M-9 45 Ton Trailer Build

[Gary Chastain]

Incredible detail

[Chariots of Fire]

The double sheaves are painted and installed.  The long lifting handles were made from common pins and set in holes drilled in the face of the upper plate.  Some CA underneath holds them in place.  Some Tamiya gun metal highlighting has made the sheaves stand out a bit.  The brackets that hold them in place are Evergreen strip stock shaped and glued down.  Almost ready to tackle some of the underneath stuff.  That should be fun!?

[BK9300]

Great stuff, Charles - I note the cotter pins in the bolts holding the sheaves in place!

Edited November 11, 2024 by BK9300

[Chariots of Fire]

14 hours ago, BK9300 said:

Great stuff, Charles - I note the cotter pins in the bolts holding the sheaves in place!

You've got good eyes!!??

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Such a cool project! Not only is is cool to see an unusual subject, but you are going great work!

[Chariots of Fire]

Here's a look at the prime mover and the trailer together.  It's going to take up a lot of shelf space so I will have to add one to the display case just for it!  The D-7 bulldozer is not finished yet.   The blade and hoisting cables need to be added.  It will be the load for the trailer.

[PHPaul]

Most excellent!  The prime mover is a real beast!  I bet it was a chore to drive IRL.

[Pete68]

Looks awesome and well worth the extra space. 

[Rockford]

Incredible stuff. 

[Scott Eriksen]

That looks great!!

[Chariots of Fire]

The last part of the build is nearly done.  Some of the air brake components have been added and the last thing done was to make the two ramps that allow access to the trailer deck.  It took me a couple of tries to get them right but the time involved was worth it.  The ramps are made of plastic sheet stock using 0.010, 0.020 and o.030 thicknesses.  A drew out a series of templates for the sides (there's a third one inside) and taped them to the sheet stock.  Then they were cut out and smoothed up. The 0.030 sheet stock was used for the center one and the 0.020 stock for the outside.  I had to check to be sure that they were all the same so a bit of sanding and adjusting was done along the way. 

At first I tried filling in the curved parts with strips of small stock but that did not work well as noted in the unpainted ramp.  It was also the wrong shape.  I ended up using the thin 0.010 sheet stock for the surfaces and the scale thickness really made a difference.  It bent around the curves easily.  CA glue really does wonders in cases like this!

Not all of the individual air lines and tubing have been added but much of the mechanical part that is visible was put together with plastic tubing, plastic rod stock and some 1/16 diameter aluminum tubing.  Common pins were also used.

A look at the underside with all of the various lever arrangements to get to the final results.  Nothing wrong with the tires.  They float in two different directions but sit flat on the ground due to the trunnion design with no problems.

This is where the ramps go.  Now I have to make the attachments that will fold and allow them to sit on the deck.

Here's a look at the M-20 and M-9 when put together.  They take up a lot of space!  Last to be done will be the lift cables for the dozer.

 

 

Edited November 16, 2024 by Chariots of Fire

[Biggu]

I have been watching this build for a long time ….. the details and accuracy and scratch skills are out of this world …. Perfect cuts precision measuring and dead accurate is phenomenal…. I great pleasure to watch in amazement come together.  Fantastic. …

Jeff