TOPIC:

... although I do inexplicably have a box of X-28 Park Green.

Just a thought as I already have a lot of blue (and orange) vehicles...

Go for the park green. Like olds 50's chevy. Rusted with the salt method it should be perfect.

Hey all,
I guess I missed this build the first time round ( the lost years) and I was sad to read that you binned the body and chassis but I did like where you were going with it, way overcomplicated...just the way I like them.
Kind of late to add my comments but I will anyway.
The only way around it that I could figure would be to build a chassis more like the real truck. American trucks of this vintage still used a I beam and leaf springs suspension the same as large commercial truck still do today. Tamiya has that type of axle arrangement in the 1/14 tractor trucks series and I have thought along these lines before, would a 1/14 commercial axle work for a 1/12 light duty truck body .
You could really drop the scale engine down between the frame rails and close the hood. The rear end could be a cc-01 or one of the newer crawler axles, a planetary type transmission and.......well you get the idea.
The real question is, what is the width of the 1/14 truck axle. vs the front of the pumpkin?
There are just so many good parts available now
I also like your plans for the mkII version of this build, I will be following along.

oldwilly wrote:

Hey all,
I guess I missed this build the first time round ( the lost years) and I was sad to read that you binned the body and chassis but I did like where you were going with it, way overcomplicated...just the way I like them.
Kind of late to add my comments but I will anyway.
The only way around it that I could figure would be to build a chassis more like the real truck. American trucks of this vintage still used a I beam and leaf springs suspension the same as large commercial truck still do today. Tamiya has that type of axle arrangement in the 1/14 tractor trucks series and I have thought along these lines before, would a 1/14 commercial axle work for a 1/12 light duty truck body .
You could really drop the scale engine down between the frame rails and close the hood. The rear end could be a cc-01 or one of the newer crawler axles, a planetary type transmission and.......well you get the idea.
The real question is, what is the width of the 1/14 truck axle. vs the front of the pumpkin?
There are just so many good parts available now
I also like your plans for the mkII version of this build, I will be following along.

Tamiya 1:14 truck has width of 185mm and since the Pumpkin comes on the M06 which is 165 width, the Pumpkin is too narrow for a truck front axle.
But the truck axle is mod friendly as it's metal, so chop it in the middle and epoxy the halfes into a square tube and you can make it any width you want.

I have both several Pumpkins and truck axle so I could take measurements it anybody wants.
For a rear axle a truck axle can be used to tuck the rear tires under the rear wings.

I have been measured both the Pumpkin and the semi stuff.

Pumpkin is 171mm over both front and rear fenders.

Tamiya semi truck front axle with Hornet wheels are 178mm at the top of the tires.
So chopping about 15mm in the middle of the axle and it will fit perfect under that body.

Semi rear axle is 148.5mm wide with chrome mini monte carlo wheels fitted.
Here it will be more tricky to mount anything else than 12mm hex drive as the half shafts has splines in the end, and the 12mm hex is splined too.
But you can fit some pretty deep dish 12mm hex wheels with that semi axle as those mini wheels tuck at least 10mm inboard of the wheelarches.
Problem will be to find something for the front to match the rear wheels with 12mm hex and front with bearings like all other 2wd buggy from Tamiya.

Some HL frames and HL Tundra leaf springs (shortest available from Tamiya9 and it should be pretty scale

Hey all,
Not trying to hi-jack your thread Jonny.....honest.....
Thanks for the measurements on the Tamiya truck axle, I have never bought one of those kits to check myself. Yes a bit of a narrowing would be required but as you mention it would be fairly straight forward.
As for the wheels, I have thought before about making a 12mm hex to 5mm shaft conversion but always get stuck on how to elegantly retain them. I have seen some offered for sale but they would not be very functional in the long run as the whole assembly was retained with a washer over the end that would just wear on the rim. Perhaps a tiny thrust bearing or?? but I think the result would be fairly ugly. But for a shelf queen it's no problem, drill out the center of a couple of 12mm hexes and put them in the rim, slip it over the axle and put on the nut, looks fine, it will turn but it would not work well for too long.

But really I am watching this space to see what our friend m. Retro come up with on this build, perhaps I will need to start my own and build a f-100 of my own.

TBH if you're expecting any more than a few body mods & a paintjob this time around, you're going to be disappointed... all a chassis really is to me is a way to hold the wheels in the right positions in relation to the bodywork, with approximately the right steering/drive functions in the right places.

If I was to attempt a properly realistic chassis for the Pumpkin, it wouldn't be in 1:12 - just too fidlly. Building it in 1:10 brings its own problems - mostly the curves on the body, it's just not something I'm interested in doing.

I'm maybe out but what is the problem with the beetle wheeles? They have a vintage look and good size for a m chassis.

stingray-63 wrote:

I'm maybe out but what is the problem with the beetle wheeles? They have a vintage look and good size for a m chassis.

Nothing at all - I just want to turn a bit off the inside to fit narrower/taller tyres (Scorcher fronts) & dechrome them

Nice! Nothing stock. I can't wait to see your pumpkins.