François

The rear end is all done and I'm very pleased with the way everything went together easily. Next step, the front end. Viewed from under Some brake line routing

I finished all the ubolts for all the leafsprings assembly, here's how I proceded in order to get identical shapes. Raw material (cheap steel pin) inserted in bending jig After bending After trimming Finished rear leafspring I dry fitted the rear suspension with both rear axels, althought not easy to get in place, everything seems to fit perfectly. I installed the brake lines (black rubber hoses) that will eventualy be routed towards the firewall and brake booster. Similar lines will also come from the front brakes.

Did some assembly today. I worked on the rear suspension. It's going to be quite a puzzle to get all these parts assembled in the correct order but I think it should all fit nicely. As a reminder, here is the only reference I had for the rear suspension And here is my design And the result so far

Finished painting all the frame parts using Revell's silk black (same color I used on the Bentley's body. I could find it in spray can format so I got the little plastic bottles instead. By adding a bit of revell aqua thinner (it's a water based paint) in a 3 paint to 1 thinner ratio, I got a very nice airbrushable consistency. I also made the aluminium stiffener plates that are installed on both sides of frame (still need to but the bolts in).

Hi all, I'm back home and slowly restarting the Hydra project. But after over a month off, It's kinda hard to do. I started painting the bunch of parts I printed for the frame and drive so I should have a fully assembled frame with front and rear axes in place in a few weeks. In the mean time, here are some pictures of the painting job. The chromed front bumper The front lights And chromed radiator A bunch of parts primed and ready for final paint

Hello everyone, just to let you know that I haven't vanished from the face of earth. Just on a little ski trip. Should be back on the Hydra sometime in march.

All the steering components have been printed and assembled, everything fits and works as should. 20250124_213251.mp4 I also started to print some boby parts, here's a test print of tge right side tool box.

Thank you everyone. I was finally able to drive everything from the gearmotor hidden in the blower. From the blower spinning dome to the 4 rear wheels. I small victory for me! 20250121_164637.mp4 I'm printing parts while waiting for a revell paint order I did for the frame, suspension and drive components (silk black). I decided on the body color, it will be Tamiya's gunship gray which is a blueish gray. It should look a bit like the prop car made for the movie .

I've been more busy skiing than modeling this past week but I still managed to finalize the blower drive. I decided to add a subframe between the radiator and blower's front face to facilitate the assembly and paint. This way, I can chrome both the radiator and blower front face at the same time without having the blower housing in the way. Since the blower housing will be painted the same color as the bodywork (color to be determined), I made it in two halves that can easily be assembled later. I also made a small drive shaft between the crankshaft and the blower. If this was a real car, this shaft would drive the blower from the engine but on the model, since the gearmotor is hidden in the blower it's the other way around. Blower drive With half of the blower housing in place Small drive shaft Gearmotor spur gear (bottom) driving blower spur gear (top) Overall view of model so far

20250108_085356.mp4 I received the new gearmotor and after some tweaking and alignment issues, I got it mounted in front of the radiator, directly in line with the crankshaft. It will eventualy be hidden by the blower housing. Here's a little video showing the new gearmotor in it's new location at work rotating the car's engine and transmission. You will notice the transmission's output rotation being controlled by the shifter. 20250108_085356.mp4 But then, all hell broke loose and the crankshaft snapped! So after a complete dismantle of the lower engine (it's a vefy good thing the head assembly in bolted so it can be easily removed), I was able to replace the broken portion of the crank along with 2 connecting rods and caps. Broken crankshaft after repair being reinserted in the bloc I printed and assembled the 2 differentiels and temporarily connected them to the transmission output and was then able to drive everything from the gearmotor 20250109_175732.mp4

Bk9300, the frame is suprisingly stiff. The engine when bolted in adds a lot of ridigity. I'll be adding some aluminium stiffener plates on both side that should also help. The problem I forsee is more torsionnal but the body should help a lot for this... I think. The model, once completed, will be in an enclosure of some sort so will be protected from inquisitive hands and will sit on support jacks like the Bentley.

I received the 6mm dia gearmotors in 2 different ratios but unfortunately, they won't do. One simply doesn't have enough torq. As for the other, it could do but it's border line on torq and I find the rpm to slow. It's to bad because the assembly was quite nice with the gearmotor hidden inside the starter housing. I'll install the starter but it will only be for show. Here's the too small gearmotor/starter setup So I had to rethink how to drive the engine. I found another type of mini gearmotor, it has alot more torq but it's much bigger, too big to pass as a starter. Instead, the new motor will be hidden inside the blower and it will be inline with the crankshaft. I even figured out a way to drive the rotating thingy in the front of the blower using the same gears I had planned to use to drive it in the first place. I ordered 2 different torqs, hopefully one will do the job. Here's what the new design looks like And here's the new gearmotor type While waiting for the new motors to arrive, I started the frame. It's all printed and assembled, a lot easier and faster to print and assemble than the engine. I also test printed the radiator since the new gearmotor will be mounted in it. For a test print, it came out pretty good. At the risk of repeating myself, this model will be huge ! The assembled frame (that's an 18 in ruler next to it) With the engine and the gas tank I printed last summer And with the radiator cowling and blower I'm always impressed with what the printer puts out but like I said before, garbage in, garbage out. I guess I'm not giving it too much garbage !!

