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Crane Jane and Maz Boy


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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey All,

 

  Sporadic building, still at this point, but getting things done.  I spent a couple of weeks building the Torsion Suspension Anchors.  

 

  This Maz has a torsion suspension system that uses a solid rod to twist and torque for a smooth ride.  The parts I just built are the anchor ends of the torsion bars.  These attach to the sides of the frame and create a sold support for the ends of the torsion rods.

 

Everything starts with cutting the pieces.  43 pieces per anchor!!!!

 

 

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These live about here...........

 

Czv6vQ.jpg

 

 

Off to the Paint Dept...........

 

ER1iRd.jpg

 

It was at this point I had to make a decision.  I had spent a couple weeks, cutting and building these, piecing together various photos to get these built, and then, I already sent these to the paint dept. when I found a really great reference for these.  My builds don't even look like the real anchors that I found after the primer. How many of you scratchers have built a part, then found a great reference for it?  Do I start over and rebuild these to look like the originals I found after the build?  Or just leave these knowing that nobody will really know the difference but you guys here at the forum?

 

Time to move on............

 

 0eUuGX.jpg

 

They looked good after painting, so on with the build.  I got all these secured into place and then on with the painting.

 

 

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I still have a ton of parts to cut and build to get the suspension working.  The rest of the torsion bars fit up next to the frame and will be built next.  Then I'll start extending the suspension build away from the frame a bit.  The drive line integrates into the suspension system and all come together at the wheel hub.  About a million parts to work with here.  All good fun.

 

I'll be back sometime again.  Thanks All for checking back!

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That's some seriously intricate scratchbuilding there. They do look excellent and, like you, I would definitely not have started over. They look the part and that's what matters. 

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This is a lot to take in - beautiful work - fabrication and finish.  I find it a real challenge to make numerous brackets that all remain the exact same - like those flat base plates.  On one hand, it looks like a fairly straight forward shape to cut out, but to cut out several, that all look very similar is some nice model building.  I really like the finish too - I don't remembering seeing that surface treatment before, but, it's beauty! (in a model building sort of way 😁)

 

And, yes, I get the frustration of building what to the best of your knowledge is correct, only to discover shortly after - well, it's not.  Every now and then, I'll tear it out and rebuild it, that said, what you built sure looks good!

 

Looking forward to your next post -

 

Cheers

Nick 

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  • 1 month later...

Hey All,

 

  I have been somewhat lacking with my postings on this build. Trying to finish up with the Frog.  The Frog is done, with just weathering to do, and I now can concentrate my efforts here, altho a little slow at first.

 

I have a house move coming up in a few weeks, so the postings my be a bit erratic for a short time.

 

  I have made a decision to start this project over based on new info found. I have just started with this build and not stressed at all about it.  I lamented last posting, that I had found two really great references photos after I had built the torsion anchors., and that mine did not look like the real deal.  Those two photos lead in a direction I did not look at before, and that lead on to others, and........  I have started with the rebuild.

 

My original reference was seriously lacking in some respects to the frame supports and the differential pans.  These photos show 

 

12oCdU.jpg

 

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 that there are eight cross supports number and four differential pans.  That is 12 cross connections.  This is so far wrong from what I have found in subsequent photos and drawings that I can't just live with it.  I have new references that show the rail frame of this build and I can count 19 cross members so far that I need to build and place along the frame rail.  I usually spend quite a while longer finding references for builds before I start, for just this reason.  However this is just to cool to wait much longer.

 

On with the new frame..

 

The frame rails are the same length and height, so no change there, but I did start over with all my markings so as not to get confused and recut everything instead of reusing the old frame.

 

iD97Ep.jpg

 

 

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I also have all the base plates for the cross supports cut and sized.  You can see how many I missed the first time 'round. 

 

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I also have all the differential pans built...

 

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and the major cross members along the bottom of the rail.......

 

wuP2PP.jpg

 

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This pile of cross member parts along with the diff. pans and frame rails are now ready for painting.  They are at the paint dept. as I write, and I'm going to try something I have never done before.  I'll show you when I get back.

 

I can't say enough about the new references that I found and, gives me much more enthusiasm to get started with the proper footing.  I hope you don't mind watching a bit of a rebuild, but the improvements are well worth the time to rebuild to get things started proper.

 

Again soon, RichO

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How could we mind watching someone build something like this, with great care and precision 🙂 

 

Starting over looks to have been a good decision. 

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10 hours ago, RichO said:

 I hope you don't mind watching a bit of a rebuild, but the improvements are well worth the time to rebuild to get things started proper.

