Prelude to a FAUN....SLT-56

[Beekster]

While primer is curing on the Madill yarder and I cogitate on some issues to be solved for its cab, I decided to start in on this beast this week. This is Trumpeter's FAUN SLT-56 Fransziska tank transporter kit, and here we have the chassis frame seen upside down:


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And right-side up:

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This beast is not for the faint of heart! I am amazed that all the wheels will sit on the ground, given the complexity of the suspension and driveline and the rather chaotic assembly sequence that is recommended. There are dozens of points of contact for the springs, axles, drive shafts, shocks, steering arms, and so on. Some don't fit well at all, which is why you see bits of white where the shocks for the second steering axle attach. The axles all have prominent seams when assembled, so a fair bit of sanding and putty work is in order. Also, I highly recommend having the Wings & Wheels book on modern Bundeswehr tank transporters handy to correct problems that arise from the instructions. For example: Each axle has an inner wheel hub assembly with a brake actuator and air accumulator on it. The instructions say "make two" for each axle. The problem with that is that the inner hubs for the four rear wheel stations have a key to fit the axle only one way. That's good, but if you just "make two" for each according to the drawing the positions of the actuator and accumulator will be reversed on one side. The accumulators are all to the rear and the actuators all to the front, which the book clearly shows. Also, though all four front wheels will steer as assembled they don't do so realistically, as the steering arms & actuators don't articulate.  It probably isn't worth steering them, and if you do you have to be very careful to get all four to the same angle. The fit of the wheels is quite tight, impossibly so on the rear axles which have steel inserts for strength. All of them have had the holes shaved a little to loosen the fit, and I may do a bit more of that just to ensure that I can adjust how they sit in final assembly to keep everything straight fore and aft, level on the ground, and with zero camber.

This shows the incomplete cab mocked up:

It sits OK at the fender line, but I may have to do some tweaking.  It will be a pain to do since I can't assemble it complete and paint afterwards.  I'll have to do the interior, assemble the rest, and paint the exterior.  The window glass will have to be in for that, I think, which I'm not thrilled at.  I would much rather not touch those until final assembly.

This one will be on and off the bench at irregular intervals as the Madill proceeds, so it won't be a quick project.  Most guys would build a Leopard for this, but not me.  As a Sherman guy, that is what the load will be...in the form of a faded and forlorn M74 tank recovery vehicle, being transported to some final resting place like a museum.

[BUCKY]

This looks like a rather large rig. Nice going, so far, Beekster!!

[JCON]

Very cool buddy!!!

[Beekster]

Nov 12, 2017 16:32:10 GMT -6 BUCKY said:

This looks like a rather large rig. Nice going, so far, Beekster!!

Indeed it is. The tractor barely fits in my 16" lightbox, and I can see that I will have to play with the camera settings for better focus. Might have to disable the macro setting since I'm shooting far enough away to do without it.  Eventually I will have to unlimber my new 30" cube lightbox to shoot tractor and trailer together. Might need more lights, too. The bigger lightbox will also be required to shoot the Madill 071 with the spar in place, either up or down.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Very interesting.

[Beekster]

Sitting on the bench this morning the wheels still touch it, which is a good sign now that the myriad glue joints have had a chance to set up. Still, I think that I'll borrow from my aircraft modeling days as I go forward and carve up some lead fishing weights to stick in the engine compartment and other places to add some mass. Though I'm not a fan of vinyl tires, they will compress a bit with some weight on them. I doubt that I will have quite the same worry with the trailer as the suspension isn't as complex, but since I haven't started that yet I don't know. The M74 on it (eventually) will also be pretty heavy, since the primary elements are two huge hunks of heavy resin atop an Asuka HVSS hull.

Getting Trumpeter's MAZ-537G to this stage was much easier, as the double A-arm suspension was a simpler design and all the driveline bits are laid out in a more linear fashion and tucked up inside the frame.

[Deleted]

it's a beast for sure. Built this many moons ago and really went to town with the detailing. 

[Beekster]

Looks spectacular! I won't be doing much detailing if any, just out of the box. These things are complicated enough as it is without adding every conduit and brake line. What color did you choose for the cab interior?

[Mence]

Nice looking monster in the making.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Wow! Awesome workmanship!

[JCON]

Fantastic build Pete!!!

[Buddho]

This is too cool, will be fun to watch come together.

[Deleted]

Nov 13, 2017 12:56:45 GMT -6 Beekster said:

Looks spectacular! I won't be doing much detailing if any, just out of the box. These things are complicated enough as it is without adding every conduit and brake line. What color did you choose for the cab interior?

I really cannot remember it was so long ago! 

[MARCO]

This is a great model! I have one built. I used the same color of the exterior in the cabin. AFAIK, most of the soft skin vehicles are painted in this way. But maybe I'm wrong

[Wes]

Love it so far

[Beekster]

It certainly is challenging to build. The suspension is typically Germanically complex, and little things like the torque rods and shocks like to break off every time you push the wheels on or off. I've decided to lock down the front wheels in the straight-ahead position because the steering ability exacerbated the tendency of the whole front suspension to flex side to side as wheels are fitted, leading to the smaller bits breaking. My Wings & Wheels book shows a slightly different interior color, which may be partly lighting, partly the satin sheen of the interior paint, and partly the lack weathering the exterior is subject to. I've got Tamiya's NATO colors to experiment with on the outside (a very rare foray into acrylics for me), but I'll use a similar Model Master enamel green for the interior just for artistic purposes to get some tonal variation.