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1/16 GMC General/Chevy Bison update 49 teaser


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After the nearly year long build on the W900 gold nugget, moving, and all that, I have been able to scarf another 1/16 w900 kit and probably have about another year in hotel rooms to start whittling up something unless the good Lord has other plans.

 

Anyway, it has been a long time goal to try and make a create a well used 1/16 GMC General daycab set up as a Michigan Train using the W900 as a start point. No offense or sacrilege intended to the KW worshippers.

 

Yeah, lots of scratch building and heavy kitbashing. The biggest challenge I see at the onset is windshield glass and cab shape around the windshields. I am big into "repurposing" junk, don't have much in terms of tools, and on a shoestring budget so some outside the box thinking is required. Example,I am looking into thin clear plastic food containers and packaging keeping an eye out for reasonably correct material to use for the curved windshields versus the KW flat glass.

 

If anyone has some good ballpark measurements on a General windshield and cab and any other suggestions, I surely would appreciate. Please PM me as I do check periodically.

 

Peace.

 

Jesse.

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

And so we begin. Item 1 is ditching the KW 8 bag suspension. Though GM pushed their version of air ride, in the final years they did finally offer Neway if I recall correctly. And so out of some sheet plastic layered up and filled, here is a prototype just for a look see. The trailing arm is actually a piece of stick on automotive body side molding. It is very flexible and seems to hold its shape so bending the arch is not a major problem. I just scraped the adhesive and chrome off and shaped it with a razor blade. Not perfect, but I think accomplishes the effect.

Now, where do I find what amounts to black marsh mellows to use for air bags that actually will squish a bit? It is approaching Halloween.....hmmmmm. No, Lugnut would just eat them....Heck, as soon as I mentioned marsh mellow he started eyeballing the cast in bags with a typical psychotic glare in his eyes.... :blink:

Sorry for the low res but about out of space on this site and must find an alternate space to post pix going forward. Suggestions?

Good to be back in the groove after far too long a reprieve. :D Lord willing, I will be in one place for a while.

Peace

post-11464-0-49371700-1413321583_thumb.j

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While the search for" black marsh mellows" for air bags continues, functioning rear shocks were also on the list. And so while sitting in the local café with a coffee straw and a toothpick.......functioning shock absorbers just sort of happened. ;)

Gonna check for a Dr. Scholls shoe insole or perhaps a black stress ball for air bag material. Stay tuned and Lugnut will be back on the job.

Peace.

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Here is a couple ideas for the 'black marshmallows'.

For the ''marshmallows': If you are really set on having them squish a little bit you could try foam but I think you would have better luck with shaping the air bags out of something like balsa or basswood. No squishy effect but an easier medium to work with.

Now for the 'black'. Get some rubberized undercoating from the auto parts store. Comes in a spray can. Dries soft and rubbery.

Boom. Air bags.

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Lugnut has confused the air bag for a trampoline. Only when I applied the whoopee cushion would he stop. :P

But it works. Shaping is indeed very tricky with foam. A $1 stress ball from Dollar General will give gracious plenty material. Scissors work better than anything for shaping and trying to minimize compression during the trimming helps. Tricky indeed, but will accomplish the desired results. I will trade off some looks for functionality.

Now to get the 3 others together and mount functioning shocks. Probably will glue the bags to the trailing arms and let them just "rest" on pockets of the frame rails. I have no idea how much this thing will weigh so it seems wise to leave an easy way to add more foam/redo if necessary. Ditto in that it will make an easy way to install axles and air lines.

Oh, and yes for the eagle eyes out there. I know the arm is hanging "backwards" on the frame. I just put it together backwards for trial fit and wanted to save the cast in bags and pockets until I was sure a solution was found.

Have a good weekend.

 

Edited by olsbooks
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Thanks.

Depending on how serious the delusions of grandeur (and budget) go, the idea of having this thing crudely motorized so the drive wheels turn on rollers or just a fuzz above the "road" is echoing around like a bad flashback. Getting the front axle to steer was not hard on the Gold Nugget project and I am going to stick with the KW front steering/suspension. "Z" scale model trains come to mind.as they have twin shaft motors if I can get one that has any power at all yet turn very slow. They would fit inside the differential. Or Lugnut might join a road gang and try to hide some powered rollers in the "road" with some bumps of course to bounce the rear end.. Sort of like an old school dyno. Hmmm. I like that better.