Plug wires installed

Well, the Hydra Coupe 16 cylinder engine is done and it's a beast! You might think it's out of scale for a 1/12 model but it's not. Everything is to scale. Unlike some other large scale engine out there, If you were to blow it up 12 times, this one would actually look like a very huge V16 engine. Althought I will admit I might have spaced the cylinder bores a bit more than necessary to fill the engine bay. I still need to put in the plug wires and fine tune the fit of the clutch but aside from that, it's done. The transmission is mounted and the drive/no drive mecanism works well. I've ordered a few micro gearmotors (2 different ratios). The gearmotor will be hidden inside the starter motor housing and will drive the ring gear. In the meantime, I can rotate the engine using the transmission output shaft. Here are some pictures of the transmission assembly, followed by pictures of the completed engine and a small video. All transmission parts ready for assembly The completed engine And some details Snd a small video showing the drive mecanism being engaged 20241229_205449.mp4 Next up, the frame, suspension components and front and rear ends.

Now that the engine is done, I started on the transmission. And, naturally, I had to complicate things. I thought it could be fun to have the choice of running the engine with or without the rear wheels turning. Do to that, I incorporated a sliding gear mecanism that will be actuated be the shifter. Here's a little video showing how the thing will work. 20241224_203654.mp4 And a cross section of the engine with the transmission in place the printed parts And mounted on the engine just to see what it will look like That's it for now Merry Christmas !!

John, the stroke is 10.9mm (131mm scale up) compared to the 75mm stroke on the engine I based my design on. It had a top rpm around 4500. I would definatly not try my engine at that rpm. In the video, I used my dewalt drill at the low speed setting which has a top rpm of 600. I ran it at maybe half that? It's all plastic with a little bit of light oil for lub, so I won't be trying to run it any faster.

Ok so, I have many goals on this build. One was to have a working V16 engine and valve train that would drive the rear wheels. So far, as you're seen in my earlier post, the valve train is done and fonctionnal. Today, I made another step towards this goal. I now have a fully fonctionnal engine. All 16 pistons move from the crank shaft while driving the camshaft. I had my doughts but I pulled it off and it works very well, with very little torq needed to move averything. It wasn't easy to assemble but considering the precision needed but everything came together without a hitch. I more than pleased!! Here are some pictures and videos, enjoy! 20241221_192038.mp4 20241221_193142.mp4

All the parts for the engine are printed (and being a V16, there's a lot of parts!) And most are painted. I still need to do a bit of weathering, a bit of oil here and there but nothing too fancy. It took me 4 tries to print the bloc but the 4th one is flawless. Here are some pictures. Lower engine components Exhaust (not painted) Distributer Water pump Fuel pump A bunch of hydraulic fittings. I painted them aluminium then applied a yellow wash to get a cadmium plating affect A spark plugs with rubber cap and wire (I'll do the cadmium effect too the lower portion of the plug) I made a sanding jig to precisely sand the end of each crank shaft segment, there are 8 segments in all glued end to end so the lenght of each part needs to be a precise dimension in order to properly fit in the engine bloc. The jig The segment in the jig before sanding And after sanding Segments before and after

LaughingIndian, I must admit that I was very nervous even if I had seem what he does. What worried me most was when he told me 'I never did anything this big'. All in all I'm satisfied with what he did althougt I find there's too many trees, it deters a bit from the prime purpose of the build which is to showcase the harvester and the barge.

I printed the engine bloc. The first try was a partiel success (about 70% good). I printed this part in a vertical position (crank shaft axis vertical) thinking this was the best position, not so good after all. The top portion, where the head sits, wasn't totaly formed and the crank shaft support didn't print. All other features and mounting points/surfaces were ok. For the second try, I printed in a horizontal position (crank shaft axis horizontal) and I had about the same success rate. But on this one the top portion was perfect, the head sits nicely but it's the lower portion that didn't make it. The flange where the sump cover mates barely printed and the crank shaft support didn't print. For the third try, I still printed in a horizontal position but I redid the majority of the print supports. The print has just completed and is still dripping so it's hard to see but it looks promissing. First try With sump cover in place With the second try, hge head sits nicely but bottom flange is a mess Third try fresh off the printer, still dripping and full of supports but it looks good. Test print of 1 of 16 exhaust pipes, looks ok.

I printed a bunch of parts for the lower engine. Pistons, connecting rods, caps, crank shaft, bloc mounting brackets, distributer... the plate was almost full. Next print will be the bloc itself, oil pan and the covers for the head, all tall parts so the print will be very long.

By the blower as on the Bentley. The vertical pipe will be connected to the blower somehow. Mucho "modeler's leeway " on all this!! I did all 16 exhaust pipes, that was quite a job, space is very restricted at the front.

Pretty much done with the design of the engine. I incorporated some viewing windows in the block so the crank and pistons can be seen. I should start printing soon. I'll also make a base to mount it on once completed while I do the frame.

Thank you LaughingIndian, Here are a few pictures of the Tigercat and barge in the diorama (which I didn't do). It will all be coverded by a plexiglass case.

Did a bit more work on the motor's 3d model. Fan is in place, waterpump, cooling pipes and front motor mounts. Here are a few screen shots. Motor And motor in frame