Mercedes-Benz Actros Wrecker Truck

[tajoe]

WOW!!!! Amaizing work! I will be watching this build closely. I have been wanting to do scratch builds for a while, it's great to see a step by step. And my co-workers tell me I have too much time on my hands with the kits I build! How long have you been working on this project?

[quadzero]

This is simply amazing, one of the most ambitious projects I have ever seen. The truck that inspired all this is one cool monster.

[gtidude]

you got some serious skill there dude, excellent work

[2.2 Straight six]

Originally Posted by tajoe

WOW!!!! Amaizing work! I will be watching this build closely. I have been wanting to do scratch builds for a while, it's great to see a step by step. And my co-workers tell me I have too much time on my hands with the kits I build! How long have you been working on this project?

i've been working on it for just over 2 weeks now. working probably 8-12 hours a day, a lot of time is taken to do relatively small amount of work, at least it seems that way. the scratchbuilding takes a lot of time in doing thing like meansurements, calculations and template-making where needed.

if scratchbuilding's something you want to try just go for it, i've never tried anything this ambitious, but it's determination that builds skill, just give it a go, and never be disappointed, i certainly didn't get great results the first time i tried it. but its when you try again and learn from previous mistakes that really builds skill. that, and it's far easier than everyone think. honestly, it really is.

tutorials - if anyone would like a tutorial on anything within this thread, or something else let me know, i'm more than happy to walk everyone through the steps of making things. just let me know and i'll have the tutorial started probably within 48 hours of the request being made.

thanks for the kind words everyone, it's much appreciated and i'm glad you're all enjoying the progress.

on the subject of progress, the hours between now and my last post have brought some, unfortunately it's not a lot.

after the trial-run versions of the pivot mounts, i decided that that was the design i wanted, an upright with a horizontal support, i i took out the mitre block and the remains of the square box section (the trial versions were rectangular in cross-section, but i made the final versions the same as the upper chassis rails.) and made a pair of supports, measurements were made and they were drilled accordingly for the "pin" to slot through.

this pic shows the mounting bolt plates talked about below.



i also made some bolting plates for the "pin", again in keeping with the heavy-duty theme, they're made from 11 parts. made from 0.5mm plastic sheet, cut with a compass cutter, a second circle was marked with a pair of compasses and 8 divisions were makred up, where the 8 divisions met with the second circle a hold was drilled. this allowed (almost) even spacing between the bolts. the parts in each are as follows:

8 bolts
1 double-bolt
1 disk plate
1 pin shaft.



a did a mock-up to see what the twin-rams would look like, if they would work and what spacing they'd need. they work perfectly, but i may reduce the spacing between them, making them closer together. it's more aesthetically pleasing to me. the supports for the rams will be made fromr re-worked L-beams and they'll be attached to the boom without bolts, but by welding (putty weld seams will make many appearances on this model)

you can also see the trial-run pivots being used, they're now employed to hold the boom up while i make measurements and the like.



that's pretty much it for the moment, i'm continuing work on the boom and starting the crane too. hopefully i'll have more work to report back with later.

let me know what you think, all opinions are valued, tell me what you like/don't like and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,
Chris.

[wouter1981]

Great work. I'll folow this closly. Just a question. Will everything "work"? Like the boom, will it be movable, or will you just leave it in 1 position and gleu it fixed.

[sjelic]

Amazing stuff, keep it up, I love this kind of work no matter what subject

[2.2 Straight six]

Originally Posted by wouter1981

Great work. I'll folow this closly. Just a question. Will everything "work"? Like the boom, will it be movable, or will you just leave it in 1 position and gleu it fixed.

everything will be movable, the boom, stabiliser legs, outriggers and such will all move. the only part that isn't likely to move is the winch, i may add something so it can be rewound with an allen key or something.

the boom will go up and down with the rams moving, it will also extend. the crane i'm (slowly) building will also move. once the wrecker body is completed all the compartments will be openable, they'll be hinged.

i'm working on the hinge design at the moment, instead of the doors "swinging" open they will come out and hinge sideways, hard to explain. basically when they're opened the door panel will always be parrallel with the body. once i've finished making the first prototype hinge (in a couple of hours) i'll post a pic to show you how it works.

[Nicole8188]

Originally Posted by 2.2 Straight six

(sacrificing some new earrings for the girlfriend. i know, i know..)

I don't want anything...keep building your truck!

And for future reference, don't give me the link to the thread where you mention things like this. Did you think I wouldn't really read it?

Seriously though, I really don't want anything.

[willimo]

That's a pretty rad truck, man, and your build is killer so far! I love seeing scratchwork on this scale, and seeing the materials people use and the way they go about solving the problems they encounter. I also enjoy that you are sharing it with us. Very awesome.

Who makes those resin bolts you are using? I could use a baggie or two of them and am really curious where to find them. Are they model RR parts?

[willimo]

Originally Posted by Nicole8188

Seriously though, I really want earrings and if I don't get them I will smash your puny truck.

OMG learn teh codez and tranzlate!!

[2.2 Straight six]

Originally Posted by willimo

Who makes those resin bolts you are using? I could use a baggie or two of them and am really curious where to find them. Are they model RR parts?

i'm not sure, i'll find out when i go to the model store. they don't come bagged, they come all on a "tree" where they're cast and have a number of different bolt patterns. all i know off-hand is that they're from the czech republic.

[bigfrit]

I m jealous! And am checking often in hope of more update madness!

GOGOGO !!!


Oli

[2.2 Straight six]

i'm still working on the hinges. hopefully i'll have more to report back with in a couple of hours.

engineering these hinges is harder than i thought. i want the doors of swing round the frame, and to lay almost flat to the bodywork. hard to explain what i mean. some buses have these doors, they open and close without pivoting as such. the door is always running parallel to the bodywork.

anyone know the name to these kind of hinges?

[2.2 Straight six]

i found an example picture of the hinges, but it only shows the door, and not the hinge detail. it should help explain what i mean though. as you can see the door must come forward away from the frame, then it moves to the side, always running parallel to the bodywork.



EDIT - found it, a spot of quick googling and research into bus/coach door mechanisms hailed the answer, it's called a parallelogram plug door, apparently. the link below gives an bird's eye view of it. scroll down and you'll see it.

http://www.nabiusa.com/parts/parts_page.cfm?res_id=7

[deltableh]

Wow, this is amazing work! I can't wait to see when it's done!