RichO

Hey Guys, A quick post for this morning. I took a day or two and built the mounting frame for the winch and tow cable. I decided to stop here because I was going the wrong way with the build at this time. The winch and cable along with the fuel tank frame, I built as a place holder to get the spacing correct around the Transmission. The direction of the build was heading vertical, and I still have a ton of stuff at the bottom of the frame. So I stopped here and will get back to these components when the time is right. I sort of got involved with building this, so only a few photos. The Winch support frame... The construction of this support frame was really straight forward...just angles involved here. You can see how thing at the bottom of the build are starting to get buried. I'll be back later today with the next chapter, stay tuned...Rich

Gus, The styrene rod I use for the piping is just 1mm. I have broken several attempts. You can see piles of them in photo #6.

Hey Fellow Hosers, I think I'm at a quitting point with the Hose install. I still have plenty to do with the plumbing and hoses, I just need to secure some frame elements in order to finish connecting the hoses, and those things are a ways down the road yet. Here's how things wrapped up... Final shots of the Transmission out of the frame...I painted this at night, so that would be Nocturnal Transmissions Producing the hard piping got a little tricky at times. I set the rods into a basic guide and heated to secure the bends... Time to lays some pipe baby!... I'm going to leave things like so for a while. I have more stuff under here and beside this location for install. I'll be back with the next exciting chapter...what ever that is. Rich

Hey Crazy, I'm using a sort of small bungee cord. I think it is a small rubber band wrapped with a very fine cloth material. I stole it from my wife's jewelry supplies. Measures about 1mm thick.

Hey All, Starting the hose runs... Later...

Thanks All, Another quick update. The oil filter build went with out any problems... I'm starting the first hose today, and I have a fear that I might be painting myself into a corner. I have to very precise about where I locate things on the frame. I have running board supports, wench winch frame, and fuel tank frame to be placed exactly before I can secure the transmission. Alto the photos show that the oil line are made from rubber hoses, I might not make mine out of rubber. At this moment I'm trying to decide what I need to build to get the hoses started. Later All, Rich

Hey All, I just thought I would show this because it's going to get buried under everything. I built a support rack, just simple angels... Then the radiators...again, simple angels and wire screen... Installed onto the fuel tank frame... I'll build the oil filter tomorrow, and start the hose runs... Later, Rich

Thanks Crazy, I hope nothing falls on me while I'm under there working.

Hey Guys, The Big Betty Build continues... I had a heck of a time this week trying to find a reference for the location of the cooling radiator for the Transmission oil. The diagram below shows how things should be. It dose not show the location on the truck frame of the items. I searched for 7 hours over 3 days to find a hint of the location. Tucked up under the frame that supports the fuel tanks. People who take reference photos don't usually crawl under or inside the frame. Anyway, location found,.. the build continues. I added more detail to the out side of the Transmission to the point that I am now ready to start the Oil Hoses. So now that I look at these photos this size I see a couple of more things to add... The Fuel Tank frame...I had to jump ahead a bit on the items that needed building for this part. The fuel tank frame has an oil filter ( item 8 in the diagram above) hanging on the back outside... And the oil radiator hangs on the front side of the frame, across from the oil filter... I made a card moch-up and placed the card at the location of the radiators to check size and clearance before I build. I will build the radiators and oil filter next. I have to secure these to the fuel tank frame before I can get the hose runs for these. However I will not attach the frame to the main truck frame at this time. I will still have a bunch of junk to add under there. Be back later boys with the next exciting chapter, Rich

Hey Guys! Today I just wanted to show the basic Transmission. I have a ton of details to add to this, it's, it's own little world. As you can see, I have a ways to go on this mini build. Here's what I have so far. The basic Transmission, with a lot of room for the details... It's going to live somewhere around here... I'll be back with adding the details and trying to get a grip on the plumbing. Later, Rich

I'm really glad I can give something back to the modeling community. I also like "borrowing" techniques from other modelers. All good fun!

Gus, Good guess. If you look real close at the photo of the piece in the clamps. You can just see, that I have added a thin piece of styrene sheet to each end of the wood block. I shaped these to the final shape before I mounted them to the ends. When everything was set, I filed and sanded the block to match the ends. That way I had a nice smooth surface to glue the skin to. I tried a couple of test builds, and I had a problem with the skin collapsing and warping out of shape. If I didn't brace the skin on the inside when I was wrapping it around the end shapes, the center would just crush in. That's where the idea for the block came from. Rich

Hey Guys, I finished building another oil tank. This tank feeds the Transmission. You can see the tank here on the left. I still have to hook up the plumbing, but that will wait until I build the Transmission. The build... The tank will live like this for a while. The Transmission is next. Be back later All. Rich

Here is some eye candy for you guys! Hey, Steering Linkage finished. Brake Lines finished. Be back soon. Rich

I'm glad you guys are enjoying this build! Thanks

Hey Boys and Girls, The steering linkage is now complete. The fiddly-est part of the build so far. This stuff is thin and small and breaks real easy and I should have built this part sooner and you live and learn. After a few missteps I got the angles figured out and all went well but slow. I built a first attempt at the Tie-Rod ends and got the angles all wrong. The second attempt went smoother... Getting the drop on the rod angles was tricky... The front and back are different... After I got these all built and painted, it's time to try to install...what a frikin' mess.. I had to cut off one of the Brake Pumps to get at the access hole and Steering Knuckle, I also had to realign a couple of the Tie-Rod ends Mounting Bearings... Then the inside linkage... Success at last...altho when I finished painting the new stuff, I noticed how hard it is to see any of this. It just sort of blends in and adds to the details... In no special order... A little carried away with the photos. I'm now going to tidy up a bit, I have to finish with the Brake details that are on the outside of the steering stuff and get the wheels mounted, also some sort of big fuel tank or something... Be back later Rich

Hey All, The steering linkage is taking it's own sweet time to build. I spent the first day and a half just figuring out what to do. Once I got things sorted, the build took a bit of time, and I'm still not finished, but things are lookin' ok. Once the construction started I just sort of went with the flow, so not to many photos... Not any photos of the construction of the steering knuckles, but, you are familiar with my building style by now and can see how these are put together... Once I got those little things build, I next had to work on the gauge of the rod. I have no actual measurements for the steering linkage, so I just used all the references I had, and all the artistic talent I could muster, and just guessed at a visually good size. I thought the top example was to thin, I went with the bottom one. The blue tape is where other components will be placed... after painting and now starting to mount these to the frame... After all that I just got the first part of the actual linkage in a dry fit place... Be back with the rest of the linkage placement shortly... Rich

Thanks for watching guys, I need your encouragement about now.

Hey All, I just thought I would show what I'm about to start, but I don't have a clue how I'm going to do this. Steering components... I have a ton of photos of the steering stuff. I just have to imagine whats under the grease. Be back soon, Rich

Very nice details...I like the canvas effect.

Nice engine and gun bays! More photos please.

Very nice job!! Great details.

You Guys are great with the comments. Thanks. Just thought I would post as I go along for a bit. I built the stow box at the rear of the frame this weekend. The rear of the frame is filling up fast. Glamour shots... Be back when I build something else. Later, Rich I edited this post:...Now that I look at these photos, I will redo the color a bit on the stow box and tone it down. This is a bit much color for the top side. I'll work on that.

Hey Guys, Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls...I have reached a milestone!! Big Betty is standing on her own eight feet!! It was at this point in taking photos that I couldn't believe how things worked out by accedent. I had painted this big truck all black.... Time for a sing-a-long... I now get to work on outside the frame components for a while. Be back later with more stuff. Rich

Very nice detailing!