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straight line model


jmpsebring

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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. :rolleyes:

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.

CIMG7989.jpg

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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.CIMG7987-1.jpg

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. B)

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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.

CIMG7985-1.jpg

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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.

. CIMG7988.jpg

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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.

CIMG7993.jpg

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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!!

CIMG8000.jpg

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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.

CIMG7996.jpg

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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.

CIMG8127.jpg

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Bill, Wayne, David, Joe and Scott and of course JIm. Thanks!......This is not amazing progress. This has taken months already. I spent many,many days just staring at trucks, trailers and LSR cars online and WIP threads to see the model parts. Then I had to purchase them. Plus this is not where I originally planned to go. I wanted a Scania semi truck model with flashing lights. Plus I want to make my own euro race truck. But I ran into a cool crane kit and "The Worlds Fastest Indian" movie decided to make this first. The plan was to have the crane lifting the body off the car while it was on the trailer. That way I could put the entire model inside a 3'x8" case. Cases are not cheap. Keeping it narrow helps alot!

Then the search for parts start. I bought two CLK's for decals, two Mercedes Actros trucks for parts. I have scanned online shops worldwide looking for 1/12th-1/8th decals that match 1/24th decals in order to have large versions for the side of the truck. Friday I received a $150 worth (16 cylinders!) of anodized fittings from RB. Plus you just know I am putting cool wheels on this thing. I'm also about a month ahead of what I've posted. All of this is going on as they release new models! So ya never know what will happen next. My God...I stumbled upon a funny car thread one day and ended up making a brass promod frame.. That was expensive!

I wait till I'm halfway done to keep postings updated more quickly and to help me stay motivated. Hope to finish the LSR alone by Christmas.

Edited by jmpsebring
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Starting to commit to a design. Fuel tank will be front blue body color. I found the brass part looking through railroad

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parts maybe 15 years ago? It's time I use it. It will be a fuel pump/filter. I made an intercooler from a Porsche 935 part, mixed with brass and plastic. The original oil pan was turned upside down to make a very large wide-opening "igloo-like" cooler for ice/water fills between runs. It will have a pump and hoses going to the intercooler. The turbos are from a 1/12th renault engine.

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