Rich, if it's you that's doing it, just name the time and place, I'll be there. The rebuild HAD to be done, as you say. Happy modelling is good modelling.

Good luck with the rest of the build and the house move. (Rather you than me, though I sort of feel one coming in the near future).

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Thanks Jeroen and Pete, and the rest of you guys.  I just don't feel bad about restating this at all.  I only had the frame rails and a few cross members finished, and I 'm back to that point anyway. Only a short time lost.

 

The Frog build went through a year or longer in mini storage before finishing.  I did not want to put this build away for the move, so I'll just keep doing little things to work on it until the move is over.  The new man cave/model room is a two car garage with a large shop and art studio.  I should have a bit more room to build.  Yaaaaaaaa.

 

The frame is back from the Paint Dept. and I am putting the frame together,  I'll be back soon, All.

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Hi Rich,

 

As I really enjoy scratch work, I've got to say, I'm looking forward to this - your work is really interesting, and provides quite a deep well of ideas and techiniques.  So, as long as you enjoy building more, I'll enjoy the show 😀

 

Cheers

Nick 

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      So anyway, I spent the last month building all these tiny parts for the frame after the restart.  When I was ready to paint all of these, I wanted to try something new.  I have not tried the "hair spray" technique for painting, so, a plausibility study was in order.

 

I can see how this would work really good.  I have a ways to go to get the technique down for this build tho.  I over sprayed the top coat and had to scrub with a wire brush to get started.  I really like the scratches effect with this.  If I can get the top coat to come off a lot easier I might have something here.  More practice is needed.

 

KiedT6.jpg

 

I kept to my tried and true salt technique for this build.  It's easy and I have more control over my colors and textures, and I don't have to think about it.  Just do it.

 

I start with a red oxide primer base rust.

 

tvNVws.jpg

 

  Then I apply all the variations with other colors over the red base.  I sprinkle the salt where I want the rust and then top coat with the contrasting green.

 

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I get such really great textures with this technique, it looks like real peeling and rusting paint.

 

 

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Just look at this texture............

 

 

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More frame mounts and cross plates to build........

 

 

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Everything is where t is supposed to be and I'm now ready to join the frame. Like 40 connections.

 

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Her it is!!  The first two pieces to be joined on this build.

 

 

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I have all these connections to deal with to get the cross supports into place.  This is just the first one.

 

I'll be back with a together frame.  Thanks All

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Galaxyg,  

 

  This whole construction will be painted with acrylic paints.  These are old fashioned rattle cans.  I don't use an airbrush.  

 

I paint the white styrene with red oxide primer.  the rust base coat.  When that dries, I add the variations in the color on top of the red primer with a sponge.  When I get everything just right, the salt is laid down down on top of the red oxide.  The salt is just a bag of icecream making salt. I crush the big pieces and this makes the variation in the salt size that help adds texture to the painting.  I then water down the frame parts, this makes the salt stick into place and not move around, and also melts some of the salt and creates a great repelling effect that looks really cool.  The water also interacts with the paint and a really cool repel effect happens with the salt and........Paint Magic.  The top color sticks to the salt and is torn away when I clean the salt off.  The top coat is then left with all the texture of the peeling paint.

 

5jD5aU.jpg

 

I try to think ahead of time about the color combinations that I want to achieve.  Green and Red are compliments to each on the color wheel and always look good together.  With the variations of the rust, I have a wide spread of complimentary colors to work with.  I also want to paint the cab with this technique, to make an extra peeling paint, on a very over used cab.

  

When all this is done, I will put the frame together and then give it my favorite thin watercolor wash of different colors to add variation the the surface green.  You will also notice that I use very wacky color combinations for my surface details purples, pinks, blues, ect.........  All this looks great when viewed from a few feet away, and up close.

 

Anybody else have a question just ask.  Thanks All

 

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Good Lord, just stumbled across this thread and I'm blown away by this master class in not only scratch building but rust creation!

 

Will be watching from now on!

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@RichO I've just swunug by too, and you're doing some great work. :worthy:  I did however notice that the pics were loading slowly.

 

I tested some of the pics, and they were 4600+ by 3600+ pixels in size and 1.8mb each, which is huge when posting up on the internet, even with fast broadband.  You should be aiming to save your files to around 200kb optimally, give or take a bit.  To accomplish this, you can reduce the size of your pics, as anything over the recommended 1024 x 800 maximum we advise, it's wasted bandwidth and storage space useage.  Most people view these pics on phones, tablets and 1080p screens, so huge photos of 4000 x 3000 px will have to be shrunk down by the forum software (load on the server and delay for the user), as well as the extra bandwidth that is uses up (10x what's necessary).

