Kamaz Inspired Dakar Build - The Tekin K55

[gbean]

I like where this is going....

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[Ty@Tekin]

Couple more parts off the printer and ready for lots of sanding and filing.

Starting on the cab, got the front nose piece and one door printed out. Sanding and filing like crazy on this one.



Half of the cab floor, still lots of work to do.



These are the section just behind the cab and in front of the rear box.

[Ty@Tekin]

Progress report: 01, May 15:00hrs.

Lots happening on the K-55! Prints are coming off nice and sanding and cleaning up parts is going pretty well. The cab is a monster and has a lot of parts that so far are coming together extremely well.

Here's a few pieces laid out:



The doors printed out and definitely needed hand work to smooth them over. The "finished" door and door frame look pretty dang good. I'll finish up the final sanding and smoothing before painting. The big vent shroud came out pretty nice as well and it will have stainless mesh in the opening.





There are brackets on the insides of the cab sides to attach them to the roof and the floor. Going to glue them in place along with the screws so it should be pretty solid.





Now the cab is actually taking shape! We went for it on this truck and the doors open and there is most of a roll cage inside. There will be 3 seats and lots of detail on the dashboard area. Still a long ways to go but this week has been pretty productive!

[Ty@Tekin]

Update time! Still cranking parts on the printer just about all day every day. Lots of finish work to go, but cleanup of the parts hasn't been too bad. I just REALLY want to get to painting this thing but that is still weeks away. The headlight shroud pieces came out nice and are cleaning up fairly easy. Fits an Axial barrel light bucket perfectly.



Mounting up the RC4WD ZXL tires on 2.2 Vanquish Method MR301 wheels and using the biggest Incision hub to get the track width out to 260mm. Not ideal, but it'll have to do!



Also whipped up a carrier and a mid-shaft for the driveline. Since we stretched the wheelbase out almost 50mm longer than the previous truck, the even modified shafts weren't going to be long enough. Used an Axial transfer case output shaft, two bearings and a custom cross member bracket and it's perfect!



Cab sitting on the mounts. I can't wait to hook it to the hinge!



Racing seats, deciding on what color to paint them.



Interior is coming along, still got lots to do on the dash with all the screens, switch panels and steering column that need to go in.



First big truss off the printer today, this holds the rear of the cab and the front section of the side skirts and rear fender flares. From here back is all truss pieces and bracing to build the box skeleton.



Love this wheel and tire combo!



Still need to get the second set of Kings but everything clears (just barely) and cycles nicely! Swaybars will go in soon.



The door latches are functional and twist to secure the doors. They turned out pretty nice and work well, very happy with them!




More to come next, the rear box should start taking shape pretty quickly. Then it'll be time for all the wiring, painting, graphics and whatever else needs to be done!

[durok]

SO bad-ass, as per usual!

Excellent work, Ty!

Orange seats maybe, to match your Tekin RX4 ESC logo?

Would look good in combo with the blue King shocks, IMHO...

[Ty@Tekin]

Originally Posted by durok

SO bad-ass, as per usual!

Excellent work, Ty!

Orange seats maybe, to match your Tekin RX4 ESC logo?

Would look good in combo with the blue King shocks, IMHO...

Thanks!

I'm thinking the interior will be some sort of dark grey, the roll cage a yellow color close to the Tekin logo on the wrap and leave the seats black with some yellow accents. Not sure yet, still a ways out on painting anything and need the graphics done first to match some paints.

[Ty@Tekin]

The roof took almost 24hrs to print, slowed the speed down a bit to get a clean part. It turned out decent, a bit warped and took some massaging with the oven and a heat gun but I got it to an acceptable state.





I also went ahead and attached the cab to the hinge to see how the clearance would be. Folds forward like it should and gets me access to the front shocks.



Lastly started working the back section of the fender flares over. Just need a bit more work and the truss they mount to off the printer!



Here's a comparison with the M55 we built last year. The K55 is about 35mm wider overall and 20mm wider track width. Can't wait to have them both out smashing sand dunes this summer!

[VP Dan]

great work cant wait to see it all done

[Ty@Tekin]

This week has been great progress! The printer is dialed in and parts are coming off extremely clean and straight which makes my life a million times easier with less filing and sanding. The start of the box behind the cab consists of a bunch of structural parts (26 to be exact) and 6 outer panels. It holds up the front of the box and there will be some top beams running to the back of the box for the roof and sides.

This is the front main rib of the box structure.



