ShakyCraftsman

Thanks Mopar Hey guys I got the rear axle situation fixed and the front air suspension arms modified to fit around the trailer frame. this view shows the rear axle with the air brakes now on the correct side.duh! this view shows the center axle. this view shows the front axle and the modifications I had to make to the frame and the Moluminum parts so that they fit around the trailer frame. this view shows all of them. this view shows all of them with the wheels/tires added on. view of the bottom if the trailer rear. view from the top of the trailer rear. side view of the rear of the trailer. this view shows the trailer sitting on my Kenworth W925 and the Cat 374FL on it for perspective. I ordered some more Moluminum air suspensions for the jeep and the stinger/booster, so until I receive them in the mail there on hold. well that's it for now be back with more updates soon. Ron G

Hey guys Here's another update for you all. I received some 3D printed air suspensions from Shapways, but I guess I s#%*^ed up and got ones for a regular height trailer, not a lowboy. It would have been way to much work to rework them, so I went on line and looked around to see what I could find that might work. I went to Moluminums site and found just what I needed. this view shows the air suspension in place on the trailer. All that needs to be done now is add the shocks. another view of the air suspension from the rear. this view shows all the axles...WHOOPS!!!... I put the axle on the rear on upside down...#^*•☆... BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH! Well tomorrow I'm going to have to fix it. This was not a good day, from the first part I dropped on the floor, to the second, to the third, etc., etc. to messing up the axle, so I decided to give up and go eat dinner. this view shows the real suspension that the model parts copy, Hendrickson 30ton. Well that's it for now be back soon. Ron G

Most definitely! Along with the trailer, jeep, booster and tractor. Right now my biggest concern is the decals that I need for the excavator, XL trailer and Peterbilt 359 tractor, any ideas? Ron G

Hey guys Small update for you all. I have the lower rollers and the upper rollers done for the left hand side of the undercarriage frame. I took this photo early in the day before I added the upper rollers to it. this view shows the lower rollers and their mounting brackets. view from the bottom of the LH frame. this view shows the upper rollers and their mounting brackets. this view shows the body base sitting on the undercarriage. I added my custom made figure to this picture for some perspective. Well that's it for now be back soon. Ron G

Hey all I now have the two undercarriage side frames about half way done. this view shows the LH side frame. same thing from the other side. top view of the LH side frame. this view shows both the LH & RH side frames. this view shows them with the tracks added. this view shows them with the base frame in place. I still have to make the 3 upper rollers and the 8 lower rollers and there mounting brackets for both sides, plus the 2 steps on each side frame, both sides and the main center section that attaches to the 2 side frames and the main base frame together, plus all the bolt heads...🤪...Yicks! well that's it for now be back soon with more updates. Ron G

Thanks guys

Thanks guys Ron G

Yeah, probably not going to make resin castings, but I may make them on my 3D printer. I have both sprockets done now, time to start on the undercarriage frame. Ron G

Hey all Another update for you all. I have one of the drive sprockets done. this view shows the idler and the drive sprocket. I made this from the same 3/4" diameter PVC pipe that I used for the idlers. I made the sprocket teeth from some 1/8" thick plastic sheet glued together to make it 1/4" thick. I then ground out the center of the teeth to the OD of the pipe. I then drilled out the notches for the track link pins, all 20 of em, then I sanded the OD of the teeth to the correct size diameter. I then made the inner peice out if three peices of plastic sheet glued together to make it 0.18" thick, then sanded it to the ID of the pipe and glued it to the center. I then made a peice for the outer edge out of some 1/8" & 1/32" plastic sheet glued together and then glued to the outer edge of the sprocket. To this I added some 2.6mm Meng bolt heads (20 of em, plus three) and voila you get a drive sprocket...lol more of a side view of them. end view of the idler and the sprocket. view of them next to a scale. this view shows them sitting on a piece of the track links. this view shows the idler and the drive sprocket in place on the tracks. Well that's it for now be back with more soon. Ron G

Hey all Small update for you all. I have the idler wheels done. here is the idler wheel in place on the tracks. I made this from a piece of 3/4" PVC pipe that is 1.07" O.D. which is 26.75" diameter in 1/25th scale. I then added some plastic strips to the center of the wheel for the track guide, then some 7/32" & 9/32" plastic tubes for the hubs. This will be spring loaded in the undercarriage frame to take up slack in the tracks. this view shows both of the idlers. this is were I'm up to at this point. It doesn't look like much but it was a real challenge to figure out and build. Well that's it for now be back soon. Ron G

Hey all Well today started off like every other day. I went down to the model bench to start working on the 374 excavator. I started drawing the rear view in order to get the counter weight right, when I realized I messed up...🤬😤. I made it to narrow! I made it 9' 0" wide which put the boom pivot bracket off center, plus it just looked to narrow, so I made it 10' 6" wide with a 10' 0" track gauge instead of 9' 0" that I had it. It looks better and way more proportional now. this view shows the newly modified base. top view of the new base, way more proportional now. bottom view of the base, you can see the piece I had to add to the middle of the base. this view shows the boom pivot bracket sitting on the base. Hopefully I won't mess up again...yeah, right who am I kidding...lol Ron G

Thanks Mopar I try to show as much as I can so anyone interested in trying can use my posts to help them build one of there own. If anyone wants any extra information please just ask, I'll be glad to help. I'm not getting any younger and I won't be around for ever, so any help I can pass along to the younger/or inexperienced builders the more I'm doing my part to keep our hobby going. Ron G

