UNIMOG Flat Bed by JUSTINART24

[justinart24]

Here is a Unimog build I finished in Jan 2019 but never posted a build thread until now. This truck is a custom frame I made out a 1/2" square steel tubing I bend and then split down the middle. It's running a Axial SCX10 transmission and RC4WD Yota axles. And yes, I am using leaf springs...lol, not super common on Unimogs but I went with it to not have to run shocks in the rear basically. I have always wanted to do a Unimog since I been watching fellow Chino63 on.

Like I said, I just used some .5" square tubing to make the chassis. I head up the tubing with a MMAP gas torch, I happen to use a BernzOmatic TS8000.



I then cut the chassis down with a 5" disc wheel on a grinder tool. After cutting it, it can be a bit uneven so I use a file to level it out.



This is probebly the hardest part about making your own chassis, make it even height all the way down. Just got to take your time and make the high spots with a Sharpie and file away.


The goal of the wheelbase was to make it as short as possible, I really like he look of the "work truck" look. The wheelbase ended up to be about 10.5 but would have really like to see it in the 9.5 range, yes weird I know but I kind of wanted it to have a bit of cartoon look to it.


For the axles, I used some RC4WD axles and some SWB(Short Wheel Base) leaf springs. These are a lot shorter then the standard Tamiya Hilux or TF2 springs.


With the short wheelbase, I tried to have the transmission sit as low as possible to not have drive-line issues.


For the Body, I am using the Tamiya 406 body more commonly seen on the CR01 and also the CC01 I think too.


These Tamiya bodies have a lot of great details for even being a bit of a older design.


I think the beds on these bodies are a bit odd, and was glad to chop it off to make a flat bed, more so because it fun to haul stuff around, right?

[justinart24]

For the transmission I am using an Axial SCX10 3 gear style transmission. The gearing is a bit high for the RC4WD axles but plan to run a 60t motor on 2S to help it crawl at a good scale speed.


The skid plate is just make out of some delrin type of material I got a local Taps Plastic store. I used a pencil and some tape to transfer the hole pattern.


Transferring the hole pattern to the skid and double checking trans placement with motor installed to check for clearance.



I will say, I went with out a drill press for a lot time, glad I recently got a new one, it's a lot less sketchy when drilling holes and more accurate too.



Counter sinking the trans mounting holes.

[justinart24]

Like most scale builds, one of the hardest things is mounting the body. For this build I made a structure that would stand off the frame with a few bolts and could be removed off the chassis if needed.


I knew I wanted to mount the body with two bolts on each side, here is a pic of the height measurement for the mounting plate.


With the vertical main structures in, I bolted them on to the frame. I put a hole on each side to allow for a 3/16" solid rod to fit through and tacked them in place with a MIG welder.


I got lucky on the clearance of the spur gear shaft...lol.



Here you can see the mapping out of the body mounts under the doors.


There is a totally of 4 bolts holding the body on, two on the front bumper and a bolt under each door.


For the front bumper I just used some .5" steel flat bar I had. Also, ground down a bit of the bumper to allow for clearance around the accessory output.

[Gula]

Sweet build! Always more fun to watch a rig get built from scratch!

[justinart24]

With those to larger vertical piece sticking off the chassis, I need to make some smaller brackets to capture and support the flat bed/rack.


These pieced just butted up against the vertical supports and were tack welded into place.


Here is a shot of marking the location of the flat bed, to ensure it was welded on straight.


A bit hard to see in the pic, but I made some mounting plates just under the door with 3mm threaded holes to mount the body.


Flat bed mounted and finished.


I was pretty happy with the height of the body, to ensure to not have a large gap between the tire and fender. That measurement really makes a big difference for the final look.


Tossed on some smaller tires to see how it looked with tiny tires, the flash points are pretty big at 4.19".


Fits one cow, goal complete...


With all of it tacked up, next step was to grind if all flush and get ready for paint.


The rear bumper is made out of some 1" plate I think, I also installed a scale hitch as well.