Why be normal? If I cant make a show winner on appearance (which it wont be between vision and $) then bamboozle them with creativity..

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A few artistic liberties were taken but function was more important than form in my mind. We are pretty much down to fabrication of a lower shock brackets and making pins for the trailing arms where they go into the hangers. A scrap of toothpick will likely be used for both. Then it will just be some minor clean up though the shocks may get relocation. While it does not show in the pix, there is a rigid "cross tube" across the rear below the air bags made out of a coffee straw. Winds up I have a good 1/4" travel. Why did I insist on having it work? Why did the chicken cross the road? :blink:

Much learned on this which is always my primary objective. The foam bags are held in by pieces of straight pins on the top and bottom to keep the bags in place. They are not glued. I will not glue the trailing arm pins in until the last thing. This will allow Lugnut to "drop out" the whole rear suspension for running air and electrical lines, paint and detail. It will also allow installation of softer or firmer air bags once built if adjustments need to made in ride height.

Bill of materials was scrap plastic, straight pins, toothpicks, a foam stress ball, coffee straws and scraps of stick on body side molding. The only real expense was about $3 for the round plastic discs that the air bags rest on. I used a package of "furniture sliders" as my ability to whiddle these round discs out with any precision and quantity was out of my league.

Now onto the rear most axle. It was a lot of fun. "Make it work on a shoestring budget and learn some geometry in the process". May not satisfy the scrutiny of everyone seeking prototypical accuracy but that is ok. The mission was accomplished.

Peace

 

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From old Sat. Night Live and Mr. Bill...."OHHH NOOO.! Not Mr. Hand!." :o As you will see in the pix. But Lugnut is keeping a vigilant eye out.

As hoped, right around 5 cm / a quarter inch of travel. Lets see, in 1/16 scale that works out only to about 4 inches in real life. Well, though plans are to make it into a Michigan train, it aint a rock crawler. Now onto running wiring and plumbing and last bit of cleanup.

A series of (in scale version) hard bottoming outs, frame twists, and grabbing for air did not shake anything loose or break anything. The straight pins work really well at keeping the bags from "squirming" out and aligned properly. But lining the bags and pins up for that first install so it looks right is tricky. A skill yet to be mastered and I stink at throwing darts which is what it amounts too.

But it is progress....

Now I realize that flex tubes are going to be required on the driveshafts to accommodate the travel. Like the shocks, they just got to sit in the simmer pot until some more hefty, decent looking, and cheap is whipped up..

Peace.

 

 

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Thanks JT.

Onto first stab at bumper fabrication for Lugnut. It is two layers to allow the "pockets" for the license plates. The hardest part by far is trying to sand a consistent taper at each hole or recess. Oh, and measuring.

What is the saying? Measure twice and cut once? Well I botched that one as the light pockets are not centered between the license plate pockets and the tow hook pockets. Oh well, it is prototype, freelancing, rookie mistake, the dog ate my ruler....whatever..... Truth is truth.. I messed up. But at least the process has been figured out.

Peace

 

post-11464-0-52833300-1414464465.jpg

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Thank you for the kind words.

Dipstick stayed with the Gold Nugget. (check that painfully long thread if you haven't) Seems Lugnut got revenge on him for the exhaust stack trick by gluing his gluteous maximus behind the wheel. That, or it may have been the "sit down, shut up, hold on" bumper sticker Dipstick read on a 4 wheeler. Now he thinks he cant move until he sees another one that says "you can get up now". He is bad for that kind of stuff. Years ago, Dipstick saw a sign that said "clean restrooms" at a truckstop and wound up spending the next 6 hours scrubbing toilets there. Now the feds are after him for logbook violations for time behind the wheel. :wacko: Seriously, I will be going to check on him in a few days and there may be a brief reunion.

