TOPIC:

This small bag of onions looked the most promising, scale netting wise ... it turned out to be a little short & I didn't want to strain the tie down points on the skip so used some heavy cotton thread at one end...









I've always referred to this sort of onion as "white" (i.e. not "red") - so I saw the label & wondered if it was some PC BS, but apparently not, there are some onions that are genuinely much whiter. Although these are still a very pale yellow/green white on the inside.

I do feel I can be put out by the fact every food stuff now seems to have to have it's own strapline - "Roast or fry to pack flavour into any meal". Really? How about "If you don't know what onions are for then you're too stupid to buy them"






More work went into the loading arms - 3mm plates with 3 layers of 1mm sheet around the edges, and still some way to go ...








Cunning plan for fake hydraulic rams - 5/32 aluminium rod for inner, which fits in 7/32, 9/32 and 11/32 tubes for the outer.

This is all a bit academic, but after installing the stops, chains & rams the geometry (despite the fudging, guesswork and "adjustments") is all ok

I like the net! Perfect!

More odds 'n' sods of progress; firstly the rear stabiliser wheels ... I'd planned on using 608 size skateboard bearings as I knew I had plenty of spares (at least 16 used & 4 new) but couldn't find them I ended up machining my own slightly wider equivalents from 7/8" (22mm) and 5/16" (8mm) round aluminium bar:





I decided it was a bit of a shame to hide all the work I'd done on making the loading mechanism articulate, not wanting to lose the big speaker I'll compromise by refitting it upside down so the skip can swing on & off, and I'll probably make some sort of dummy load (pallet, net, tarp, toolbox etc) to hide the speaker so I can run the truck skipless if I want.

"Tooling" was to mark a pencil line further in on the existing hole; the speaker can't go on the underside of the load bed due to height issues with the battery.

Note also the boxed in sides of the load bed & loads of filler









Also made the windows from 1mm lexan; angled rear corner windows by making a card template, scanning it, printing on sticker paper (+ a mirror image) & fixing to bits of lexan I'd heated & bent earlier:

A few more bits of progress:





Front: cab handles, 3x wipers + sketching swept area, tacho panel hinges, indicators (mostly hidden by tape):





Sides: mirrors, door handles, step tread details, indicators, boxing in/bracing around mudguards, wheel detailing, detail on load bed side:





Rear: stabiliser wheel boxing in/detailing, rear bed detailing:





Still to do: number plate backs (will depend on final scale decision), interior (still waiting for the 1:14 truck driver to become available again, I've ordered a XR311 driver for a tryout but suspect it'll be far too big), rear lights, Fuel tank & blanking on left side, blanking & fake hydraulic controls on RHS, rear suspension upgrade, wiring etc etc

For your pilot try a GI JOE or a WWE catcher man.

Nice touch with the front wheel hub!

only just came across this thread, this is awesome!

XR311 driver arrived, it's been a while since I'd handled one & as it seemed sufficiently smaller than the 1:10 drivers I've worked with recently, I thought I'd give it a go ... it's not without flaws (for my purposes anyway) though: hips than can best be described as "child bearing", military styling, neck/thigh/knee angles that suit the semi- reclining position required for the XR311 (although I don't remember it fitting that well TBH), arm positions that suit the upright XR311 steering wheel & not the lay down "bus" type as found in old HGVs, hunch back, peculiarly deep crotch, mismatched "seam" lines, left leg higher than the right like he's mid- fart ... I think that's about it - and it's all fixable...









A lot of fiddling ensued:
Hip & knee angles + height mismatch - fixed by heating thighs with hot air gun, bent to better angles (& knees closer together);
Arm positions - left is not bad, right fixed with a log of extra styrene in the armpit, + filler;
Epaulets, wide hips, flash/seams - shaved off/down with craft knife (softer than average mouldings really help) & sanded;
Head angle - collar & neck back shaved down, lots of styrene in neck gap, filler;
Hump back, lumpy crotch - dremelling, sanding.

Great work JR, he looks like a completely different person I have to say that for all Tamiya's good works, their driver finishes leave something to be desired or are they just giving the competent modeller like yourself a little something too do