TOPIC:

stingray-63 wrote:

... Love it. Does the bed lift with a third way on the radio ?

There's a "Plus One" module with various interlocks & microswitches to operate the bed from a 2-channel radio - assuming you can get everything set up correctly

stingray-63 wrote:

Are they bull head rims on the clod?

I can see why you'd think they're just the chromed plastic wheels off other models, but no, they've been machined from solid aluminium  

I believe they were done by a good machinist at home or on breaks at work, as although they are very well turned, and very consistent, where "production" wheels would probably have had the backs milled to fit the hubs, these have M3 threaded through holes & rely on a bit of the fasteners sticking through to engage with the hub holes. You can change the screws for a slightly different look though

I remembered not paying a whole lot for them, but when I looked for the relevant emails (back in 2013) it's embarrassing how little I paid   

Ooohhhh fantastic Jonny. A pure look. Lovely rims. 

Nice present to yourself there JR 

I'm turning 50 in 4 years and I want to buy myself something also, and by time I should be debt free as well which should make my buy more stuff lol

Your only 50 once. Might as well get something you want. 

 

Well done my friend.... Happy birthday for the half century !

This model has always intrigued me, I've seen them in real life and they are just huge. I never took the step to buy one, but maybe one day I will...

Haven't touched this in 6 months!?

Today I took off the bodywork, dismantled it & gave it a scrub, I've also been looking at what I need to to to fix the 2 missing rails, 5 missing uprights and 5 broken fittings. 

Shapeways have the uprights, but it's 18 USD shipping on a <11 USD part the size & weight of a card of toothpicks? I didn't feel the need to check a mirror to see if there was a 4-letter word tattooed on it, but they're certainly taking me for one. Instead, I'll do those bits in brass, along with getting & bending some 2mm rod for the railings, and 5mm rod to turn down some tiny fitting replacements. ATM I'm toying with the idea of just polishing the repairs/replacements as a form of poor mans' kintsugi.

Shapeways is very often quite expensive for 3D printed parts (likely the most)... That said, more and more people are aware of this fact among the designers, and they start to propose some alternatives to that. Some are putting their files on cults3D, some on myminifactory, some are proposing alternatives on printed parts on i.materialise.com shop way cheaper than the prints on shapeways. It is worth checking those sources as well...

The plan with the paint was to hit it with Grey Plastic Primer, Aluminium Coat, Red (Oxide) Primer & then AA Van Yellow ...

Most of the body parts looked pretty good after the "aluminium", but the load bed is so big that the inside of the load bed was already suffering with a lot of overspray from doing the sides & undersides, it was beginning to look & feel like 240 grit wet & dry, or one of those stone effect paints that Andyaus is a fan of. The hanging wires didn't help either, there was no chance to get in there for a wet(ter) coat.

I've knocked it back with wet & dry, and will spray the red just on the inside before letting it cure for 24H so I can handle it

I thought I wasn't going to need to dismantled the chassis, but having handled it to look add readjusting the electrics is was obvious it was a lot dirtier than I'd thought. 

I found there are several broken plastic parts - ideally I'd get A (0005759), E (0005761),  T (0225092) and preferably K (0115295) sprues, but the E (leaf spring & U-bolt seats) and K (railing uprights) are unobtainable so I'd have to go with plan B on the seats (U/S clean/degrease, glue back together, reinforce with black Milliput & hope

The rear diff has been epoxied to lock it, I'm not against that per se, but using so much that the axles won't come out & the case halves won't split is going to far. I'm hoping some time in the ultrasonic tank might shake things loose so I can put proper bearings on it.