BIG S. O. B. !!! 1/24 Alberta oilfield bed truck

[ShakyCraftsman]

Hey all

 I know.  I know not another build. Yupp, It's going to be a 1/24 scale Peterbilt 378 Alberta oilfield bed truck with a 400" W/B. It will have a Cat C15 6NZ compound turbo with a 3D Concepts Eaton Fuller 18 spd transmission. A headache rack from Paul at ST Supply with winch. Also it will have another winch from 3D Concepts. 

  It will have a complete scratch built 14" tall x 4" wide x 3/4" thick frame. It will have 66" tall x 43" wide Terra tires, actually AMT monster truck Wheels/tires. It also has the monster truck planetary axles with aftermarket "U" joints and drive shafts. It is going to be a twin steer with hydraulic steering cylinders. I made the front steering axles by kit bashing two KFS front drive axles to make the monster truck axles steerable.

  I'm scratch building the front suspension springs (4 of em) from plastic strips. It will have custom front fenders made from (HO) scale diamond plate (it's closer to 1/24-25 scale). It will.have a 24' - 26' long scratch built bed, gin poles and deck surfaces.

   There will be many more items added along the way. Right now it's pretty much in the design stages. I plan on finishing the Payhauler and "Bill Signs" Peterbilt first, but will be working on this off and on along the way. So, here are some pictures for yous all to look at.

Side view of the bed truck. This is just the mock-up frame. I'm building one for this.

Front wheels and tires.

rear wheels and tires. This will have a custom one off Hendrickson RS walking beam suspension from 3D Concepts with a 78" (1,982mm) center to center of the axle bushings and axles.

This is the winch headache rack from Paul at ST Supply.

This is it together.

Custom made front axle.

Turned to the left.

Turned to the right.

Top is the AMT kit axle. Next is my custom made steer axle. Bottom is the center of the KFS drive axle. I can still use it as a regular drive axle.

Front drive axles with there drive shafts and "U" joints.

Rear drive axles, drive shafts and "U" joints.

Kinda of an over all veiw of the drive set-up.

This view shows the custom front fenders. These are made from scratch from Plastsruct HO diamond plate.

Closer view of the front diamond plate fenders. There is a TON of work still left to do. 

Thanks Ron G 

Edited February 18 by ShakyCraftsman

[cifenet]

The setup looks incredible.  Very interesting to see how this will finish~  Keep it up~

[Biggu]

Looks really cool Ron, a great idea with loads of options and different directions to go. This will be a stunner. ….

[chuckyr]

Nice 

[vincen47]

What a fun project!

[Gary Chastain]

Wow Ron, this is going to be a really cool project, will be watching. Can you share which monster truck kit you are stealing parts from? Really like what you did with the axles, will represent the idea very well. 

[ShakyCraftsman]

1 minute ago, Gary Chastain said:

Wow Ron, this is going to be a really cool project, will be watching. Can you share which monster truck kit you are stealing parts from? Really like what you did with the axles, will represent the idea very well. 

Hey Gary

Thanks 

1/25 AMT USA 1 monster truck kits (two)

Ron G 

[NerdmanB]

Ron I’m going to enjoy this just like all of your builds. Always something new to learn. A little off topic but did you finish the 1/12 scale 57 chevy? I am very impressed with what you were doing there. Brian 

[ShakyCraftsman]

1 minute ago, NerdmanB said:

Ron I’m going to enjoy this just like all of your builds. Always something new to learn. A little off topic but did you finish the 1/12 scale 57 chevy? I am very impressed with what you were doing there. Brian 

No,it's on the shelf of whoo...😒

Ron G 

[NerdmanB]

Sorry to hear that Ron . It will be very cool if you decide to finish it. I’m sure we all have projects that have gotten moth balled. I’m still enjoying this build. Brian 

[Rockford]

That's going to be some machine! Looking beefy. 

[ShakyCraftsman]

Hey all 

  Small update. I have both front drive axles mostly complete. I also have been working on the front wheels prepping them for all the bolt heads (10 per wheel) and planetary hubs.

This view shows both front axles with there connecting drive shaft.

This view shows the wheels as they come in the kit.

These are my scratch built bolt head plates. They will also have the planetary hubs mounted to them.

This view shows the plates in the wheels.

This view shows the whole front assembly.

This is a front twin steer kit from KFS via Paul at ST Supply.

I hope to use these portion of the KFS kit for this build. I'm still investigating weather this is going to work or not.

As a bonus I got two 1/24 metal front axles.

This is how the KFS steering is supposed to be set up. Still investigating if this is going to work also. Well that's it for now be back soon with more updates.

