Another "Convoy" Truck!

[Jürgen M.]

Hi Rockford,

thanks for your words. You're quite right. I'll keep that in mind!

I'll try to consider that while I go on.

It is almost a pitty using a truck Like that as a working horse with a big risk of damage to it.

What I discovered, the trailer doesn't seem to have a landing gear. Is that hidden somewhere or don't these trailers have one?

[Rockford]

You're right, it hasn't! The reason I'd go for is the lack of room between the tractor chassis and the hopper doors, but payload and even ground clearance could also have been an issue. 

I know some have simple legs that can only support the trailer when empty and use pins to fix them in the up or down position. 

The fuel companies in UK deleted landing gear on trailers at times to maximise payload and the trailers were only broken from the tractor during servicing in the shop. 

[Jürgen M.]

Interesting information. Thanks! 

So the trailer is supported by some sort of external device in order to break from the tractor. Otherwise they're always joined as a permanent rig?

Never thought about that. I was always used to the fact that trailers were delivered and a new one hooked up!

[Rockford]

Yes, they might have some sort of trestle arrangement that they put under the chassis though I can imagine some companies just using a load of blocks! 

I always worked in operations where trailers were frequently swapped. One day on tippers, next day bulk powder next day flatbed delivering concrete block ...

Edited May 26, 2024 by Rockford
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[Jürgen M.]

Nice to learn from experts! I do know a little about long distance trucking and how a transport and logistics company works, I drove a 7.5 ton truck with a tandem trailer for a while but never the big rigs.

The driving was always the fun part to me. Today it's different. More traffic, less time. 

[Jürgen M.]

I guess now the chassis and powertrain are completed.

What you see here consists of 172 parts of which 137 are designed and printed.

Not printed parts are tires, u-bolts, tank straps, ...

I know, the engine is not completely piped up but I'm gonna leave it that way.

The shift stick will be designed as soon as the interior is printed. I want to make sure that it really fits into the opening in the cab floor.

 

Edited May 27, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Gary Chastain]

Really nice fabrication work, well done

[Jürgen M.]

Thank you Gary!

I'm quite happy with it eventhough I didn't hide the printing lines everywhere! ?

I put the cab in position to get an idea how it will look.

The roof is also just laid on top!

Edited May 28, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Jürgen M.]

I finished the interior. 

Not very neat I admit but sanding these parts is practicaly Impossible considering that the filament is very hard and the parts would break easily due to their size.

But since this truck will be on a high shelf between the other Convoy trucks the inside will not be relevant to the optics of the model!

 I will try to find a way to smoothen the surface of smaller parts though thinking about models still to come!

 

Edited May 31, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Jürgen M.]

I painted the cab. Still need to do some fine tuning.

The masking was a bit tricky due to the rivets. Should have made them a bit smaller! They break off quite easily too.

The narrow stripe in the middle is a self made decal. 

The inside walls are only painted as far as visible! Looks a bit wild without the interior!

Edited June 2, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Rockford]

That looks great! I do love that paint scheme and you've pulled it off very well. It's going to look excellent when it all comes together. 

[Jürgen M.]

Thanks Rockford! Your words in God's ear!

?

[Jürgen M.]

I applied the clear coat after the paint and the decals were perfectly dry, still one of the stripes came partially off and had folded itself. I had to cut off the first 20mms and put a new tip on. I actually glued it on with a glue stick. It worked! 

- I saw that some of you guys work with decal sheets to make your own decals.

Do you also have that problem when you apply clear coat? -

Now the windows have to be made and fit in, horns, marker lights, mirrors, .... Still lots of work.

 

Edited June 2, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Rockford]

Looks great Jürgen. I've never been brave enough to clear coat decals. I don't work well with clear coat at all, always apply too much and get loads of runs. 

[Jürgen M.]

I understand why! It's always a risk.

I've had fully dried paint dissolve beneath clearcoat, mostly metallics.

