Taken the plunge - modern image 00 gauge Transit van RC conversion

[Giles]

It all looks great! You may need to add a bush to your worm shaft to stop it from winding itself forwards or backwards, and disengaging, though. (Unless you have already, and I'm not quite understanding what I'm seeing- which is very possible!! )

[otherplanet]

So I've now worked out the technique for glueing the brass pieces to the aluminium pieces - not before accidentally glueing one of the gears to the shaft in the wrong place though!!

 

If you put a dollop of superglue onto a surface it wont stick to (like a little plastic bag), and scrape it up with the head of a pin, you can use the pin to transfer tiny drops of superglue to the exact area you want it. I've successfully used this technique to glue everything in place, but I'm going to have to make a spacer or something to stop the axle moving and the gears disengaging, because I've glued the cog to the axle on the wrong place. It also means the rear wheels are going to stick out a tiny bit. Very annoying at the time, but I suppose no-one will notice really.

 

I also slipped with the Dremel whilst removing material from the wheel arches, and cut one of them off! Actually not a disaster, because I can trim them and glue what's left to the cab, leaving space inside them for full articulation of the steering front wheels.

 

I'll glue the motor in place tonight, but not with much glue as I'm not sure the ratio is correct so I might want to change the size of the gear on the end of it - which would mean removing the motor and re-mounting it in a different place.

 

Getting everything lined up was more luck than anything else - neither of the axles are horizontal, and the prop is on a bit of an angle as well. It seems to be balanced well enough though, all six wheels are touching the ground anyway. May need a touch of weight over the front end to ensure the steering works properly. I do hope it works. Radio gear should arrive in a few days time, so I guess I'll find out then!

 

looking good.

If its not too late, and you haven't bonded any other temperature sensitive components to the axle. you can usually free up superglue by application of heat.

immersion in boiling water will soften it. application of a soldering iron will vapourise it.

BUT only in extremely well ventilated conditions, you dont want to breath those fumes in.

[Pikey]

Unfortunately I've glued the plastic wheels on now, I think they would probably melt before the glue did - but that's a useful tip for the future

 

Giles - you're correct, the photo doesnt show it glued in the final position.

 

The bearings/spacers have now been positioned to prevent the shaft moving forwards or backwards.

Edited July 18, 2017 by Pikey

[Pikey]

Well, I'm sad to say, it didnt work

 

I tacked the motor onto the chassis and it drives the propshaft gear very nicely - unfortunately nothing else seemed to work. I must have slightly bent the end of the prop, and the motor isnt strong enough to drive it through the hard bit where the worm is pressing down on the rear axle gear. That, and the fact that I cant seem to glue the front axle gear to the axle so it just sits there spinning and not driving the front wheels.

 

So, thats the mk1 out of the window. I will use one of the motor + gearbox units I bought for the other trucks, and have the rear axle floating. I've cut the wheels off so I'll have to drill the axles out and fit new ones. Dad will just have to drive it around the goods yard rather than up and down the bumpy lane. A shame.

 

I'll do some more work on it tonight, hope to get the servo fitted to the bed of the lorry and connected to the steering.

[Robin2]

Well, I'm sad to say, it didnt work

Sorry to hear that - it was looking lovely.

 

It's hard to know what's practical at the size you are working but I wonder if you could make up an etched brass "bogie" that supports the two axles and the transmission. The bogey could then be attached to the truck chassis. It should have the advantage that all the working bits could be tested separately from the chassis.

 

...R

Edited July 26, 2017 by Robin2

[Pikey]

Yes, thats a good idea. At the moment everything is hand-made with a Dremel and a file, and its virtually impossible to get everything straight and aligned properly. Its a minor miracle it drove half an inch forwards before it broke tbh

Edited July 26, 2017 by Pikey

[Pikey]

The mk2:

 

 

Tested and working

 

So that's a standard motor, gearbox with a 1:48 gear ratio and 1mm axle (same as I used on the Transit), which I installed into the front axle bearings by first cutting a slot in them, putting the axle through, then slipping on a 3mm bearing and a 2mm sleeve on each side, then gluing the wheels on. The motor is held in place with an elastic band for now - although it is a pretty much perfect solution. The rear axle is just the wheels pushed onto a 2mm axle, with a 3mm spacer glued on in the middle, which allows a little bit of movement but not much. The result is the weight is taken on the front wheels, allowing them to drive the truck, and the rear wheels sort of 'float'. It worked very well when I tested it.

