M911 & M747 on Civvie street

[Beekster]

This morning I finished the fixture, and test-fit the wheels. This is the result, after a bit of jiggling of the rear bogies:



Looks like all the rims are touching the ground plane, which is fantastic. It concerns me that a bit of jiggling is required, to make things settle down. I will definitely add some weight inside the winch deck to make the truck sit down harder, which (I hope) will flatten the tires ever so slightly to ensure there's no daylight under there at any wheel station. That would be most unfortunate, considering the real thing weighs twenty tons with all fluids aboard.

This is what the fixture looks like completed, top and bottom. It is very simple construction, and there are more parts in here than really would be required. I used stock I had in inventory rather than going out to purchase other materials. I used .375" square tubing for the main parts of the frame, but .375" I-beam stock would have worked equally well. I am out of that size, so square stock it had to be.





The thing is even large enough, though only just, for the frame of a long-wheelbase IDF Mack DM895:


If I need more length or height, it is simplicity itself to rip a few more strips of the .030" sheet to raise and/or lengthen the wheel decks. They are wide enough to accommodate the dual rear wheels of any 1/35 scale truck, and I can add more strip stock temporarily with white glue if a project requires that for any reason. The wheel decks are flat and level, so anything added on top of them will be flat and level too. I don't know why I didn't think about building this before; it has already come in very handy indeed.

[JCON]

Looks good Beekster!!! Good job fella!!!

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Great squaring up and I like your JIG.

[Beekster]

Thanks, guys! Aside from the engine to fix a self-inflicted wound, I had hoped that I wouldn't have to do too much more to this model other than the air brake lines and fuel lines. Alas, no...I still have to add some fine wire for the fuel level senders, which I forgot earlier. Shouldn't be too tough. But have a look at these two photos, and I'll tell you what the kit is missing in the cab:







So, what are we missing on the sprues? No accelerator pedal; just retarder brake and service brake pedals. No seat belts. No heater box and fan housing. No little electrical boxes on the inside firewall beneath the steering wheel. No sun visors. No cord or chain to activate the air horns. Given that I will not be leaving doors open, the little junction boxes can probably be ignored. But the other stuff has to be dealt with; it's too visible and obvious. More news later...

[JCON]

And the hits just keep a coming...

[Beekster]

Admittedly, all this has been in progress since yesterday, well before my earlier post today. These shots show the accelerator pedal, driver's seat seatbelts, and a brass-rod-and-superglue seat adjuster lever:



The driver's seat is mocked up; it won't get locked down until I've made belts for the crew seat. All the white stuff is styrene stock; the belts are strips cut from .005 sheet. All this strictly adheres to the philosophical discipline of TLAR. No, not something from Vulcan...it stands for That Looks About Right. Works for me. Now, then there is this pedal here:


Instructions have you place this on the firewall, and if this is done it would drop down between the kit's retarder brake and service brake pedals. In looking at the images in my post earlier this morning, as well as at my copy of the TM, I don't see this pedal at all. I don't know what it is supposed to be for, and it sure makes the pedal box area awfully busy. I'm inclined to leave it off and fill the mounting hole unless one of the truck experts here (calling Dogfish7...) convince me it ought to be in there. Looks like a car's emergency brake pedal, but I don't see other evidence of that and what would it do, anyway? My e-brake pulls a cable to set the emergency brake shoe; air brakes lock up tight automatically unless air is supplied to release them. Inquiring minds and all that...

Back to fabbing up a heater box and blower assembly...

[Dukemaddog]

Beekster, this is amazing! I do agree that that last pedal looks like an emergency brake pedal, but like you; I could not find anything that looks like it is in the photos you posted.

Also, that jig for the wheels is amazing. I've already sussed out how I can do a similar thing to line up my 1/72 scale trucks. Thanks for that impressive bit of conjury!

[Beekster]

Always happy to help, Duke! Fixtures are a good way to keep things lined up, and in the grand scheme of things they are pretty cheap to build, even if they are only used for a single project. I keep most of the ones I make, though, figuring that they have multiple uses. Making stuff like this is easy with the right tools. Check out the chopping & sanding tools from NorthWest Short Line, a model railroad outfit, at www.nwsl.com. Go to the online catalog tab and look at the tools. This stuff is indispensable for scratch building work. I use a Chopper II, Chopper III, Duplicutter II, and True Sander. Very highly recommended!

[Dukemaddog]

Cool! I'll check it out. Thanks for the link!

[Steve Ski]

Wow, what a beast. got a 911 kit myself, but where the heck would I put it when finished? Looks great so far. Bookmarked!

[Beekster]

Mar 6, 2019 21:21:56 GMT -6 Steve Ski said:

Wow, what a beast. got a 911 kit myself, but where the heck would I put it when finished? Looks great so far. Bookmarked!

I'll figure out where to put it when it's done, with the Madill 071 yarder on the trailer.  My second M911 kit arrived yesterday, and has settled in with the rest of the heavy haul stash:  M1070, M19s both soft- and hard-cab, Faun SLT-56, Chinese 50-ton, M25 Dragon Wagon.  Plus nearly complete MAZ-537G and Mack DM895SX projects.

Actually, display cases meant for 1/350 scale ships might be the ticket for these beasts.

[Beekster]

Oh, the infinite joys of scratchbuilding! Behold a heater blower:

You would be forgiven for thinking that looks pretty good in there, with the dash tacked in using Elmer's. Trouble is, it is too large. This is a common problem when making stuff like this using only photos and those often not showing all the angles and forcing perspectives that might not actually be there. The main diameter here is .250". I'm starting over using .188" diameter punched discs and will make another. Hey, at least I know how to go about it now rather than fumbling around like I did yesterday:


The more diminutive version should look much better. Oh well, this is the nature of scratchbuilding, and why it took four tries to get happy with the engine sitting in the Madill. At least the seat belts look good, even under high magnification:

[JCON]

Good job buddy!!!

[JED]

I think you're doing a great job and my loss of half an ear ( no not mine personally) on the bust and a stretcher stand/leg pails Int insignificance!!!

[Beekster]

Mar 7, 2019 13:39:41 GMT -6 JED said:

I think you're doing a great job and my loss of half an ear ( no not mine personally) on the bust and a stretcher stand/leg pails Int insignificance!!!

Thank you; but in truth nobody's work here "pales into insignifigance".  Everybody here is plenty talented, no doubt about that.

[JCON]

Well said Beekster!!!

[BUCKY]

Very cool work ya got going!! The detail is gonna stand out just right!

[Beekster]

OK, now this looks better. I've got a downsized heater blower, heater box, and fresh air mix box done. There are three junction boxes in there with busy-looking wiring, and heavier wire for the flexible hoses that feed hot air to the windshield defroster vents. There's a plastic & brass mesh panel with handle for the cab vent on the left side, too. That ought to have daylight between the inside tall edge and the firewall, but where it sits is where it lines up with the panel detail on the outside. This tells me the firewall is probably a bit too far aft and/or too thick, but it certainly isn't worth fixing.







Don't let the magnification fool you. The width of the firewall is only 1.5715" across, so these bits really are pretty small. You can also see two push/pull knobs on the dash made from punched discs and fine brass wire. The kit gives you very tiny little knobs to glue on here. They are a real bear to clean up, but I managed and glued them on. I wasn't sanguine about their survival, since they just sat on the surface, and I was right. They didn't last. So these are replacements, secured through holes drilled all the way through the dash panel. This area is done, and now I can move on to making the visors and the air valve & cord (or chain) for the air horns.

[BUCKY]

Beautiful scratcherizing, beekster!

[JCON]

Well done!!!