CrankyCrafstman

Hey all Here are the pictures. here is the Kenworth W925 frame. Tires are just there for pictures there not attached yet. The grey tank between the pogo stick and the fifth wheel is the hydraulic fluid tank for operating the dump trailers. this is the Peterbilt 359 frame, the tires are just there for pictures. this frame has working front steer axle. this view shows a comparison between the two frames. That's it for now be back with more soon. Ron G

Hey all Small update not much to speak of. I have the frame for the Kenworth W-925 pretty much done. I just have to add a few bits and bobs to it then it will be ready for paint. Have the frame for the heavy haul Peterbilt 359 pretty much put together also. That's it for now be back with more soon. I'll post pictures tomorrow. Ron G

Hey Ernie Actually I'm planning on making covers for the gravel train loads. The Kenworth is going to be OOB except for detailing and painting, cause thats the way they are up here in Michigan, actually most of them are day cabs now. The heavy haul for the drop nose lowboy is stretched to I think it's 310', don't remember right now I'll have to check, it's going to have 4 axles with air lift on the axle in front of the drives with 455 super singles. Front axle will have 425 floats and lots of chicken lights. It's got a nttc-475 twin turbo Cummins. Something like this. got this photo off of the interweb. It's going to be made out of this. and here is the big 475! So does that fill your bill or what...lol Ron G

Hey guys Just a crude picture of the gravel trains approximate length.

Hey all Just a small update. I'm doing some work on the CAT D8H's tracks. The new 3D printed tracks are a little taller than the kit parts, so the track frame lower slide guides where to high. I cut off the kit ones and added a 1/8" spacer, then I reattached them. I made a new rear slide around the drive sprocket. Here are some pictures. this is how they looked before I changed them. this view shows how I made changes to them. I still have to add the bolt detail back on. Thats it for now be back with more soon. Ron G

Will do Jeff I have two CAD models I'm working on. One is a Loadking three axle with flip up rear axle and a 24' well. The other one is a 4 axle with flip up rear, but haven't decided on how long the well will be. Ron G

Yeah Bir But I still have a bulldozer to finish, a Pete 4 axle heavy haul and a custom built from scratch drop nose lowboy to build. Ron G

Hey all Just another small update. Got a little more done on the dolly. Started on the wheels/tires, just a start, still need work. Here are some pictures. this view shows the front trailer hitched to the dolly. side view of the dolly and wheels/tires. These tires are extras I had left over from previous builds. One has different tread, which is just like the real thing. top view of the dolly showing the fifth wheel. view looking aft of the dolly with the pintle pin in place. Wheels still need work I have to add a spacer to them because they are too close to the suspension system. Ron G

Hey all Small update, I've got the double dolly just about done. And I made a figure to display next to the gravel train tractor. Here are some pictures. this view shows the top of the dolly. This is made from the two dolly's from the tandem trailer kit. this is the bottom view of the dolly. this is the figure I made for the gravel trains W925 tractor. I'm going to pose him as though he is climbing up into the cab. this figure comes from the Airfix 1/24 scale Mosquito kit. I ground off the officers hat he had and made a ball cap for him. I modified his shoes into cowboy boots and moved his left hand so he can grab onto the hand rail to get into the truck. I need to add some high lites and weathering to him. this is the color scheme I'm going for for the truck and trailers. Ron G

Yeah Ernie She's goin to be a beauty pulling those two gravel trailers flying down I-75 throughin dirt everywhere...lol. Hey Jeff Yupp, I ordered a set of rear drives for both the Pete 359 and the Kenworth W925 also a set of front floats for the W925, just waiting for him to ship them. Ron G

That looks absolutely amazing Axeman. Ron G

Hey all Well here I go again. Another build thread. Since all my plane builds are on hold waiting for items coming from many different parts of the world, and all held up due to Covid. I decided to start something that has been kicking around in my head for quite some time. I'm going to be doing a Michigan gravel train in 1/25 scale. I'm using the AMT Kenworth W-925 kit, the AMT tri-axle gravel trailer kit (two of these) and a AMT 1/25 Tandem Van Trailers Double Header kit. The tandom trailer kit is mostly for parts to build the gravel trains dolly. Here are some pictures. this is the tractor I'm using. these are the trailers, I have two of these, the front will be mostly OOB with some detailing, all the plumbing and working hydraulic cylinder. The rear has to be shortened by 4 spaces and will be treated to the same treatment as the front. this is only for parts. I need the dolly parts and two of the axles and suspension systems to convert the single axle dolly into a dual axle one with all the plumbing. Well here's where I'm at with the front gravel dump trailer so far. on the left is the main air line with glad hand, blue, next is the electrical cable with 7 pin end connector, green, next is the main hydraulic fluid feed line with quick connects, black, and last is the emergency air line with glad hand, red. this view shows from the left the main air glad hand, blue, next is the electrical connector, this is scratch built from plastic and 2 small bolts, next is the hydraulic quick connect made from some small pipe fittings that came out of the parts box and last is the emergency air glad hand, red. this is another view of the trailer connections. this view shows the frame mostly together. On top is the kits hydraulic cylinder. You either have to put it in, dump up or leave it out, dump down. The bottom cylinder I scratch built from plastic and aluminum tubing so that it will actually work. this view shows the cylinder in the down, or the retracted position. this view shows the cylinder in the up, or extended position. this view shows the kit part and the one I made extended. this view shows the kit cylinder and mine in the retracted position. This cylinder didn't come out the way I hoped it would. It's a little too big, because I used plastic tubing. I think I'm going to try and redo it using just aluminum tubing, that way it will be the correct diameter. Well that's it for now be back soon with more. Ron G

