RichO

Already building with the scratching!! See how things get started. I'm just saying. Nice work with the scratch struts!

Hey Everyone, This will be the last posting for this year. I hope you like it. The engine build continues. I have one engine base painted, and the other only a few day behind in the build. I have most of the wiring finished on the one engine with all the piping and hoses yet to build. I have finished with the small sub assemblies for the top side of the engine blocks. In the photo above you can see the wiring that is fitted to the tiny parts shown with them. All of this is mounted to the top side with a bunch of other stuff. You can see this finished assembly in the photo below....... Some of the wiring needed to be threaded through items, in which case, I had to pre bend the fittings. I managed to get most everything where it should be. Some of the wire ends are not shown in any of the reference photos I have. They just sort of wonder off under the engine somewhere. Once I had the basics in place it was time to give it a base coat of paint. I use a base of black flat primer, sprayed over with bright silver. I used the black base to get a grimy start to the old used engines. Silver coating next. I sprayed the silver at a distance to make things look somewhat see through for the black to show through. The paint looks somewhat textured with the photos up close. When I get to the weathering and ageing this will look great as a starting point. I still have a ton of things to do to this engine, plus get caught up with everything on the other engine. A good week to stay home with good food, drink, smoke, and very close family. Happy Holidays All...........

Hey Guys, it's been a week or so. The engine build is continuing at a steady pace, I just have all kinds of items to place around the engine blocks. I have started with some of the wiring harnesses. I am using blue painters tape for my wire loops to mount to the block. I have several of these wire harnesses to build. If you look real close, you can see these spread about the engine blocks. Then it is more of the same, engine details.......Pumps things, all sorts of crazy items........ Here is what they look like as of today........ Still a lot of items to place yet. The engine build is on track, just at a regular pace. Next posting the engines should be primered and painted, we'll see about that. I also have a goodly amount of items to place when the engines are mounted permanently that link the two together. Much more work to do at this location. Be back later boys!!

Hey Guys, More parts........ Still very busy building all the subassemblies. Thanks All for watching and the great comments, I'll be back later........

Some nice scratchin' goin' on here!

Hey Guys, A small report today. I have been busy with the engine build. This part of the build is a bit slow for all the details that go onto these engines. More parts.... I have most of the bolts for the Transmission installed. The engines still have much detail to add. Also I have a wiring harness to install onto the engines after the details are added. They look good placed on the frame, and will be secured into place after I add as much as I can while these are still lose. The front of the engines and the central braces and the Tranny braces all line up great. I'll be back with more.........

Hey Altogether, a double dose this morning... The engine build is really straight forward. The engine block is just a group of rectangles laid in order. The only parts that had any more than four cuts are the engine front and back parts. The rest of building the basic engine blocks is just keeping everything straight and square... Once I got all the straight parts mounted, they sort of looked like engine blocks. I placed these on the frame build so you could see about where these are to be located. Then came the transmission build. You can see that this is getting fun to build. Then I had some interesting cuts to do and wrap around the drive output housing... A little bit of putty work and the first blank is ready to detail, with the second one not far behind... I'll get them finished and ready for all the details that wrap around these power twins. There is a large amount of items that need to be individually built and placed somewhere on these. I'm also thinking that I might have to hold off on some of the items and wait until these are mounted to the frame, I'll get to that. I'll be back later with the basic engine/tranny combos put together, and getting started with all the details. Thanks for watching.

Hey, I have finished with the Suspension System. The remaining two corners I built in an afternoon. Back corner.... Front corner... The situation with the wheels is that I built some parts before storage, so these need to be sorted because not all of these look usable. I'll go through these and see what I have and what needs rebuilding. Also to keep me busy, I'll be starting the next chapter. This will be the double engines and transmissions. Some of the parts for the next chapter. "The Engines" I'll continue to work on the wheels, but this is looking like a custom job for each tire. Scratching! I'm excited about the engines. I have great references and I get to build two of everything. Be back in a bit

Hey Guys, So, the port side is complete. Just like things are, the first corner took a couple of day or so to build. Corner two, was a day to build. Left rear (port rear) looking forward..... Everything is painted and I'm ready to start "the other side". I put the tires at the center locations to show where the brakes will be located inside the wheels. Of course all this gets covered up, and we'll never see them again. Around to the other side. I'll be back.......

