ShakyCraftsman

Based on my last order, about 3 to 4 weeks Ron G

Hey guys I now have the bracket that goes from the mounting bracket to the booster/stinger pivot point. I still need to create the cylinder, nitrogen chamber and attachment mechanism. this view shows the rear of the trailer, mounting brackets and the booster/stinger. this view shows the mounting bracket and the attachment point for the hydraulic cylinder. top view of the whole set up. Well that's it for now be back soon. Ron G

Hey all I started on the XL 42 PMB booster/stinger. Its a nitrogen charged hydraulic one. This allows you to adjust the ride height and load on the trailer. this view shows the booster/stinger and the mounting bracket that attaches it to the rear of the trailer. I need to make the bracket that attaches to the lower pivot on the mounting bracket and the upper attachment point for the hydraulic cylinder, also it attaches to the pivot pin on the booster/stinger. this view shows the mounting bracket. I still need to add the attachment points to the trailer. this shows the m

Hey all I have the brakes fixed and plumbed. I also took some pictures of the trailer with the deck boards in place. view from the side. view of the bottom. You can see the "tee" fittings that I added to the rear axle pivot brackets in order to connect the center brakes and the rear brakes to the air control valve. view from the rear. This view shows how I added the Moluminum brake chambers to the ones I had on the axles already. front air control valve. rear air control valve. both air tanks and connection pipe. I still need to add the supply and control

Hey all Today was a lot of small tedious work. I mounted one side of the outriggers to the trailer frame. Cut the two long outrigger boards and I have all the deck boards cut and sized, but didn't get any pictures of those. this view shows the outriggers folded in. his view shows them folded out. this view shows the outrigger board in place. I wish the outriggers were printed in the white detail plastic, because in the fine detail resin/plastic they are VERY!!!! brittle, and the whole weight of the excavator will be sitting on them. well that's it for now be back with mor

Yeah, but it keeps me from getting burnt out on one project....now I can get burnt out on 5 projects...lol🤪🤯😉 Ron G

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 trail

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 p

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 t

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 mak

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 o

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. bot

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.

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

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