[TC25] 8109 Flatbed Truck

[SaperPL]

I iterated on the steering a bit yesterday as well and shifted the fake battery by one stud down and reworked how it connects to the steering because using CV joint meant I cannot put the steering knob at exact distance I needed.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what is putting some resistance on the steering when I put it down so the weight of the cab is on the wheels.

I'm using those weird steering pieces that shift the pivot of wheels be half stud and take only half stud below the axle:

The problem with this however is that the connection is not as rigid as an interesting situation occurred where the gear rack was pushing against the frame above, or inversely the whole weight of the cab was pushing the frame onto gear rack because those steering arms are slightly, just slightly bending, but enough so the gear rack is touching the frame above. My solution after many iterations is to prop up those steering arms with something, right now I'm propping it up in a bit weird way:

And surprisingly it works, but there's still some resistance in the whole steering, so I might need to figure out how to shift the frame to make a gap there or change the frame.

Meanwhile I'm still trying to figure out how to do the cab:

The idea to use the whole system front of the truck cab is somewhat feasible, but after I tried tweaking it a bit to look more like the original set model, it feels bricky. I need to figure out some mostly studless approach with Technic panels here.

[Appie]

Personally, I think that system front fits perfectly. The original model had the whole center of the grill and lights made of system parts and is still considered a studless Technic set, yours just has a little more. Did you check with Jim if this is allowed? The 8110 Unimog had it's entire bonnet made out of system parts, so I think this should get a pass, but I am not the one making the rules. I wouldn't know of Technic alternatives that are smaller than the panels used in the original and look like it's supposed to be there. The experiment with the black baby panels as grill doesn't look half as good as this imo.

Either way, keep up the good work, this is looking awesome.

[SaperPL]

1 hour ago, Appie said:

Did you check with Jim if this is allowed? The 8110 Unimog had it's entire bonnet made out of system parts, so I think this should get a pass, but I am not the one making the rules. I wouldn't know of Technic alternatives that are smaller than the panels used in the original and look like it's supposed to be there.

I checked with Jim and he said that for this set, it's acceptable. With that said, if possible, I'd like to try and make something that's not a full system assembly at the front because it feels like uniform almost flat surface. Compare the last studio screenshot with some of the first ones where the bumper and windscreen line were made with Technic pieces. There's still a lot of time till the end, so I'll try to do my best here.

1 hour ago, Appie said:

The experiment with the black baby panels as grill doesn't look half as good as this imo.

Yeah, I know. but I've seen people doing magic with those in various orientations. But more importantly, while the grill will probably be better made with some system tiles and slopes, I think the edges may need some Technic pieces to round this up.

1 hour ago, Appie said:

Either way, keep up the good work, this is looking awesome.

Thanks, will do!

[MangaNOID]

A very deceptive model as There’s a lot going on in this truck. I love the chassis dropping bed lowering function.

as for the front I agree you need some technic bits on the surrounding for it to look right. Plenty of time.

 

[SaperPL]

1 hour ago, MangaNOID said:

A very deceptive model as There’s a lot going on in this truck. I love the chassis dropping bed lowering function.

Yeah, that's why I like the rear part. The chassis dropping/wheels kneeling function is almost the same geometry as the original one, with two changes - distance between wheels is smaller and the pivot point is attached more to the inner side, while the wheels of rearmost axle are on liftarm attachment points ticking down from the slide platform. This was made so the tow bar could fit underneath the rear bumber/lights bar, so the pivot point was moved to the middle for the sake of that. It's an interesting fidgeting toy :)

1 hour ago, MangaNOID said:

 as for the front I agree you need some technic bits on the surrounding for it to look right. Plenty of time.

Yeah, but I didn't expect this to get this complicated when I was playing around the rear...

[SaperPL]

Played a bit with the front layout and I think I know the look that I should be aiming for:

The problem is that I need to figure out how to make the windshield pillars with half stud length while angled.

[pleegwat]

Rigid hoses?

[SaperPL]

10 minutes ago, pleegwat said:

Rigid hoses?

I don't want to cheat by cutting them down to size, unless there's an actual one with specific length

[TechnicMOCer]

Looks very cool so far. What about using panels #7 and #8 on the doors and corners? Also I prefer more Technic front, might you try on digital model to replicate this that you have IRL?

[karmadrome]

Fantastic work. It's got the looks AND the functions in such a small package - great job! The only thing I noticed that at 11-wide it seems a little too wide - for these wheels, 9-wide seems more appropriate to me. But I guess that would require a complete rework of the functions?

 

[SaperPL]

6 minutes ago, karmadrome said:

The only thing I noticed that at 11-wide it seems a little too wide - for these wheels, 9-wide seems more appropriate to me. But I guess that would require a complete rework of the functions?

The 11 wide is something that allows use of gear rack for steering and sometimes 11 wide panels and flipflop liftarms where applicable. I think if I went with 9 wide scale, I wouldn't fit the tow bar because to have the frame connected properly between front part of 15L flipflop liftarm and rear part of standard 15L, I need the width for it. But without that tow bar at the back, I think it should be doable, but I don't want to loose this feature, especially if in 9 wide with those wheels I'd have to handle more cumbersome steering mechanism.

