Hold my be.. place A Song Of Volts And Water

[hendie]

Great stuff, Bill. That's going to make a fantastic display.

 

... and you're enjoying it too!

 

 

[perdu]

No fun if we dont actually enjoy it Alan, is it?  ☺️

[heloman1]

Coming along nicely Bill...

[perdu]

Thanks Colin, need to be searching for small wheels now. 

 

Maybe 1/72 scale Sea  King wheels might do.

 

 

Fairly certain I have the mechanism worked out now. 

 

 

[81-er]

That's looking the part now, Bill, nice work

 

James

[giemme]

2 hours ago, 81-er said:

That's looking the part now, Bill, nice work

 

James

Agreed 100%!

 

Ciao

[perdu]

Got it

 

The lift in place and active

This accidentally blurred image (sorry Ian) should show the floats lifted above the tarmac/concrete of the landing stage area

 

Luckily, being blurred you cant see how much more bodywork I have to perform miracles on to convert the Stoodi into a F250.

 

Let's just say there is a bit more to do and move on huh?

 

 

 

 

Here is the chassis (utilises the lower flat piece of Hot Wheels framework to have the lift frame added on) with its parasite bits added but not yet the hydraulic jack part.

 

Working that one out now, honest!

 

 

Of course on a static model (Pray it doesnt fall over) I hardly need the best attributes of a Hot Wheels chassis so here I am drilling out the ludicrously fine axle tube and making the wheels OK to work with a faked up 1/72 scale truck undercarriage, they have already been slimmed down across the tread (good it might not keep trying to roll off the worktop now) and now I can begin wheel working in earnest.

 

 

The one on the left has been reworked, but  not the right one.

 

Or is it the wrong one?

 

Beggared if I know.

 

 

I'd call myself the Model Wheelwright if there wasny already such a business working out there in the ether, but this is me for the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

[giemme]

The working lift is outstanding already! I'm very much looking forward to seeing all the additional bits and bobs in position

 

Ciao

[perdu]

19 minutes ago, giemme said:

The working lift is outstanding already! I'm very much looking forward to seeing all the additional bits and bobs in position

 

Ciao

Yeah me too, trouble is I have to invent the things first

[perdu]

An early morning development session, I think it has been fruitful. Well first off I'd like to thank those of you who follow along on this admittedly weird journey, It's probably not looming large in your days so I thank you for the likes and/or even the 'looks' you have made in here.

 

You are very welcome.

 

Now development, I have a very large selection of photos of these Seaplane 'tugs', as my friend Lars of Khee-Kha Art Products who has sent me an amazing and oh so welcome selection of photos of Beavers and Otters and their associated operations calls them.

 

But hardly any of the pictures shows how the front suspension works.

 

These things dunk in water, sometimes fresh lake water but also often enough as around Vancouver harbour in the sea.

How do they actually operate?

 

Do they have suspension units with springs or rubber units, 

 

These obviously need to be greased to keep the water at bay but in photos there never seems to be evidence of a springing device, very odd I think.

 

But believe or not, there is a model of the Ford sea plane truck available, from Hum3D which makes available for downloading a huge number of detailed models and where I found pictures of the trucks to scrounge details from.

 

This is a snapshot of their truck's rear/front wheel area

 

And sadly that's all I can find, so I will go along with Hum, unless I get better info.

But look!

 

No suspension shown just a hole through the chassis for an axle, no obvious grease points either so for now this is just an interim solution.

 

So here underframe angle pieces to run the axle through, OK, yes its yuk.

 

The axle carriers were cut from a square section evergreen extrusion, what would we do without them huh?

Revolutionised scratch building for me (and probably @Martiantoo maybe)

With the rounded off square axle rod (gets me close to a proprietary drill size I own) I then began fitting @CedB wheels to the sized rod

 

 

You can see there are two different wheels on the rod, Ced's fault, he didn't send me enough wheels of the right size.

 

Shocking isnt it   

 

Kidding Ced, that box of unused wheels revolutionised MY modelling and I am eternally grateful mate.

 

Here's a test of concept using the square rod axle for effect

 

 

The weight of a Swan-Morton knife is needed in front of the cab if the truck is to be shown as an entity, I do have a slug of Tungsten-Carbide which saw its original life as a cutter in my mate's horizontal miller's head tool.

 

It will go in a hydraulic control box with the 'slug' inside with other heavy enough lumps of heaviness in front of the truck cab along the chassis.

 

What happens next is pairing inner and outer chassis wheels to be fitted if I can bring myself to go with Hum3D's set up.

 

 

More thought and consideration needed but this is a possible...

 

Ciao folks.

[Terry1954]

Amazing work so far, Bill. Well done for finding a "model" of the tow truck.

