Depiction of a true workhorse--Ford Aeromax

[rollin80s]

something different. i like all the attention to detail you are doing. keep up the great work.

[blackf40]

It's been a busy week off--being away for a week at a time for work will do that. Most of my time spent on this project has been research and planning: even though the Pete model had a rear suspension fairly close to the correct Hendricksons, a great deal of work was needed to get the ride height accurate. I probably got the frame something like half a scale foot lower.



The front suspension was the most difficult: I cut the supports in half and filed away in earnest, but it was hard to keep things straight so that the front axle wouldn't sit cock-eyed. You can see the "before" picture in a previous post. The silver marks were the center-points of the U-bolts before; you can see how far forward I moved the springs. The result:



This still isn't nearly as low as most Aeromaxes I've seen, but I'm modelling my Dad's rig at a point after his front springs and wheels were replaced, so it no longer looked like a sports car up front.

The rear suspension had very thick mounts, which I filed away considerably. The broken blue line depicts the original mount, and the solid blue line is how far I filed. The 1:1's axles point upward very slightly but noticeably, so that's why you see an angle.





And that's how it looks with the axles. The U-bolts were clipped quite a bit to fit. Even after a great deal of filing and sanding, the two halves of the axle are visible, but that may disappear under paint, mehopes.



The rear sits just about perfect, with the tires peeking over the frame rails by a few scale inches. Thankfully, the sliding fifth wheel mount only required a little cutting to match the 1:1, but the fifth wheel itself will have to be scratched. The same goes for the frame crossmember underneath the fifth wheel. And the shock mounts...and the transverse arm mounts...but I digress.



Next week off, I'm hoping to finish the suspension completely. Wish me luck!

[scorpiopab]

Good luck with the rest, looks really cool, and it's seems like an dedicated build to me..





Paul.

[blackf40]

Finally posting again after a few busy weeks. My skill in scratch-building is growing by the day, what with all the pieces I have to make, and parts I have to modify so heavily. I'm finding out how much slower a build seems to move when so many of the parts need heavy modification or scratch-replacement.

I started with the front suspension. The front brake slack adjuster needed some TLC--before and after are shown.



The shock absorbers were much too small in all dimensions, so they were turned upside down and the top sleeve made with drilled-out plastic rod, and details made with spare wire, a pin vise, and a homemade punch set. I'm beginning to love all the little tools I've collected over the years.



The shock mounts top and bottom were scratched. The bottom mounts looked like big square blocks of metal in the ref pics--I wasn't being lazy. But I did forget a completed pic--I guess that'll come after paint.



The hood hinges caught my attention next. Very simple but strong...



...but won't allow the hood to open its full 90 degrees. This took a little thinking, since I wanted to keep the strength so that the hood could be opened and closed frequently without worry, but it had to open enough for accuracy and show off my work on the engine.



Solution: inelegant but functional.



The kit cross-member between the axles left a lot to be desired, so out came the sheet styrene again. This one required some time with pliers and a candle.



The fifth wheel will just come over top here.



The rear shock absorbers were mercilessly kitbashed with those from a Pete kit, and mounts were made.



The incorrect mounts were removed from the cross arms, and new mounts are next.



The rear of the suspension leaf springs and airbag mounting hardware, as well as...torsion tubes? were fabricated. I'm nearly done with the rear suspension, I swear!

[blackf40]

Ok, back after a summer at our new house--there's a lot to be done! I'm committed to a New Year finish for this one--my Dad and I both have birthdays in the first week of January.

I ground off the old rear shock mounts with my rotary tool, then built new ones out of copper wire and styrene, and mounted them in the right place.







The rods for controlling sideways movement of the axles needed new mounts, and these are for the frame rails. They will be mounted when the axle mounts are ready: the axles are tilted up at a small angle.



I made my first hack at cutting up a pop can for details, and though fiddly, the aluminum made great mounting straps for this rear brake reservoir. Most of it was made from a pen cap, and the rest from plastic sheet, rod, and guitar string. At the end, you can see my first efforts at making A/N fittings by hand. Not the best, but hard to see if it's never going to stay "clean" and saves me $$$.



A shot from a new setup I'm trying for taking pics.



Actual progress to follow every other week...

[drunken monkey]

that is some very impressive styrene detailing.
one quick thing; be sure to fil down the pinched wnds of snipped wires.
they aren't that noticable to the naked eye but in photos, they annoyingly show up.