Sometimes decals begin to wrinkle or come off. I don't know why that happens. Mostly it works out great. I actually use clearcoat just to fix the decals on the surface.

I've had them come off sometimes after years. 

Maybe the decal sheets I bought are of a different quality. Haven't actually tried to find out If they're clearcoat compatible!

 

Edited June 2, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Jürgen M.]

Got the windows installed and the roof on.

Not a very good fit due to warping during printing. That happens for example when you have a part with different strong walls or components.

In this case the cab walls are thick and the bridges above the windshields are comparably thin. These fell in a bit and therefore caused a gap to the roof.

What did I learn?

No more separation of cab and roof in design. It takes more filament because of the support structures but there's no warping.

Had to redo the bumper and the grille because of an unwanted interaction between chrome spray and clear coat!

I went over to plan B! Aluminium silver (Revell no.99) with a bit of beige mixed in to create the common yellowish shade in the aluminium parts.

Didn't want the grille to be the same silver color as the cab!

Hope it turns out well. 

I'll show you when it's dry! 

Edited June 2, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Rockford]

You're very brave mate. 

[Jürgen M.]

?

I finished the tractor last night. Just couldn't wait!

I know it's far from original kit quality but on the shelf it looks pretty good! 

Now comes the trailer!

Edited June 3, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Rockford]

Fascinating to watch this come together, can't wait to see the trailer. It must be really satisfying to bring something from the drawing board to the shelf, especially in such a short time. It's a learning process too isn't it? At least that's what I find with my projects, I'm always thinking of ways I'll do something a little better next time. I suppose when you tackle something like this you realise just how much effort the model manufacturers must put in to get their kits to work. 

Real achievement that though Jürgen, well done.

[Jürgen M.]

Thank you Rockford!

Yes, of course it's satisfying. I'm always happy when another model truck is on the shelf!

I'm not always happy with everything I did during the build. That's why I redo Things once in a while when I don't want to see previous mistakes anymore (See my R.D. make overs, I think I did four all together!)

Anyway, I do learn from finished projects and of course try to improve things I'm not satisfied with.

The satisfaction is then even bigger when you see that you've actually not only improved your working process but it shows in each new model.

The trailer will indeed be a real challenge! The parts are almost completely designed and the first ones are being printed at the time!

I'll keep you up to date of course!

 

[Jürgen M.]

The springs are printed.

Yes, they look a lot like the ones on the tractor. They are actually the same parts only with the counter plates for the u-bolts turned upside down like I was told it was supposed to be! 

I am aware of the fact that the chassis of the trailer will not be a 100% like the one in the movie but I'm sure it will do the job!

[Jürgen M.]

A few statistics, just in case anyone cares: (tractor only)

Design time: 69 days (~ 3.5h p.d.)

Print time: 50 days (Started printing first parts before I was finished designing)

Build time (incl. painting): 47 days

Total days of build incl. design: 75 (overlapping processes)

Total hours of project (~ 3h p.d.): 225h

Total no. of parts: 235 (incl. tires and other parts from parts-box)

No. of parts printed: 198 (84%)

If you like, I´ll make the same statistics for the trailer too.

Edited June 3, 2024 by Jürgen M.

[Rockford]

Interesting breakdown! 

Your trailer suspension looks perfectly acceptable. Leaf spring suspension is the same principle wherever it lands, just the axles it's bolted to do different things! Looking forward to seeing the trailer develop. 

[Jürgen M.]

These are the first parts of the trailer chassis:

Leaf springs:

Connected to chassis rails:

[Jürgen M.]

I put the mesh on the grille and had forgotten the KW emblem.

What I am absolutely dissatisfied with is the sun visor! I'm gonna have to redo that! Looks terrible! 

Maybe that will improve the main Impression of the truck!

Then it will be a bit more dusted over. Not just the windshields!

I guess there's always something to improve!