Hey Jeff Still haven't heard from Moluminum on the tires, I hope he answers soon i would really like to get some of his tires for the Mich. Gravel train. Speaking of that I'm starting a build thread on the Michigan gravel train so I can show my progress on it. You only have one spare parts box, jeese I have maannnyy...lol Ron G

Hey all I guess I went a little crazy on these 1/25 truck models, but I sure am enjoying working on them. It brings back memories of when I drove the big rigs. So this is what I got. 1/25 AMT Kenworth w925, Amt tri-axle gravel trailer (2) and AMT tandem van double trailers kits. My plans are to make all of this into a Michigan gravel train! I have to shorten one of the dumps to 24' and I'm using the tandem van kit for making the dual axle dolly. This beast is going to have 11 axles and 42 tires/wheels. Here are some pictures. this will be the tractor for the gravel train. Mostly out of box, but with some detail stuff to set it off. I have to add a hydraulic oil tank (supplied from the tri-axle kit) for the two trailers hydraulic cylinders, which I'm going to make work. these are the dump trailers I'm using for the gravel train. I belive they are 30' long but I'm not sure, have to check on that. I'm adding all the air, electric and hydraulic lines to these. this is mostly going to be used for parts. The wheels are different than the gravel trailer kits, there close but different. I may have to try and locate a set of 8 wheels and tires from the gravel trailer kit. I don't want to but it may have to be done to make the whole thing look right. I guess I'm going to have to do a build thread on this too...lol Here's what I have done so far. blue hose-main air line, green wire is the 7 pin electrical connection, black hose-hydraulic feed line and red hose-emergency air line. The glad hands came from A.I.T.M. along withe the blue, green and red lines. The black hose is from another kit and the hydraulic fittings are misc. Items I had on hand the electrical connection on the trailer is scratch built from plastic and brass tubing. this view shows the 4 different connectors. close up view, it's a bit fussy but you get the idea. Well back to work. I still have the AMT Caterpillar d8h on the bench and I started on the frame for the 4 axle Peterbilt 359 that will pull the dozer on my custom tri-axle lowboy trailer. This will have 425 floats from Moebius super single kit on the front and I'm also using two of the rear super singles for the front drive lift axle. That's it for now be back with more soon. Ron G

Happy birthday Martin!

Hey all Small update, just pictures. here's a view with the other sides tracks on. same thing different view. same different view. view from the top. view looking aft at the blade. Thats it for now be back soon with more. Ron G

Hey all I'm back, the 3D printed tracks showed up today. They are really nice, I wish I could have gotten them in the high resolution resin, but that would have made them $230.00 bucks! So I got them in the standard versatile white plastic. When you get up close and look at them you can see the roughness, but with the right paint, rust and weathering they should do the trick. They were printed as an assembly that is supposed to work, but because I got them in the white plastic instead of the resin, they are stuck together. I have tried twisting them tobfree them up, but some of the pins broke. I think if I soak them in some Isopropyl alcohol they might free up, we'll see. Here are some pictures. these look so much better than the kit parts. Also way more realistic. the whole side view. full side view of the track system. ok, here are the new tracks on the left and the kit parts on the right. view of the other side of the tracks. side view of the kit parts. side view of the new tracks. more of a detail view and you can see the roughness of the printing process on the cheaper white plastic. I outlined them with a pencil so you could see the detail. Ron G

My condolences Ernie.

Happy birthday wolf.

Hey all I did some work on the two trailers. I started to fix some of the errors in them, wheels not spaced apart properly, wrong wheels, some of the axles were wrong, etc. The files are coming along fairly well, but still need work before I'm anywhere near printing them. I wanted to post some pictures but because my wife is hocked up remotely it's very difficult to get screen shots. Ron G

Hey Danny I'm not sure. I haven't driven a semi in over 40 years. It's mainly because I want the air ride suspension on the model I'm making. Most all of the videos of lowboy trailers you see on YouTube have air ride so I'm going by those for my project. Also the 3 axle trailer is more closely proportioned to the drawing I did. It's a model of a LoadKing lowboy. It has all of the outriggers and "D" rings, that the other model doesn't have. Regular leave springs where the first type of suspension systems for lowboys and they are still the basic setup on a base trailer. Air is optional. Ron G

Hey all Ok I finally got the 3 axle drop nose lowboy trailer into Unigraphics...Hoorah! Also my son found another one that is a 4 axle with flip up rear axle, it's kinda short the bed is only about 14' 0" to short to haul much, but the drop nose part is way more detailed than the three axle one. So now my thinking is can I combine the drop nose from the 4 axle with the rest if the 3 axle trailer, it has air suspension, and the other one is standard duty suspension leave springs. So it's a modeling I go, CAD modeling that is...lol I'll try to post some screen shots tomorrow if everything goes all right. Ron G

Hey Axeman Yeah, I don't show my wife the stuff I build or modify, because she just goes off on how much money I've spent and I have to run away back to my modeling cave. Ron G

Hey Axeman Great build! I've been using this to help on my 1/25 AMT Caterpillar D8H and it sure has helped. Thanks Ron G