52 replies to this topic

[jmpsebring]

Been awhile since I posted anything. That means I've started a half dozen more projects. My 1/16th Promod duster is sitting untouched in it's case...not getting dirty but not any progress either. I was also looking for parts for a custom car hauler truck and that took me to the Italeri modern cabovers. That led to a bunch of hi-quality after market truck parts. That took me to some race euro race trucks. That led to a bunch of truck models. Of course that lead to trailers and that's when I decided to make a huge 30' long LSR turbo diesel, factory-backed Mercedes salt flats effort.
A couple years ago I was cruising ebay and found someone from down-under selling two vintage 1/24th Bluebird CN7 plastic toy models. Paid about $150 for the two items. Someday I would build my own LSR.

So inspired by a big Mercedes cabover, a large aftermarket crane and a lowboy trailer, I needed something worthy of display.
I thrive on creating my own cars. Hope nobody cares if its in this thread. But "If it goes in a straight line post it here"...just seemed to fit. Plus so many here inspired me.

[jmpsebring]

The real car was a monster! I will try and update the look by removing some thickness and changing the nose.

[jmpsebring]

I want to go more this direction with the design. The Mobil Railton special. Another famous beast from the past.

[southpier]

this will be interesting to follow

[doggie427]

this will be interesting to follow

X2

Edited by doggie427, 01 November 2012 - 04:58 PM.

[Scott Colmer]

I'll be watching too. One of my favorite subjects. The monsters of he salt. I only have one picture of the Railton car. The body was on, so your post was a treat.

Scott

[jmpsebring]

I had some perforated brass channel I was going to use as the main frame rails. They just didn't look beefy enough for the job. So I look around and found the main rails of the 1/12th lindberg Fiat model. Turn the frame around backwards and it just fell in place. I replaced the bulky crossmembers by drilling out the frame and guessed on a width. Nothing is glued so I will continue to finalize a design. Lots of time has been spent removing the panel lines and the floor's imperfections.

I am using two V8 diesels out of the Italeri Mercedes Actros truck. Stock they are almost 16000 cc, 500hp, and 1700 pounds of torque. They have been glued together to make a 16cly 32 litre engine. Push the engine with giant intercooled twin turbos and that should be enough to move a huge AWD car.

I am showing a couple of 1/12th bike wheels right now. They look cool, but to me they look like bike wheels. I'm sure I can find "someone" out there to help me with that.

[jmpsebring]

I removed around a 1/2" from the waist of the upper body. Plus I took the front hood of a Mercedes CLK-GTR, shortened the nose and countersunk the hood's grill opening into the bluebird body. Once it was all filled and ground down, the stock grill fit perfectly. If you know the CLK car, you know it had a blue body painted to match the parts boxes. The box is "peeled back" exposing the engine. So the decals and various parts can all be real Mercedes parts on the car.

[doggie427]

Loving it . Keep the eye candy coming please.

[jmpsebring]

Built a brass frame to hold a cockpit of some type. I think I'll settle for a 1/20th Brahbam cut down and shortened.

[jmpsebring]

I think I'll shorten the trailer's forward platform by half, and build a huge lightweight cab/box combo. It will be a timing stand, and shelter for the crew while out on the salt. The trailer and box were combined years ago as a hauler for some Euro race trucks. But I want to use the crane to lift the body and perform engine changes at the track. So now I will have the Semi truck pull the trailer.




.

[jmpsebring]

This is the CLK-GTR , from the 97-98 season. Always loved the parts box peeled-back paint scheme exposing the engine compartment. Two sets of decals will allow me to cut sections for use on the car.

[jmpsebring]

I cut up and glued together two engine blocks and the 4 heads were turned in to two 8 cly heads. I white glued them in place using the intake manifold to set the spacing. I went with the mercedes engine because the intake looked so modern. I trimmed the ends off and JB quick welded them together. Once it set I came in with some Apoxie sculpt and filled the junction then sanded flat. Having all that free tristar and MB detail sunk into the manifold was something I was careful to protect.

[jmpsebring]

Apoxie sculpt feathers out nicely

[vintagedragfan]

very nice work Jack, cool project!!

[jmpsebring]

I think these frame rails look like the part. This probably a 3 ton car. The euro truck racers are just over 3 ton minimum. I know this all looks sloppy right now, but this is just a step above concept still. Keep parts long..they can be trimmed later. This is the fun part for me. What will I use for a frame, engine mounts, AWD shaft, axles,decal placement, proper wheels, fuel pumps, dry sumps everything has to look trick and look feasible. Countless hours spent rummaging through boxes of parts. Can I use the CLK rear suspension to hold turbos? House is totally trashed!!

[jmpsebring]

So I settled on this for a rough design. The width of the frame is being kept as wide as possible. I have to offset and narrow axles and the front needs to steer. Plus I need to run a drive shaft to the front wheels and make/find a transfer case. After a few days of racking my brain, I decided to cover these areas with carbon fiber panels. It will greatly simplify the areas between the wheels. Next, make crossmembers to lock in the width. Then I can cut the frame to length.

[jmpsebring]

I used Beadalon #4 crimp tubing from the craft store's bead aisle. and white-glued them to the exhaust ports. Then JB weld was used to glue a piece of tubing to them. This will allow me to break off the exhaust manifolds without hurting the cly heads. I don't really love them, but I am going to wrap them with a heat wrap or use a shield to keep the manifold heat away from everything else. More importantly...it will hide them so I do not have to spend as much time with manifold flanges,bolts,etc.

[MicroNitro]

I want to go more this direction with the design. The Mobil Railton special. Another famous beast from the past.

First time I have seen 7 lug wheels.

[Scott Colmer]

Excellent progress! I am really liking this one.