[joegtr]

Great work on the engine and suspension, took me back to when I worked on trucks great detail and craftsmanship keep it up

[Serioga]

Well done!
Here is my WIP on AeroMax 120: http://forum.autoinscale.com/viewtopic.php?id=2340
It is in Russian, but if you have questiones feel free to ask. I hope it will help.

[blackf40]

Thanks for the comments.

Serioga, thanks for the link. Did you use photo-etched windshield wipers? You did some fantastic work on yours, and gave me a bunch of ideas, including how to do some things I was considering. I won't detail in some of the same ways, but I'm sticking strictly to what I remember from driving and from reference pics of the real thing. You had an interesting idea for cutting out the two depressions in the front of the hood and making them vents. From the factory, they were just troughs used as handles to open the hood, as in many other trucks. But it would have been easy for a driver to cut the fibreglass and insert mesh. Holes are often drilled in them for drainage.

drunken monkey: Yeah, I figured someone might notice that. I've generally been good with cleaning up parts before pics, but you caught me, and the shock mount bolts will take some creative work to dress. Keep it coming--if I stop learning, I stop living.

[Serioga]

Originally Posted by blackf40

Did you use photo-etched windshield wipers?

Yes, these are from KFS, as name plates and number plates.

Originally Posted by blackf40

You had an interesting idea for cutting out the two depressions in the front of the hood and making them vents. From the factory, they were just troughs used as handles to open the hood, as in many other trucks. But it would have been easy for a driver to cut the fibreglass and insert mesh. Holes are often drilled in them for drainage.

Thank you for the note. When you do a guess work, it's always usefull to read the truth meaning of the things.

[voyageur]

I like workhorses and love to see someone fabricating parts with excellent scratchbuilding abilities. Keep us posted!

[blackf40]

Back for another week, but I didn't get a great deal done on the model. I started on the last bit of rear suspension, the tracking bar mounts on the axles. No pictures of those yet, since there's little to show but the basic shape.

More importantly, I decided to build a new fifth wheel top mount, since the kit piece is the wrong shape and too difficult to correct. The target is what looks to be the SAF Holland FW-35:



The plate in question:



I began with 2mm sheet, drawing out the shape with the aid of an ellipse template...



...cut and filed to shape...



...and the inside cut out very roughly to suggest the lip, mounts, and lock mechanism. The lock spring was hand wound around rod, and adjusted in the unlocked position (nut pushed out from plate lip).



The top is 0.5mm sheet cut and filed to shape. Filler is needed to even out gaps, and the unlock handle and pivot bolts are left. To avoid having to duplicate grease grooves, I'll simply stick with the "fresh out of the garage" look and make it look like it was somewhat recently greased, with a load or two in between to cover the plate.



More next week.

[Serioga]

Good point! But I would rather use Revell's or AMT's spare fifth wheel. They are well detailed.

[Mojo_stevo]

Nice to see you back on this. I'd like to build another truck some day.

[blackf40]

Thanks for the comments!

Serioga: I would have preferred that option, but I couldn't justify spending even more on this model to avoid a couple hours of work. If I can put on a convincing enough grease job, it should turn out for the best.

The rear suspension is nearing completion, with only the air brake architecture to go. The control link mounts for the axle are complete and shown with a bar and frame mount...these took a surprisingly long time to get right, because of their size. At least the second one took less than half the time to make.



Along the way, I keep finding new things to "fix" or build. Case in point: the air brake/drum detail consists of a flat plat covering most of the inside of the wheels, so I found some old model wheels and repurposed them as brake drums. I took it about as far as it will be visible to me, which is hopefully just a bit further than it will be visible to anyone else.



The biggest news was the arrival of my wheels from Spaulding! I have searched high and low for 5-hole wheels that would fit Italeri's tires. The 1:1 originally came with 5-hole aluminum wheels all around--a very uncommon combination--and later had to refit the steering axle with 10-hole wheels. I'm depicting the truck in the later stages of my Dad's ownership: a little worse for wear at just over 10 years and 1 million miles since manufacture.

Anyways, the white metal castings were a little rough. I've pictured one of the better castings on the right and the results of sanding, polishing, and reshaping the holes on one of the worst castings on the left. They turn into a pretty good replica with a few hours of work each.



They can only be used on the outside drive tires, and are still too narrow to mount the tires without some more kit-bashing. I'm beginning to wonder how long I can drag this on without actually painting anything