 

The servo has been glued onto the bed of the truck, over a slotted hole and a corresponding hole drilled in the chassis. I just need to make the steering link, which I think I can make from some piano wire - none of the standard plastic bits are long enough, and 1mm brass rod is too big.

 

The red and black wires from the motor have been glued down into a slot in the chassis, which will allow them to run into the cab, where the RX will live.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Pikey

[Enterprisingwestern]

Lateral thinking time.

Would it be any easier to treat the vehicle like a railway wagon kit and mount the mechanism solidly to the underside of the load bed, then cut the chassis rails in half longitudinally and fit on either side? That way you have got a solid base to work from.

 

Mike.

[Robin2]

 

Tested and working

Great. There's a lot to be said for simplicity

 

...R

[Pikey]

So here's a little video of it running, on my kitchen worktop  

 

https://youtu.be/VE57HieXZ0s

 

I was impatient, and have glued the cab down without attending to all the lights I was going to add. Still got some cosmetic work to do in covering the battery and servo up with a tarp or something, and adding some coal in the back. Also could do with touching up the wheel arches a bit with a tiny bit of black paint. But its nearly there

[ColinK]

Nice. Sandwiches look tasty too

[Pikey]

And here it is driving down the lane into the goods yard on my Dad's layout 'Grampton':

 

https://youtu.be/zWdAlrhFEwo

 

The layout is work in progress, and the area in front of the goods shed is currently bare so my niece and nephew can play around with the cars and lorries without any danger of ruining any actual scenery. The lane, as expected, was too bumpy to fully drive down - but I think could be smoothed out a little and it would work. Dad said he wasnt expecting to have anything actually drive down there when they built it

 

On to the next

[BG John]

It's got good brakes .

[Pikey]

Ok, so I've left the AEC with dad, he's going to buy a transmitter and a battery charger, and add some coal to finish the model off.

 

Next model up is this Scania 94D curtainsider, in Eddie Stobart livery:

 

 

Dis-assemble into component parts:

 

 

I havent been taking photos along the way, but the install of the motor has been fairly straightforward. The rear axles were on a separate plastic frame which bolts to the chassis, so I chopped the rear one off and retained the front one, which is bolted back in. I then removed a load of metal to allow the motor/gearbox to fit. The wheels have their centre bore enlarged to 2mm, and corresponding 2mm OD brass sleeves superglued in. I have made two more 2mm OD sleeves to act as bearings, which slip over the axle and are glued to the chassis, then the wheels are glued on. The motor is installed vertically and then cranked over forwards, and is glued to the chassis there. I had to make a hole in the plastic base of the back of the lorry too, but thats no problem as it will all be covered by the big green box in the finished model:

 

 

 

I've also machined away loads of the casting of the metal under the cab, as most of this is not required and I need to get back to a flat surface on which to mount the steering axle. I'll take photos of this later. The servo is going to go in the cab this time, as the cab is huge and has plenty of space for it. I'm going to mount the steering rack backwards (so the steering rack is in front of the axle rather than behind it), as there's more room in the cab for the servo in front of the axle - I just hope the Ackerman effect isnt too significant else it could steer a bit funny.

Edited August 2, 2017 by Pikey

[Pikey]

It runs!

 

Runs really well too - I think the weight helps, it slows down the response time of the motor so you actually get a bit of acceleration up to the speed you want, rather than instant speed change. Makes it feel more realistic, but in all honesty probably doesnt affect how it looks. The reverse steering effect isnt really noticeable, and I've reduced the throw of the steering (in the menu settings of the transmitter) to avoid the worst effects at full lock. The servo is located really close to the steering arm, and this gives the steering a lovely slow feel, as if it was a large number of turns lock-to-lock, just like a lorry would be.