[justinart24]

Added a few small details on the rear bumper.



As you can see, Integy motors work great for mock up.


I really like the little side steps I put in, wow.... SORRCA slider points too....lol.


First flex shot, it's must.








Prepping for some paint work.


I painted the fenders black and the cab a Tamiya green, I can remember off hand which one it is.


The body is definitely too shinny, next step is to add some flat clear on the out side.

[justinart24]

I forgot to mention but I swapped in some RC4WD Mud Pluggers, these are some rad little tires, really helps pull off the Mog look.



Masked the windows off to add the Tamiya PS-55 Flat Clear.








Love the flat clear look, it has a more of a older used look.




For the interior I used a RC4WD Mojave kit and make it work.


I didn't do much detailing, I will have to go back and add some more later.


First shot of the sheet metal plate I put in on the rack behind the cab.

[justinart24]

Last shot of the metal work before paint, crazy to think how many tiny pieced you have to make for something like this.



Installed an old trusty AX10 servo mount on the chassis for CMS.


Add some tabs on the front bumper for some shackles and installed a fairlead.




Picked up this Gearhead pallet, I will have to make some fun loads in the future.


For the floor of the flat bed I used some scale diamond plate.


Body details added, grill, mirrors, snorkel and etc.


Better shot of the fun step sides.


A pic of before I glued down the floor, I used some clamps to make sure it was flat against the bed structure.

[justinart24]

Here are some pics of the truck pretty much fully assembled.


Added some Krawler Konceptz plates as well.


I don't have a winch on this truck but added a fake winch line and hook.


Better shot of the two body mounting bolts on the bumper.


For the side panels under the bed, I cut out some section of the Tamiya Unimog bed and tried to make it work.

[justinart24]

Here are some pics of the truck on its first outing on Jan 27th 2019, I will be updating this build thread soon, keep an eye out.

[MAC FAB]

Great job, built not bought.

[justinart24]

Originally Posted by MAC FAB

Great job, built not bought.

Thanks, it was fun to build, been itching to do some more metal work here soon

[justinart24]

I guess it's been four years already, but I made this video slideshow to show the original build.

[justinart24]

I got some diff bearings and Beef Tubes SCX10.2 leaf spring mounts. Time to mount the axles and see which transmission I am going to put in it.

[justinart24]

Here are the Beeftubes AR44 Leaf Spring Perches mounted on the Beeftubes narrowed AR44 axles.... along with RC4WD AR44 portals. I was previously running RC4WD TF2 axles but mostly switched to Axial axles to match the Axial transmission gearing and to switch to portals as well.
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AR44 LEAF SPRING PERCHES
https://www.beeftubes.com/store/p455...G_PERCHES.html
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AR44 BEEF TUBES - BRASS - NARROWED
https://www.beeftubes.com/store/p163..._NARROWED.html
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RC4WD AR44 Portals: # Z-S1943

[justinart24]

I installed my new Krawler Konceptz "Leaf Trk" license plates, thought the green was a great touch. Thanks Krawler Konceptz! Blake their son even signed the back of it for me.

[justinart24]

New Axial AR44 axles are installed, I was running RC4WD TF2 axles before. I was afraid that the tire/fender gap would be increased by a lot but looking at it now it's reasonable. I am sure it will go down a bit more after the transmission and electronics are installed. The track width actually narrowed up a bit with these narrowed Beeftubes axle versions, which is great because the portals added some width as well.

[OSRC]

That's a great looking truck - wheels and tires look perfect on there.

[Szczerba]

Nice detailed work as usual.

Where did you get the small square tubing for the bed frame?

[justinart24]

Originally Posted by OSRC

That's a great looking truck - wheels and tires look perfect on there.

Thanks! I agree, was happy the tire size worked well too.

Originally Posted by Szczerba

Nice detailed work as usual.

Where did you get the small square tubing for the bed frame?

Thanks bud! I am not sure where I got the SQ rod, I think a metal supply place or home store... I can't remember sorry.