Don't you know I'm Loco?

[imthatguy]

Originally Posted by Ricochet

Ok I thought with having the axles connected the 2nd axle effected the 3rd when articulating.

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Nope. That's what the inks are for!

[Peaker]

I am leaning towards "IVAN" crazy, maybe for daily driver if the lotto gods would let me.

[common rock crawler]

Any updates on the build?

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[imthatguy]

Small update. I realized after much failure that trying to use the existing hard top modified to fit was never going to work right, so I scratch built my own. I'm much happier with the results.




You can see how the faux boiler is going to come together too. It's all very exciting for me, as this darn top was giving me a hard time.

[imthatguy]

Continued progress. I started working on the strapping and rivet counting in preparation for riveting. Also smoothed out the corner in the rear and redid the curve on the rear wheel wells to better match the real truck. Or train. Or whatever this thing is.

[chino63]

Glad to see you progressing on this. Quite the project but we all know you're more than capable of completing this awesome rig. Expecting to see puffs of steam and the sound of geared down chugging through the trees at AF.

[BigSki]

I was at the Cabin Fever Expo last Saturday and saw this- it reminded me of your build so I clicked off a few pics.





More motivation- a functional steam powered machine shop. Each piece of equipment is fully functional !

[chino63]

Originally Posted by BigSki

I was at the Cabin Fever Expo last Saturday and saw this- it reminded me of your build so I clicked off a few pics.





More motivation- a functional steam powered machine shop. Each piece of equipment is fully functional !

Dang.... so awesome. It takes me forever to make parts. Can't imagine how long it would take with a miniature setup. But I'd bee willing to try.

[imthatguy]

Originally Posted by chino63

Glad to see you progressing on this. Quite the project but we all know you're more than capable of completing this awesome rig. Expecting to see puffs of steam and the sound of geared down chugging through the trees at AF.

Thanks very much for the kind words Dean, I'm really hoping it lives up to all this effort and actually works as I expect! Steam is quite fiddly...

Originally Posted by BigSki

I was at the Cabin Fever Expo last Saturday and saw this- it reminded me of your build so I clicked off a few pics.

More motivation- a functional steam powered machine shop. Each piece of equipment is fully functional !

Those are awesome photos, thanks for sharing the inspiration! Too bad I don't have that machine shop setup, I'd be done by now!

Rear inner fenders are done, and hide things nicely.

[imthatguy]

How's this for an update?




Building out that curve was very fun. I'm nearing the stretch where I need to start adding the rivets. Of which there will be many.

[Ricochet]

Looks good. Did you just bend it over the curved front and rear parts or is there some more support structure in there ?

[imthatguy]

Originally Posted by Ricochet

Looks good. Did you just bend it over the curved front and rear parts or is there some more support structure in there ?

There's many bracing ribs inside, yes. I'd be a terrible builder if I left it just attached on the ends.

[Mike Flea]

There are a couple different options for making rivets, depending on how detailed you want to be. Some modelers use superglue, with a fine needle point to put evenly spaced drops on the plastic, others snip the heads off of pins and glue them into place. The pin heads look more realistic, but you'll drive yourself nuts getting them on there.

If you're basing your model on the 10 foot rule, go with the superglue method, you'll stay saner.

[mikemcE]

You can also buy “rivets” Made from resin, model armor and railroaders use them pre made O scale are close
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop...s/Default.aspx

That said I can’t believe no one is 3D printing them, easy to rescale and attach

Hang up and Drive

[ruinx]

I'm digging this build how is it coming along so far?

[imthatguy]

Originally Posted by littledoins

Thats really cool! Make a video of it when its heading down the trail, we love to see. Great job

You can bank on that happening.

Originally Posted by Mike Flea

There are a couple different options for making rivets, depending on how detailed you want to be. Some modelers use superglue, with a fine needle point to put evenly spaced drops on the plastic, others snip the heads off of pins and glue them into place. The pin heads look more realistic, but you'll drive yourself nuts getting them on there.

If you're basing your model on the 10 foot rule, go with the superglue method, you'll stay saner.

I've got actual rivets, but that sounds like a good option for smaller scales.

Originally Posted by mikemcE

You can also buy “rivets” Made from resin, model armor and railroaders use them pre made O scale are close
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop...s/Default.aspx

That said I can’t believe no one is 3D printing them, easy to rescale and attach

Hang up and Drive

I found aluminum ones in just the right size. 3D printing would be a good option too.

Originally Posted by ruinx

I'm digging this build how is it coming along so far?

Um, good?

I spent the afternoon drilling and riveting. This part sucks.

[chino63]

Holy he'll, that's a lot of rivets.

[imthatguy]

Originally Posted by chino63

Holy he'll, that's a lot of rivets.

Yep, only 300 more to go!

Oh well. More rivets were driven today.


And some big holes cut.

[XSRCdesign]

Always providing us with interesting and inspiring projects full of information from interesting and inspiring subjects. I'm interested and inspired.

[imthatguy]

Originally Posted by XSRCdesign

Always providing us with interesting and inspiring projects full of information from interesting and inspiring subjects. I'm interested and inspired.

Awesome, glad I could be a source of those two things.

Today I started working on the actual mechanics of remotely controlling this beast. Using as many off the shelf components as possible, all to be controlled via my new Spektrum DX5C. It will steer, change direction, and add or remove steam volume remotely. Heck, let's make the whistle work remotely too. Using RTR Tactic servos for the basic stuff and a Tekin servo for steering duty.