 

There's just enough room for the servo in the cab, but because of the way you put the cab on (angled forwards, into the clip behind the front bumper, then tilt it back vertical and put in the screw at the back), the interior detail piece with the seats and the dashboard etc cant go back in as it wont clear the servo. I might paint the servo black and stick the steering wheel to it, for a little bit of extra detail.

 

The wiring is just curled up and taped down for the moment, but there's more work to do to install the lights so this is just temporary. It'll be a full spaghetti-fest by the time I'm finished. I've also got options for the ballast weight of the battery, as this can go towards the front or towards the rear of the lorry, but in all honesty the diecast chassis weighs so much that even with a battery 7 times the size of the Transit van battery, the weight is insignificant.

 

 

 

Here's a quick tabletop video of it running:

 

https://youtu.be/BBmIOgB2qLQ

 

Edited August 3, 2017 by Pikey

[Enterprisingwestern]

Looking good.

Could you get a linear servo under the tractor unit to operate the steering through a right angled crank to free up the cab.

 

Mike.

[Pikey]

Probably, but to be honest I'm not that bothered by the interior cab detail.

 

Here's a photo of the finished model, prior to starting the work on the lights:

 

Edited August 4, 2017 by Pikey

[Pikey]

I've actually just noticed in that picture - presumably because of the heat created by grinding away the metal behind the wheel arches, the red paint has tarnished to give quite a good weathered effect! I might have to weather the rest of the lorry to match. However, going by the condition of all of the other Eddie Stobart lorries I've seen on the roads, they tend to be very well presented so I guess only a light weathering to show some temporary road grime before it gets its next wash.

 

I have painted the top of the servo black and stuck on the steering wheel - it looks ok, bit of a token effort  

 

My LEDs have arrived from Express Models this morning, so I'm looking forward to getting some lights wired up tonight. I had to order bigger LEDs, as the ones I ordered from Germany were so small they just looked completely unmanageable. Here's a photo:

 

 

[Pikey]

I'm having real trouble sticking the LEDs to the cab, superglue seems to be taking an age to set, and because of the long wires on the end of the LEDs they easily wobble around.

[Robin2]

Blob of hot glue?

 

Or good old contact adhesive?

 

...R

[Pikey]

Ok, so after leaving the LEDs to set overnight (so that took four days for four LEDs!) I now have the lights installed in the cab. Wiring everything up with the supplied resistors (10 ohm, supposedly for 3.7V), got the headlights working but nothing else. The indicators were making a sort of strobe type flash, rather than the deliberate on - off you would expect. I got too far down the line of wiring everything up before I realised this was some kind of protection built in to the RX, stopping that particular output from drawing too much current. So I picked everything apart again and added a 560 ohm resistor to the indicator LED and its now working fine.

 

Just have to re-solder everything, and work out how/where to mount the LEDs at the rear of the truck, and we should be finished very soon  

[Robin2]

 before I realised this was some kind of protection built in to the RX, stopping that particular output from drawing too much current.

I don't think there is any protection built in. I suspect you were lucky not to damage the Deltang unit. Drawing too much current can cause the MCU to reset - which would give the flashing effect you noted.

 

...R

[Pikey]

Here's it all wired up, luckily there's tonnes of space inside the back:

 

 

Headlights on:

 

 

Rear lights on:

 

 

I'll do a little video of it at some point, showing the indicators, reversing light etc - I was going to do that this afternoon but the batteries ran out in my transmitter! 

[Pikey]

[Pikey]

Early morning delivery:

 

 

I have taken apart the original Transit, and the new one is being eyed up with a linear servo. Because of the short length the motor cant go horizontally, and because of the tiny wheels it cant go diagonally either - so it'll have to go vertically - I think it will just about fit. I will cut out the plastic dashboard and steering wheel and glue them to the top of the servo for a bit of visual detail inside the windscreen. Should get that going this coming week. I need to order more parts for the flatbed lorry, so that will have to wait a little longer.