For now, I probably will stay with the bumper that is under construction honing some skills and not leave well enough alone. Using the KW frame, the front is considerably different than a GMC. GMC was a straight shot C channel full length. KW hacked the C channels off well before the radiator and bolted in a drop down segment. KW is quite wide and low. If I go and put the fog light holes where they are supposed to be, there is no real way to mount the lights. The front spring hangers and frame are right in the way. So there you have it. The most elaborate "it aint my fault/I planned it this way all along" and best excuse for getting out of making another bumper I can come up with. Fabricating a new leaf spring front suspension is far beyond my pay grade anyway....for now. Or Lugnut might cheat and put the grinder on the tow hook pockets and elongate them to make things look a little more balanced.

Peace.

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"Cat is away, mice will play". While out on a motorcycle ride, Lugnut pulled out the grinder.

Well he was holding this up in my face with puppy dog eyes and grunted something like "mo' better?". Elongating the pockets seemed to do the trick.. Now for some Alclad or BMF but that is way down the pike. Wound up finding some tiny "half round" solid stock and putting it on the back side outer perimeter. That really made a huge difference versus trying to sand in a "perfect" radius all the way around. Quarter round would have been better but this will certainly do.

Well done Lugnut. But it takes more than one "attaboy" to wash out a thousand "awcraps"..

Peace.

 

Edited by olsbooks
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Alclad or BMF is definitely in the plans.

After "tooting his own horn" about the bumper success, which cleared the shop for several minutes until the exhaust fans were turned on,, Lugnut got serious on some front end work. Like the 1/16 KW Gold Nugget, a steerable front end was a must. Just drilled a single hole for each "moving point" and THEN made the cut. He dropped in a straight pin and just a dab of CA on the head of the pin to keep it from working up. He will follow thru with the same on the pitman arm and drag link up. If a moment of sanity emerges, we might take a stab at fabricating a more suitable power steering box and placing up front where it should be on a GMC. A dual PS arrangement would be nice with an 18K front axle with "big bologna" fronts on spokes, but just is not in the budget.

Next will be hanging brake rigging, lines, and all that. Got to watch him on the air lines though. He about choked himself after getting all tangled up.

Peace

.

.

 

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Sorry for the low res but about out of space on this site and must find an alternate space to post pix going forward. Suggestions?

Jesse, since obviously nobody noticed this, I would suggest using Photobucket for your picture posting needs. It is free (unless you want to pay) and it simple to use. I post all my pics through it, using the IMG (image) link to the pic, and it is as simple as copying that IMG link from Photobucket and pasting it in your thread.

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Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into it.

OK, the kitty has drifted from Peoria to Detroit. An abomination to some and a sign of divine intervention for people like myself. This is my first go round at this so there will be many more major tweaks but just to give you an idea of turning (no...improving) a 3408 into an 8V-92T. GMC never offered a factory 3408 and I am not up to scratchbuilding an inline 6 so why not?. Besides, after 25 years of working on 2 strokes, it just seems fitting. Budget wont stand some of the resins out there. It wont be exact but I am just going for overall effect. Now I got to get Lugnut to start figuring out how to do the front and back of the engine and the piping. OH, the blower? It is from the same stick on bodyside molding I used for the trailing arms on the Neway air ride.

Yet another delusion is taking shape on this project. Since I don't have big front tires, spokes, and all that for a Michigan Train but I have "pretty wheels" and a long frame, well, how about the General from Smokey and the Bandit 2. Never seen anyone try this (at least in 1/16) and Sergey's "Love Machine" just really struck a nerve. I cant even come close to the quality of his workmanship but it is worth a shot. Gotta admit that silver is not a favoriteexterior color but we shall see what transpires.

Peace

.....

 

post-11464-0-98959400-1415404612.jpg

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Thanks William.

I would like to try resin but I have the time to try this and not the $. Seems Lugnut went to the Home Shopping Network and bought 50 sets of Ginsu knives and Chia Pets further blowing the budget. The boy worries me sometimes.

Anyway, below is "round 2". Better. The blower I whipped up and Cat turbo were simply too big. The exhaust manifolds are not quite right but should do. The turbo is stick on mounting pads like on the bottom of a cutting board. (Same thing I used for the seats for the air bags) The long runs of pipe are being made out of the outer jacket of telephone wire. The elbows and what not are just scraps of sprues heated and bent. It has potential. The pipes from the manifolds to the turbo and the turbo/blower assembly are still loose fit at this point.

Not as good as resin, but just might work for a low budget operation. And for those that have been following this or my other projects, you know it usually takes me twice.

Peace

 

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