 

The Hum3D site is interesting. They certainly have a lot of models for sale as print files, for those that have a 3D printer. An interesting route for me as it cuts out the software design bit, (Fusion wont run on my older Mac) so I'd just need a printer. However, its difficult to ascertain the quality of the end product, and no scale is mentioned that I can see. I am aware from some of our colleagues on BM that scaling things up or down, is not always a straightforward operation.

 

T.

[giemme]

Master Scratch Builder at work here....  

 

Ciao

[perdu]

18 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Amazing work so far, Bill. Well done for finding a "model" of the tow truck.

 

The Hum3D site is interesting. They certainly have a lot of models for sale as print files, for those that have a 3D printer. An interesting route for me as it cuts out the software design bit, (Fusion wont run on my older Mac) so I'd just need a printer. However, its difficult to ascertain the quality of the end product, and no scale is mentioned that I can see. I am aware from some of our colleagues on BM that scaling things up or down, is not always a straightforward operation.

 

T.

Terry I have taken several of its screen shots for the seaplane truck but they might just be artistic render items or maybe real thing shots.

 

I'm having a bad vocabulary day today, happens quite a lot these days as I get older so I might not be being very clear but here's photos of the truck model I think, so you can make a judgement.

 

 

 

It might be worth seeing if you can find one of our lads to try Hum3D out for you before you invest in a printer.

[hendie]

Great update, Bill. Lots of interesting work going on there.

 

 

 

 

[perdu]

This seems to prove the concept and show me I need better execution of the method

 

 

Although I do not intend having the arms rise and fall  it seems I need to do better with making said arms.

 

Derr.

 

Or rather Doh.

 

I have been looking into seaplane trailer suspension in the real world and it seems I will need something like this.

 

 

These units are recommended by people who build these trailers when they talk about it amongst themselves.

 

making trailing arms to hold wheels.

 

I think I have done this before somewhere, I wonder where...

 

Oh yes a smaller version of

 

 

This?

 

Oh I wish Slaters still made that tough, springy extruded rod, job done in five minutes.

 

Well I think a version of this swing axle suspension will work, the units they recommend are 'sealed for life' bearings so safe for saltwater immersion they say.

 

Wont be a problem for us will it?

 

Flat nave wheels too, easy peasy.

 

[marvinneko]

On 02/09/2025 at 07:54, Terry1954 said:

so I'd just need a printer

 

On 02/09/2025 at 08:22, perdu said:

find one of our lads to try Hum3D out for you before you invest in a printer.

 

On this side of the pond, libraries (and universities and private orgs) have makerspaces with 3d printers and often people hanging around who can help.

[perdu]

Decided on how to use the model for seaplane display, the lift raised as if with à. Beaver or Otter onboard.

 

Final alignment

 

o

 

 

Placing floats to test fit

 

 

This looks as if the lift arms need altering 

Lets have it with the cab on

 

 

Ford type grille added, more to come there too

 

And with floats again, I like the look of this

 

 

I do not think this if far off the end product

 

Ciao

[hendie]

That is all looking rather fabulous Bill.

It's going to make for a great display piece. 

[perdu]

Time to allow for complication, in-coming!

 

 

Hydraulic ram attachment bracket and brace.

 

Underneath 'showing my workings'

 

When the seaplane (Harbour Air have several seaplanes of varying weight, size and complexity) is being lifted this simple bracket will be the most vulnerable to torque and weight resistance forces and the one I have been using as inspiration has these bracing rods on it.

 

Test the fit, the distance between the support arms, up on  the hinges, has been reduced to make the supports as wide as the nose of the truckie and now we look at the overall appearance.

 

And for effect (the real ram will be much longer, hydraulic reality rules OK?) the mock up ram in situ.

 

 

Okeydoke, that's all folks!

 

'til next time...

[perdu]

A fun shot whilst I work out the rear suspension

 

 

I was pleased to find that the 'front' end came down with only the weight of the floats on it, which means the weight box in front of the cab won't need to be ridiculously heavy.

 

YESSSS

[Terry1954]

Looking really neat, Bill. Love the way the support/lift mechanism is being "scratched" together in true Bill form.

 

That last shot being a sort of peek preview of the end result.

 

This is going to be a stunner, similar I guess, to many other stunners you have brought us.

 

T.

[giemme]

4 hours ago, perdu said:

fun shot whilst I work out the rear suspension

Looking ace already! Love all the "mechanical " stuff going on here!  

 

Ciao

[hendie]

Got to agree with my two colleagues there Bill. That lift mechanism is a little beauty.

[perdu]

Cheers folks, almost time to glue and Giorgio

 

 

Side on this looks to be the answer to lifting the Beaver, Otter and Twotter in the queue

 

 

 

Suspenders next...

[giemme]

Brilliant! I love that last pic, showing all the "mechanics" of it!  

 

Ciao