It mounts to a lower truss that spans the frame and has these two angled hanger brackets holding it up. These angled brackets will also hold the main top beams spanning the box distance to the back of the truck.



Top body panel section and the rear half of the big air vent on the side of the cab.



Support bracing for the top body panels.





The lower skirts also have a mesh panel, mount to the lower section of the fender flare and hold some of the cab weight in closed position.









Big steps towards the goal this week, hoping to have the rear box section built so I can start working on the panels!

[durok]

So... Ty -

When are ya gonna build a full-size race rig?

Looks like your conceptualizing and engineering might just scale up to 1:1 real good, man...

[Ty@Tekin]

Originally Posted by durok

So... Ty -

When are ya gonna build a full-size race rig?

Looks like your conceptualizing and engineering might just scale up to 1:1 real good, man...

I definitely can't take all the design credit, our lead product designer is the man behind the machine drawing all this stuff. We conceptualize parts and sketch rough drafts together and he knocks them out in Solidworks and gives me the gcodes for the printer and keeping that machine running smooth is on me. It works really well because he can draft parts a lot faster than I can and I do most of the post-print finishing and all assembly work. If I was drawing all this stuff I'd still be working on the first 6x6 project we did back in 2016-17

[Ty@Tekin]

More progress to report! Most of the big print jobs are now finished, so I'm working on getting perfect fitment of all the parts which requires a lot of sanding, filing and test fitting. This truck has been apart and back together a bunch of times already.

The front and rear VP Currie Antirock sways are in. The front bar I narrowed and the cab truss had to be modified so the arm would clear during suspension compression.



The rear sway I left full Bomber width.



The lower skirt frames came out nice and tie the whole lower section of the truck together all the way back to the rear fender flare.





Truss that holds the rear of the lower skirt frames.



Then we started in on the rear section of the box, the spare tire carriers and the box caps. Also got that rear duckbill piece finished up and mocked in.









Finally a full side profile to stare at and it really puts in perspective the size of the truck. Next up will be an electronics box for the rear area and then it's on to the side door frames. Both sides of this truck will open up completely, so access to everything will be really nice. Now back to sanding as many parts as I can tolerate, I'm starting to get excited about painting this beast!

[Ty@Tekin]

Another week, another progress report!

I started in on all the lighting and worked on getting all the LED strands lengthened. I want the wiring to be cleaner on this truck so everything will be tucked away pretty nicely when it's going back together after paint.



Got the rear cargo area finished up and the floor is in, underneath all that wiring. This is where the fuel cell electronics box will sit.



The box sides are all assembled and installed.



Oh and both sides open for complete access to everything inside.



Last part for the week was the AC unit up on the roof.



Hope to start cutting panels and painting next week!

[4wd4ws]

Man, such a cool build! Love it.

[Ty@Tekin]

Printer was down this week, totally my fault. A tiny little thermistor can really halt an operation but we should be back up and running on Monday. I had lots to work on anyways that didn't require the printer so I dove into cutting the lexan panels.



I also cut out the stainless steel mesh for the side vents and front bumper.







There are 10 different panel pieces including the front windshield which I haven't test fit yet.



There are two latches on each side door and one in the rear door to secure them shut.



I still need to make some struts or something to hold the doors up when open.



The rear door is latched and hinged as well and inside there will be some sand ladders and the "fuel cell" that will enclose all the light wiring and switches. I also drilled all 8 tail light holes and installed the Axial buckets and started punching holes for the amber marker lights that will be on the sides.





Everything opens like some kind of Transformer!



And just to put the size in perspective, here's the K-55 next to my VS4-10.





Hopefully (fingers crossed) printing goes well next week and we finish up the last couple jobs. Once those are done and test fit, I am tearing this truck down for paint and then the reassembly and wiring can begin!

[crashlot2]

very cool truck

[themountain]

Wow..what an incredible job so far!

[4wd4ws]

Kit worthy!













(Do a DAF.)

[Ty@Tekin]

Update for the week; painting has begun! Here's a little teaser for now until the wrap is on. Next week I hope to knock out the interior, paint the chassis and start reassembling for the final time.

[Ty@Tekin]

Originally Posted by crashlot2

very cool truck

Thanks!

Originally Posted by themountain

Wow..what an incredible job so far!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by 4wd4ws

Kit worthy!
(Do a DAF.)

I'd love to but the files for these will never be released for many reasons. I hope to be able to offer the parts someday though.