Ron G 

Edited February 23 by ShakyCraftsman

[BK9300]

Always liked a twin-steer anything, Ron - are your front suspensions made of white metal?  Looks very sturdy!

[ShakyCraftsman]

3 minutes ago, BK9300 said:

Always liked a twin-steer anything, Ron - are your front suspensions made of white metal?  Looks very sturdy!

Yes they are.

Ron G 

[cifenet]

The driveshaft + the double steering axle combo looks very special!  Those white metal parts look very nice also.

 

[Randy D]

This is looking great Ron.   The drivetrain for this thing is going to be awesome!!!

Randy

[ShakyCraftsman]

1 minute ago, Randy D said:

This is looking great Ron.   The drivetrain for this thing is going to be awesome!!!

Randy

Thanks Randy

 Yeah, she's going to be something alright, as long as I can get everything to work together.😉

Ron G 

[mk11]

Cool to see someone actually moving on building one of these old sows!    Here's local one that I always thought would make great project in scale... I'll see if I can get more pics.

Edited March 1 by mk11

[ShakyCraftsman]

2 minutes ago, mk11 said:

Cool to see someone actually moving on building one of these old sows!    Here's local one that I always thought would make great project in scale...

That's pretty damn close to it! Thanks for the picture. If you have anymore pictures of it please let me know.

Ron G 

Edited March 1 by ShakyCraftsman

[Gary Chastain]

Such a cool project

[ShakyCraftsman]

Hey all

  I have the frame rails created. I made them from 0.03" thick plastic sheet and strips. The cross braces are 7/16" "I" beams and one 1/2" "I" beam thats for the rear axle torsion rods to attach to.

This view shows the frame rails and cross members.

This view shows the "C" channel shape and one of the "I" beam cross members.

This view shows the frame assembled with the Cat C15 6NZ sitting in place between the frame rails.

This view shows the frame with the cab sitting in place.

This is a mock-up of the bed truck. Right now it's 24.0" long (576.0" scale). It has a 411.0" WB. But, I'm thinking this is to long. 🤔

Ron G 

Edited March 2 by ShakyCraftsman

[ShakyCraftsman]

Okay, I'm looking for some help from anyone on here that is familiar with these bed trucks.

  As you can see from this picture it's kinda long, I'm thinking to long. Right now the way it sits, the bed is 30.0' long. I'm thinking it should be more like 24' to 26' long. 

  So all those with knowledge of these kinda trucks please chip in and let me know what you think. Please all help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Ron G 

Edited March 2 by ShakyCraftsman

[BK9300]

Ritchie Bros Auctioneers sold one in Edmonton in 2023 that had a 420 in wheelbase - I’d say you’re spot on.

 

[ShakyCraftsman]

Hey all 

 Okay, I shortened the frame from a 411" WB to a 366" WB. I think it looks much better. It still will have a up to 28' bed, so still big. I also got some 1/24 scale planetary hubs from a guy on Ebay. They are 3D printed and look great. Here are some pictures for yous all to look at.

This view shows the frame now shortened to 366"WB.

This view shows the front of the frame and the modifications I made to accommodate the Cat C15 6NZ and the radiator.

This view shows the rear of the frame at the rear axles cross member. I added the webbing braces to both sides of the frame. There will be bolt details added later.

This  view shows the Cat C15 6NZ and 18 spd transmission with the radiator sitting in place in the frame. The tank on the side is for the power steering and hydraulic cylinder for steering.

These are the 3D printed planetary hubs from Ebay.

Closer view of the hubs.

This view shows the complete hub on the right, the hub next,  then the two pieces of styrene tubing to make up the complete hubs 

this view shows the two pieces of tubing to make up the hubs. The bigger diameter one is 7/16" and the taller one is 3/8" diameter. I made 8 of them 4 for the fronts, 4 for the rears.

this view shows the hubs as they will look when done.

This view shows the hub in place on the bolt mounting plate. I still need to add all of the bolt heads all 80 of them!!!😱

And this view shows the set-up in place in the wheel/tire. The wheels will be painted a white/off white, the hubs will be black and the bolt heads will be a dark gun metal color. Well that's it for now be back soon with more updates.

Ron G 

Edited March 6 by ShakyCraftsman

[ShakyCraftsman]

Hey all

  Just a little mock-up.

Side layout option "A"  small tool box, fuel tank, large tool box, medium tool box.

Side layout option "B" Small tool box, fuel tank, chain rack and large tool box.

  So what do you guys think? A or B.

Ron G 

Edited March 6 by ShakyCraftsman