Thanks Nitro

Hey guys Another update for you all. I've done some more work on the base. I added the main pivot bearing surface to the bottom of the base. I made a pivot pin piece that will actually become part of the undercarriage frame. I also have both of the 2 swing motors done. this view shows the bottom of the base with the bearing surface added. this view shows the bottom of the base with the pivot pin for the undercarriage sitting in place. this view shows the boom pivot bracket, pivot pin for undercarriage and the 2 swing motors. this view shows the pivot pin piece. top view of the swing motor. side view of the swing motor. this view shows both of the swing motors. I had to grind the bottoms out of some 1/8" thick plastic sheet glued together to make it 1/4" thick. The rest is made from 1/2" & 5/16" plastic tube with some 0.03" thick plastic sheet top pieces. The bolt heads are from Meng, 2.2mm and 1.8mm heads. These you have to individually cut off of the plastic piece they come on. Then glue each one (36 of em) on to the motors. Then I added some brass wires for pipes and hydraulic line connections. this view shows the 2 swing motors in place on the boom pivot bracket. this view shows the boom pivot bracket sitting in place on the base. top view of the whole thing sitting on the tracks. Well that's it for now be back with more updates soon. Ron G

Thanks guys I really appreciate it. Hey Force Hasagawa makes this one in 1/35 scale. It's kinda of a smaller one though. Ron G

Hey all Small update for you. I have got the main boom pivot and the boom cylinders mounting bracket done. this view shows the bracket in place on the body base. I also have the main deck surface added to the base. view of the pivot bracket from the front. I made this from 0.06" plastic sheet glued to 0.03" plastic sheet in irder to get to 0.09" thickness to form the 4 sides. In between these I used some 0.04" x 1/4" plastic strips to make the 2 towers/pivot points. I then glued these to a piece of 0.06" thick plastic sheet stock to make the pivot bracket. Well that's it for now be back with more soon. Ron G

Hey Force COOL!!!!👍 Ron G

Yeah, that would be nice, but that is an incredible amount of work and cost. If I was 30 years younger maybe. I don't know why some big company hasn't picked up on making some neat construction equipment models I think they would sell a ton of em. Ron G

Hey all Small update for you all. I have the bodys base pretty much done. I made it out of some 0.06" thick black plastic sheet. this view shows the bodys base from the operators side. same view but more from the side. rear view of the base. view from the front of the base. this view is from the side opposite of the operator. top view of the bodys base. The operators cab area is in the upper right. Directly opposite of the cab is the hydraulic tank. Then behind that is the fuel tank. In between the cab and the hydraulic tank is were the boom pivot and boom cylinders will be, also the swing motors will reside there. The rear most area is were the Cat C15 engine will be. Well that's it for now be back with more updates soon. Ron G

Thanks Mopar

Yes, it's just over 5 feet long. Ron G

Hey all Well I'm at it again, yupp another project in the works. I'm starting a Cat 374F L excavator. This is a 83 ton excavator that will look great on my lowboy trailer that I'm also making. Like I said this will be almost entirely from scratch. I purchased a Cat C15 resin diesel engine from Jamie at Moluminum. I also found some tracks that are from Bruder toys (found these thanks to a post by yh70). These are actually for there 1/16th scale mini excavator, but they work out perfectly for the Cat 374. This view shows the real Cat 374F L. This view shows a closer look at the body of the excavator. this is my 1/25th scale drawing of the big Cat this is a top view of the Cat 374. this view shows the Bruder tracks. this view shows the other side of the tracks. side view of the tracks. end view of the tracks. There 1.25" wide which is 31.25" wide in 1/25th scale or 30.0" wide in 1/24th scale. Tracks for the Cat 374F L come in 28", 30" and 35" widths, so these work out to be perfect for the middle size ones. this view shows the temporary undercarriage setup that I made to figure out how many track sections I would need. The 374 actually has 47 track shoes/links, I think I have 45, so close enough for me...lol. more of a top view of the tracks sitting on my lowboy build. Well that's it for now be back with more updates soon. Ron G

Hey guys Kind of a update, but not. I'm starting a new project. It's a load for the trailer. I'm going to be making a almost completely scratch built 1/25th scale Cat 374F L large excavator. this view shows my temporary undercarriage setup that I made in order to figure out all the geometry of the tracks. This view shows the real Cat 374F L. So check out my new post for this big build. Ron G

Thanks guys

Hey all I've started back on the Peterbilt 359 heavy haul tractor. I've been working on this along with my scratch built drop nose lowboy trailer. I made some new scale 28" diameter x 90" long 200 gallon fuel tanks and reworked/scratch built a new headache rack. I made the tanks from some 3/4" pvc pipe that was actually 1.07" diameter which is 26 75" diameter so I wrapped some 0.03" plastic sheet around it to make them 28" diameter. I cut up the kit tanks so I could use the ends and the other parts for my new tanks. this view shows the passenger side fuel tank. this view shows the drivers side fuel tank. this view shows the whole truck, passenger side fuel tank and headache rack. view of the tractor from the front. view of the headache rack from the rear. drivers side view of the tractor, drivers side fuel tank and headache rack. this view shows the headache rack and rear of the fuel tanks. I still need to do some more detailing on the headache rack. Well that's it for now be back soon with more. Ron G