit like Kevin De Bruyne. Maybe, or perhaps I've spent too much time in the hotel bar? Whatever, our chap will be known as 'Kev' from now on:

 

This is my first MiniArt kit, and to be honest, I'm a bit disappointment. The detail is soft, there are huge mould lines (looks at those down the front of the legs!), and the plastic is 'waxy' so hard to clean up. It may well just be this kit that is a bit naff, dunno? Different MiniArt kits built up by other forum members look to be hugely impressive so I'll reserve judgment. I may well use the Hornet resin head seen in the picture but we'll see how the figure goes:

 

Here's what Kev looks like after much tidy up work and a bit of sharpening. I've done some surgery on his right arm to impart more of a bend at the elbow, the idea being that he'll be filling the truck fuel tank which is higher that the jerrycan the figure was designed for. I also hollowed out his sleeves to accept some hands later:

 

Finally a quick shot to show Kev in situ:

 

And with that things are pretty much up to date. Cheers, and thanks for looking,

 

Paul.

[Jochen Barett]

On 03/10/2023 at 16:11, Lummox said:

It's getting on for two months since I last posted. Blimey!

+++

A figure would fit the bill nicely, so this refueling chap was packed into the travel case along with some simple tools. I reckon the fellow looks a bit like Kevin De Bruyne. Maybe, or perhaps I've spent too much time in the hotel bar? Whatever, our chap will be known as 'Kev' from now on:

+++

Paul.

Being a Belgium citizen, Kevin would have needed a special permit by the Führer and Reichskanzler to serve in the Wehrmacht * it would have been far easier for him to join the SS as a "volunteer". As most of us will remember he preferred to play soccer for Werder Bremen (home of Mercedes C-Klasse) and Vfl Wolfsburg (closer to VW than to Mercedes), a much better choice IMHO (not only regarding the paycheck)!

 

*  https://www.verfassungen.de/de33-45/wehr35.htm

run "§ 18. Reichsangehörigkeit." through the translator of your choice

[Lummox]

As per usual, I'm well overdue an update, but sadly I'm only managing the odd 30 minutes here and there, so progress has been somewhat piecemeal. I thought I'd post what limited progress there has been, which is a bit of a Smörgåsbord of random bits and bobs.

 

Firstly, the second rear wheel has been modified so that completes the butchering on the wheels. Yay! We'll have to see what these look like under a coat of paint:

 

Scratching about for small jobs, I thought the fitment of the front Notek light would be a quick one to tick off the list. The Voyager update set provides a resin replacement for the kit light which is a tad basic. Offering the light up to the chassis I found it fouled the adjacent headlight. Investigating further I noticed that the light support was out of true resulting in the light leaning to the right. No matter, just heat the resin light in hot water and bend the support to straighten. Well, the inevitable happened:

 

While contemplating a fix I noticed these 3D printed Notek lights online. For the price of a pint I thought I'd give them a go, and I must admit I'm very impressed. You get 12 lights with their supports and a fret of brass for a selection of different vehicle attachment brackets. The detail is an eye-opener, being absolutely superb. The only downside is the numerous support finger things (I assume needed during the 3D printing process?) which makes clean up a bit tedious:

 

Here's the end result - very nice indeed. Eduard do a whole range of 3D printed upgrades which I'll definitely be investigating further:

 

Next job was to fix some 'collateral damage' to some U-bolt hanger things on the chassis. I'm not sure what these are actually called, but I reckon they're used to secure the bed to the chassis. They've always been very vulnerable, being the sort of thing you'd like to add later in the build but you can't as other gubbins gets in the way:

 

A search found most of the arms of the broken hangers, but one had gone AWOL, so a replacement was manufactured. Reinstated back on the chassis some of the U arms look a bit wonky, but once the bed is in place all should be well:

 

You may have noticed from the previous picture that the chassis is now mounted on a 'handle'. With more and more being added to the chassis, there are fewer and fewer places to hold the thing without causing damage. A rummage in the garage produced some odds and ends for a rudimentary handle. Fortunately there's a handy hole in a chassis cross-member (where the transfer case will eventually be mounted) which can be used to attach the handle. Hopefully 'collateral damage' will now be a thing of the past, and it will certainly help when the paint goes on. Who'd have thought that after all these years my Woodwork O-level would come in useful:

 

Finally, an update on Kev. His hands had the fuel hose moulded in place and would have been butt jointed to his solid sleeves which have now been hollowed out. The hands have been separated from the hose, hollowed, and wrists have been fashioned. The hose nozzle will be used as a template when manufacturing a replacement later:

 

And here is Kev with his new hands. Hmmm, his fingers are still a bit like sausags so probably need more work:

 

And that brings things up to date. Cheers, and thanks for looking,

 

Paul.

[Kelscale]

30 minutes ago, Lummox said:

As per usual, I'm well overdue an update, but sadly I'm only managing the odd 30 minutes here and there, so progress has been somewhat piecemeal. I thought I'd post what limited progress there has been, which is a bit of a Smörgåsbord of random bits and bobs.

 

Firstly, the second rear wheel has been modified so that completes the butchering on the wheels. Yay! We'll have to see what these look like under a coat of paint:

 

Scratching about for small jobs, I thought the fitment of the front Notek light would be a quick one to tick off the list. The Voyager update set provides a resin replacement for the kit light which is a tad basic. Offering the light up to the chassis I found it fouled the adjacent headlight. Investigating further I noticed that the light support was out of true resulting in the light leaning to the right. No matter, just heat the resin light in hot water and bend the support to straighten. Well, the inevitable happened:

 

While contemplating a fix I noticed these 3D printed Notek lights online. For the price of a pint I thought I'd give them a go, and I must admit I'm very impressed. You get 12 lights with their supports and a fret of brass for a selection of different vehicle attachment brackets. The detail is an eye-opener, being absolutely superb. The only downside is the numerous support finger things (I assume needed during the 3D printing process?) which makes clean up a bit tedious:

 

Here's the end result - very nice indeed. Eduard do a whole range of 3D printed upgrades which I'll definitely be investigating further:

 

Next job was to fix some 'collateral damage' to some U-bolt hanger things on the chassis. I'm not sure what these are actually called, but I reckon they're used to secure the bed to the chassis. They've always been very vulnerable, being the sort of thing you'd like to add later in the build but you can't as other gubbins gets in the way:

 

A search found most of the arms of the broken hangers, but one had gone AWOL, so a replacement was manufactured. Reinstated back on the chassis some of the U arms look a bit wonky, but once the bed is in place all should be well:

 

You may have noticed from the previous picture that the chassis is now mounted on a 'handle'. With more and more being added to the chassis, there are fewer and fewer places to hold the thing without causing damage. A rummage in the garage produced some odds and ends for a rudimentary handle. Fortunately there's a handy hole in a chassis cross-member (where the transfer case will eventually be mounted) which can be used to attach the handle. Hopefully 'collateral damage' will now be a thing of the past, and it will certainly help when the paint goes on. Who'd have thought that after all these years my Woodwork O-level would come in useful:

 

Finally, an update on Kev. His hands had the fuel hose moulded in place and would have been butt jointed to his solid sleeves which have now been hollowed out. The hands have been separated from the hose, hollowed, and wrists have been fashioned. The hose nozzle will be used as a template when manufacturing a replacement later:

 

And here is Kev with his new hands. Hmmm, his fingers are still a bit like sausags so probably need more work:

 

And that brings things up to date. Cheers, and thanks for looking,

 

Paul.

Fantastic work Paul.  Keep the updates coming.  Can I ask where you sourced the Eduard 3D lights from?