MAN TGA expedition vehicle

[voyageur]

Hi folks,

I am going to build an expedition vehicle for a customer in 1:24 scale. Later this year or early next year the vehicle will be build in 1:1.
Progress will be slow and I can't promise to update this thread with every step - but I'll try.

What happened so far:

Last summer I met a very kind man who wants to travel around the world with a custom build expedition vehicle.
We had a good conversation and agreed that I'd build a scale version of said vehicle for him. This model will serve
to determine the layout of the interior and garage.

As he wants to travel alone most of the time, everything has to be designed for that purpose. He wants to take along his
motorcycle, quad and boat. Therefore he needs a rather big garage in the back

The base truck will be a ywo-axle MAN TGA with 4500mm wheelbase (he does not want three axles).
Offroad capability is not really necessary, because he will travel
on-road most of the time. The new MAN HydroDrive will suit his needs perfectly.

Well, before I bore you to death I better post some pics

The base kit is the Italeri MAN TGA XXL



The truck was lifted 4.5mm to resemble the medium height MAN chassis. I stretched it 25mm in order to represent the 4500mm wheelbase.
The stretched part will not be visible on the finished truck, so I didn't bother too much (it just needs to be sturdy after all ).





To give it a better approach angle (right word?) I cut off the lower part of the front bumper. The lowest step was replaced with scratchbuilt parts.







Each step consists of 4 parts.

Thanks for watching, C&C more than welcome!

Cheers from Germany
Sebastian

[bigfrit]

Hey, man!

That looks stellar! I love the story of this man, please do tell me more about it!

Also, would you have some drawings of how it will look in the end? And are you planning to build the interior too, where the quad and motorcycle come?

nice to see you post a wip, we don't see enough of those from you


oli

[mikemechanic]

Interesting project. I too am curious about what the finished product will look like.

Mike.

[deedlit]

Very interesting Will sure follow this one

[sportracer02]

Hi Sebastian,

nice start. Are there some pics / drawings existing, how the truck might look when finished?

[voyageur]

To give you a hint I will post a couple of pics. The finished truck will look roughly like this:


Image courtesy of www.unicat.net

Image courtesy of www.unicat.net

The truck pictured here has a roof that can be lifted. The one I build will not have that feature (too expensive), but you get the idea of where this is going.
As mentioned before, the truck is not going to see hard offroad use, so street tires will be mounted.

I have been working on this project for a couple of month now (on and off). Not much work has been done so far, due to university projects.

Anyway...I finished some of the interior parts.
The wood grain on the dashboard will be detailed further (it is just dark brown now). Carpet is "real" self adhesive stuff and the navigation system is scratched.
I am going to replace the seatbelt catches as they seem to be out of scale. Well, take a look yourself:











The interior plate mocked up on the chassis (talking about ride height )





All for now, more to come later....

Cheers
Sebastian

[Enzoenvy1]

I really like this build. I need to steer down this path and continue my Jeep transformation project someday. I love vehicles like these! Interior is looking fantastic. All of the maps and atlas' look so real. opcorn:

[Jmich]

Looks great so far. Keep us posted on the progress.

[sportracer02]

Hi Sebastian,

looks good so far, I think the seats don´t look that bad.

The producer of the 1:1 trucks is 20 km south from me and 20 km north from you ;-)

[godfather23]

Great project. Lots of adjusting and scratch building ahead of you. Good luck with that.

Cheers from Germany as well!

[KTem]

Great looking interior!

[voyageur]

Interior update:

You remember this pic:



Meanwhile I added the wood pattern...



...and clearcoated it:







From now on I will be working on the body.

Update to follow soon

Cheers
Sebastian

[Luchato]

really an excellent work, i wish i have your talent!
I saw that you have a map of ways of Chile over the dashboard... I am Chilean and i tyhink that's a really cool detail

[rambenna]

wow i will keep watch on this on great build can't wait for the next photo's

[voyageur]

Update time guys,

I received the CNC milled side panels and added some bits and pieces. There are two parts for each side, so you can see the work I did. Added the window frames and started to build the side "garage door". Just take a look at the pics and feel free to ask if there are questions.









Mocked-up on the chassis with the cab in place:





Here you can see how I filled the gap in the front bumper with Tamiya Polyester Putty to resemble the MAN heavy duty bumper w/o having to buy a resin one from KFS.



I will update soon - stay tuned!

Cheers
Sebastian