Thanks everyone for watching and the great comments. OMG!! there is something wrong with me. I'm not sure why I try to build these things. I don't think I have ever run into so many fiddly bits to try and manage and also keep hold of, at the same time, ever. I was thinking that this was because I have been away for a bit, but this has forced me to take a look at myself. I mean really! I'm glad we're all in the same boat here. Anyway,...The first thing to mount of the brake system was to start with the center brakes, which are different than the corner brakes. Once I got everything painted, I simply mounted these to the center axel supports and was done, easy. You can see the center brakes mounted.... Always test fitting the parts... Here you can see how the brake assembly integrates into the suspension system... Once I had all the parts worked out, I also had to build some extra features. My reference phots show brake lines and mud boots for the axles. Wrapping the brake line. I used hard brass to bend for the shape, then wrapped with lead wire. The Mud Boots. My photos also show that a bit of the axle extend outside the frame between the frame and the brake assembly. This bit of axle is protected by a flexible rubber boot. To replicate the wrinkled texture I have seen in some photos, I did what I have seen with armor guys and your wrinkled tarps. I cut a bit of evergreen tube and rolled them in tissue with the water and glue. The tube held the shape and the tissue wrinkled just fine. I let it all dry over night, then trimmed and painted... You can barley see these in the photos. After hours of really cool swear words, I finally managed to get all the parts at one location, and to get them to get along with each other for a bit. In this photo you can see how all this fits together and is integrated with each other. I have a bit more dirtying up to do but it's looking grimy already. I also did something really dumb some time ago. When I was test fitting all this together, I flipped the frame over and realized that I had not painted the bottom side of the frame. I'll get to that presently. It will take some time while I get to the building of the other three corners, and get all this painted. I'll check back with some other corners built. Thanks Everyone for watching, Rich

Hey All, The Suspension System is in full build mode. I managed to replicate all the parts I needed for this part of the build. Parts have been painted and ready for assembly when,...I saw that the vehicle Braking System is fully integrated into the Suspension System. The parts for the Suspension System.... When I got ready to build this, I discovered that the housing for the brakes are integrated into the supports for the entire wheel assembly. So,....The first serious building in a looooooooooong time. The parts for the brakes, I sort of got into a zen mode and didn't take as many photos as I should. The four corner brake housings are very different from the mid brake housings. The brass fittings are from Scale Hardware. Eight new built brake housings........ Fresh back from the Paint Dept. I'll get these dirty and installed with rest of the Suspension System, then the Wheels are next. Thanks Everyone for watching, Rich

The shock mounts have been replicated and are ready for install. Cutting fresh parts, This is the first cuttings in a year and a half. The pieces... I'm using MasterClub resin bolts, a very good product. Fresh made shock mounts. The three old one in the back. And fresh back from the paint Dept... These represent the parts that had come off in the move. Once I get these installed I will be even with my postings, and starting anew with the Suspension System. I'll be back with the parts for this next step, (more parts than I remember). Thanks for watching, Rich

Thanks for the great comments guys!! It's good to be back. Hey All, Upon farther inspection this weekend, I found several places where I need to repair the build before I proceeded. I need to replace a small support triangle frame that has been broken off. You can see the back piece of the part still stuck to the frame. The next repairs will be a good place to start with cutting and building. These small pieces have a lot of small parts. In this photo you can see the top mounting for the shock absorbers on the top of the frame. I am missing one of four. I found three corners of supports. I don't know about the rest of you scratchers, but trying to replicate just one and get it to match the rest is not going to happen'. So I'll rebuild these four to match each other. Then I will be just where I left off, some time ago. I have all the parts to start with the suspension system, and soon it will be up on it's feet. Stay tuned. Thanks for watching, Rich

Hey All, So, "in a couple weeks" has turned into 6 months. I will be starting again slowly. Most everything has survived the move. The storage box for the Frog held up fine for a year and a half, despite being buried under a bunch of other boxes. I was a little afraid to open this at first. I haven't see this in a year and a half and did not remember the box being so thin. it looks like everything is in ok shape. Once I got things unwrapped, there was some small damage to the suspension system that will have to be taken care of before I start building anything new. I'll be back with some close ups of the damage and the start to the fix. And then off to the build, proper. Looks like this is where I need to start after I get thing sorted. I'll need to get everything squared away for this build, but it looks like this is about where I left off. I'll be back with a real update soon. Thanks everyone for watching. Rich

They get around, don't they?

Hey All, Frog romance is back! I'll be restarting this project in a couple weeks. Stay Tuned!

I go to my local big box store and have 'em mix up small sample jars of paint. Any color you can think of. I get a pint of paint for $2.50 American. Here where I by model paint a tiny, 17ml bottle of Mig is about $8.00 American. I have been doing this for years and the paint has not lifted off any of my models.

Many wheels and rust !!!! I just creamed my panties! More, more, more, please.

Hey Gus, I was just wondering about the Hobby Boss details on this kit. I have the very large Hobby Boss kit M1070 with the M1000 trailer. This is the only Hobby Boss kit that I have, and some of the details just drive me nuts. I was wondering if your kit is the same way. I have a really hard time with cheesy looking molded on piping and wiring, that needs removing to be replaced with brass rod and wire. I would like to get your kit but if it's like the M1070, a lot of extra work involved for me. Post some photos of the close up details sometime. Enquiring minds want to know.

OH!! Many tires! Very cool. I'm in.

Ummmm........Rust...nice one bender!

Nice to see a fellow scratcher with the itch. Good Job!

Looks good so far, Harv!

Nice looking work Rocket Man!

VERY COOL!!