 

The downsides of this from a viewer's point of view is the waiting time before you can view the pics, and some people might get bored and click away.  From the server's point of view, it's wasteful of bandwidth, storage size (we cache images to improve speed), and it's also wasteful of the server's resources, which means a slower experience for all of us.

 

This isn't meant as a "telling off" BTW, more of a bit of useful advice to help you as well as help us.  If you can size your pics to the recommended limits, we'll be really happy, and so will the members

 

I'm hoping we can educate people on this without being snotty, so if you can use this that'd be great :yes:

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Mike,

  

  I'm a bit out of the loop here.  I'm not a computer person, I'm an old fashioned artist.  I have no clue what you are writing about.  I just "download" my photos to Imageshack and then post to here.  I don't know how to do any of the things you are recommending.    If I did not need the laptop to post I would not even use it.  I don't use a computer for my art and have never used a computer for a pro job.  All my work is hand made.

 

If Britmodeller has size limits for the photos, please recommend a photo host site where I can just load the photos to the correct size.  I have a hand made life, and have never used a computer except to post to model sites.  I just don't need one.  The stone age is still alive for some people.

 

If anybody else can explain how they post photos here at a smaller size, please PM me and we can see what happens.

 

Thanks Mike I'll find someone how knows how to do this.

 

RichO

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I've set my camera to the size I use, 640 x 480 and they load quickly. I use Imgur.com as a host site and they can be resized on there too.

I can also resize on the laptop using Windows Office picture manager. I hope some of this helps you, Rich.

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I always use https://bulkresizephotos.com/ ... drag your photo's in there, select a reduction rate and go. They're resized on your computer and you can save the resized files somewhere else or overwrite the originals. Then, upload them to the site you use for posting. 

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Pete,  

 

Thanks for the response.  I know that you guys that use computers often, look at us non users as if we are dinosaurs.  I so don't use this tech.  I don't know how to set a camera photo size.  You can do that?  If I can't just aim the thing and take a photo, then I don't use it.  So it appears that my Irish stubbornness is getting me into trouble again.  I'm not interested in new training and taking classes to learn this.  I build models.  If I can't size the photos with a button, I'm not interested. I could quit posting if Admin says I  have to resize for certain. You would think that this modern tech. would size a photo for your devise with out me having to jump through a bunch of hoops.  Go figure.

 

I have already paid my fee to Imageshack for years of service because I don't have to do anything accept load the photos.  Done.  it's that simple.  I refuse to use windows products if I can.  Bill can cram this s. right up his bottom.  If I get into trouble here for my thoughts, after all these years here and not hearing anything about this, I'm just going to do what I do.  If I'm told to change, I'll deal with that later.

 

Now that I'm properly miffed, I'll go work on my models.

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On 7/12/2021 at 7:56 PM, RichO said:

 If I can't size the photos with a button, I'm not interested. I could quit posting if Admin says

Don't say things like that, it would be a very sad loss if you stop!

I'm rubbish with computers. I only know what I know because I keep repeating the same tasks. New stuff puzzles me.

I'm still learning how to use my new  (3 months old) flat screen phone after years of using Motorola flip phones.

There's probably a menu button on your camera? Even I figured out how to go through that and eventually found the size menu.

My two four year old Grand Daughters know how to use I pads. I don't!

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The problem Pete, is modern tech.   I started my pro work life before computers were invented.  I never learned how to use one.  Never need it.  I retired, my pro work life, before computers were invented.  I don't own a computer, I don't own a cell phone, I don't own a laptop, or a computer camera.  Once a week I barrow a laptop to post my photos and that's it.  My total interface with the modern world is once a week for model posting.  I live in a world where computers don't exist.  I just don't need to, and at my age I sure as, H E  double toothpicks, can't afford to spend thousands for something I don't need or use.  So I just deal with situations like this when I am forced to.

 

I have a ten year old grand niece that can reprogram the Pentagon computers with out even thinking about it.  It just doesn't translate into something I can work with.  it is a daily fact that I have to interface with computers, but someone else always dose it, not me.  I don't need to look at boobies on the internet, and the ufo subject will take care of itself.  What else is there on the internet?  Retards complaining that they..............

 

No more typing for me today.

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@RichO Please don't stop posting 🙂 

 

You said you're using Imageshack, it seems they have a setting where you can automatically resize your photo's when you post them. If you could get that to work, that would end discussions for sure! 

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