[SaperPL]

I think I've figured out how to handle the construction of the front and windshield. And it's more resembling the original set now as well with windshield pushed back one stud. Mirrors are still huge though and I need to figure out some neat trick to make them somehow 1.5 stud wide.

The inner structure of the front got really complex to hold two parts of the front offset by one stud and still hold the doors and windshield pillars:

Will have to see if this thing will assembly correctly and if doors will be closing properly...

[SaperPL]

Verified that this will work:

I just have to figure out the dashboard, mirrors and maybe the sides of the cab if I can figure something out there, and I should be able to start thinking about ordering the parts for the final build.

[Appie]

Nice work, those thin liftarms inbetween make it look more like its big brother.

For your mirror issue: how about this part in yellow (I think would be best) with a 2L yellow cheese slope? Instead of the #1 connector you would use this

Just a suggestion.

[SaperPL]

56 minutes ago, Appie said:

Nice work, those thin liftarms inbetween make it look more like its big brother.

For your mirror issue: how about this part in yellow (I think would be best) with a 2L yellow cheese slope? Instead of the #1 connector you would use this

Just a suggestion.

Thanks for the tip, but I think they would stick out too much:

I feel like I need something that would be at half stud offset from the pillars, not a full stud offset. At the same time using simple clips will mean it'll be really easy for them to tilt or fall off when they touch anything.

Edited July 15, 2023 by SaperPL

[artemisovsky]

It looks better and better but can you cover the black pins (behind doors) in the cabin with a yellow tiles 1x6?

[TechnicMOCer]

What about using 63868 placed on 3L bar instead?

 

[SaperPL]

1 hour ago, artemisovsky said:

can you cover the black pins (behind doors) in the cabin with a yellow tiles 1x6?

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. Note that on the other side there is an axle coming out from the lowest pin hole with the knob for platform actuation. I was thinking about using the new? yellow frictionless pins there, but that's still a messy surface.

1 hour ago, TechnicMOCer said:

What about using 63868 placed on 3L bar instead?

It's better, but like I said, I don't like that it's really fragile and turning around a different axis.

edit: I think the valid mechanically solution would be doing this:

But it's messy and blocks the door opening.

Edited July 16, 2023 by SaperPL

[TechnicMOCer]

To make pretty strong mirrors, you can make it with technic parts as me in my mini Scania:

Edited July 16, 2023 by TechnicMOCer

[Appie]

14 hours ago, SaperPL said:

Thanks for the tip, but I think they would stick out too much

Yup, that sticks out a bit too far. How about this part in black at the A-pillar instead of the #1 connector there to get them inward half a stud, I am not sure what kind of construction you have behind it (seems a #2 connector?), but perhaps work out something there?

14 hours ago, SaperPL said:

At the same time using simple clips will mean it'll be really easy for them to tilt or fall off when they touch anything.

I assume you have some of this type of hinges? They require quite a bit of force to move a degree or knock them off.

 

The suggestions with the 3L and 2L bar look nice too. I agree the one that is locked at the base of the A-pillar is a little messy and it limiting the door isn't ideal, so I wouldn't pick that. The 2L bar on the side of the #1 connector with the other style hinge looks quite lovely imo.

[SaperPL]

1 hour ago, Appie said:

Yup, that sticks out a bit too far. How about this part in black at the A-pillar instead of the #1 connector there to get them inward half a stud, I am not sure what kind of construction you have behind it (seems a #2 connector?), but perhaps work out something there?

I assume you have some of this type of hinges? They require quite a bit of force to move a degree or knock them off.

 

The suggestions with the 3L and 2L bar look nice too. I agree the one that is locked at the base of the A-pillar is a little messy and it limiting the door isn't ideal, so I wouldn't pick that. The 2L bar on the side of the #1 connector with the other style hinge looks quite lovely imo.

Thanks for this tip. this is exactly what I was looking for, it's so obvious now :D

Now I just need to figure out how actually make those mirrors. I'd prefer if black plate was representing the mirror surface so it'd have to be perpendicular to what it's there now.

[Appie]

Yeah, I got no ideas for that besides what others here suggested. I did suggest these parts on purpose (and not their respective counterparts as mirror and A-pillar attachment) so that the mirror hinge could be yellow (and not be the dominant colour in the frontview for the mirror attachment). Which would make the front similar to the set at least, but you'd still miss the black "mirror" at the rear.

 

Adding a bracket like this in black would give you something to attach a mirror to, but it makes the mirror 2 studs wide again and also thicker (especially if you want to put a 2x2 tile on this bracket).

 

I'd either keep it black or try yellow. Or maybe if you really like this solotion but still want a "mirror" backside, a little sticker?

[SaperPL]

Update on the looks. My wallet hurts. And there's still more to get and getting everything from single reseller is annoyingly hard. Total bill on this project is already getting too big...

Also instead of getting two different/symmetric wedge plates in red, they sent me the same one twice :| Also the plan on roof-front headlights didn't work and I need to figure out something else.

[TechnicMOCer]

Looks very cool with almost proper colors already - looks actually like original set. I ordered some parts recently for Unimog and future projects, so I know what you feel 😬.

[NoEXIST]

2 hours ago, SaperPL said:

Update on the looks. My wallet hurts. And there's still more to get and getting everything from single reseller is annoyingly hard. Total bill on this project is already getting too big...

I hope it worth it:) Actually like this little truck! You made a good job replicating the original set!