I'm making this truck for a long time. It started as a pretty conventional build but it evolved. I'm not posting the first set of photos because they were lost when PhotoBucket went down.


Started as a scratchbuilt cab and bed,custom c-channel chassis and straight scx10 axles...

These photos feature a completely new bed and portal axles

This is the second bed I do for this truck:


First, the bottom:




And then, one side:



Back:



With primer:



It's the first time I've worked with tooling foil. It's fun stuff


Scribed the all the lines and started with the "nails":






After all the nails, some black spray, a bit of sanding to do a kind of black wash,apply a heavy duty metal brush to do a wooden texture and finally the brown:





more zoom!

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Honestly, i was surprised with the result as the paint could fill the texture of the metal brush but turned out nice. A mate clear coat in the end will take the shine away



More on the rear bed,has hinges, only need to replace the lower screws for shorter ones:











Very satisfied with the bed width, the bedsides drop perfectly

small stuff:


The bedsides open,good...but they have to stay closed most of the time so i've came with an idea that it's not hard to execute and don't look out of place


First, machined these 3mm pieces with a 1.5mm hole for the pin (dowel?):



then, made the part that bolts on the bedside:









The black bolts should be countersunk but the tool failed on me so had to use these ones. The chain will be replaced if I find a smaller one





All the latches done, rear tailgate and it's steps:













Bishop approves:

mudguards:

But, even like that, the truck needs updates,one being a slightly larger fuel tank and the other, adding a rear canvas to the bed, because it was one of my initial requirements,even before the start of the project




My current bed is fine but I've scrapped the idea of the canvas before because there's no way I can put functional hooks on the thin aluminum that's on the bedsides so I'll make a brand new bed for this purpose



This time, I'll print the bedsides because of my current personal situation, and doing the floor and struture as before,with wood and PVC sheet



2 prints, 1 side:




How the corners would look like





Giving some wooden texture to the PVC




Small nails to mimic round head bolts securing the planks




Black for panel gaps




Painted in a colour that should be brown but it's more like dark olive drab so it will stay







Next is prepping the sides to paint and attach

Mudguards printed and painted

Well, things are going slow...was anxious to get the metal stuff done to pass the bed to the lady who will do the tarp.











At first, I will only make the front and rear arch like the real ones but all my reference photos were from 4x4s. This long bed would need one more,atleast

The archs are 4mm stainless steel and the rest 3mm. The feet are steel, brazed to the archs.Was planning to braze everything but I'm quicker with the TIG.

One more random detail for the 'mog










I live in a rough neighbourhood



The tailgate is almost painted and ready to be mounted. Did one of the bench seat but maybe I'll put only one and left the space left for cargo

Printed a pair of improved functional tailgate hinges to be glued to the bed. They're printed in one piece, let's hope they hold




Tailgate with the hooks. Not shown, are the rubber stops(printed in TPU because scale )










Closed latch





A printed hinge.





I'm very excited how it turned out.Anxious to get it on the trails

Because the truck has to function properly,I've improved the rear shocks to handle the extra weight.

The old ones weren't shock absorbers at all, were pretty and scale but there was no o-rings on the shaft so they couldn't hold the oil.

So , found these 60mm shocks for cheap and took the springs out and filled with 1000 oil:





They only problem is that they are made for m2.5 hardware and couldn't find 4.8mm balls for m3 so did these ones:











Don't like them upside down but unfortunately,this was the only way to mount them...



Another detail that was buggin me was mounting this tow hitch






Got the hitch from eBay, some M2 scale bolts and printed the frame around it


Don't mind the rust. It's almost ready to be painted

Great work!

Thank you!

Well,in my opinion, 3D printing is cool but when we only print scale acessories, we're just scratching the surface of it's true potential

The Moose axles being released free maybe clicked in my brain and came back from an old idea of making a full axle for the unimog. The problem is that I like this truck but the ugly axles seem out of place. Adding to that the front axle is a Frankenstein that i don't know how it never failed

So,I've started to design from scratch,heavily influenced by the now discontinued SSD D60 axle housing.

This housing will have all the features of the old one like being 20mm narrower to compensate to portal boxes,panhard mount, spring perches,spherical ends, 7° of caster and 3rd link mount. The pumpkin is small as the stock gears allow...


Front:



back:










Like the Stones said: "I see a red axle and I want it painted black"










more subtle...

After a lot of time without trails,finally did it!!

Took the JK, the M548 and the 'mog to drive a little. Ended driving the Unimog a lot more than the others














Tried an easy line with sucess and was doing slightly harder lines and the truck was doing great...ended in one that I was positive that will fail...but the truck managed to climb. In 1st gear of course

That previous axle sparked an old idea of making 100% printed axles based on the real ones. A few years ago I worked on that, having housings printed but the big scx10 internals didn't allowed to do them small and nice. Fast forward to the present and adding to my improved 3d skills,we have more choice of diff parts

Someone suggested TRX4 diff gears and using lockable diff. Was a great idea but the parts are too expensive.Remember that I need 4 sets to make 3 axles. Went to scx10.2 gears from Ebay and they seem good, nice machining and finish

The issue was doing the gear mesh because of the "high pinion" feature but after a few tries, is done

Doesn't seems but it works:


I'm aiming for this,2 halves:



The angle on the pinions is because torque tubes(like the real Unimog) are a possibility.

just to keep this going:

My transfer case was a 2s Helios, nice case but big. Wasn't able to center it and adapting the torquetubes to it would be a PITA so, Plan B:







This transfer case has everything integrated and it's small as possible. Uses stock scx10 gears so is easy to repair. Could used smaller gears but the torquetube mounts will always be this size so there was no advantages





Here, everything mocked up with the v1 transfer case(above is the v2,not as tall)



This transfer case will bolt to a new skidplate to mount the transfer box as centered as I could. The torquetubes require that. The skidplate sits lower than the older one but I think that wouldn't be a problem, this is a scale truck afterall



Quick mockup:












Missed the torquetube length by a couple of milimeters but the real ones will be machined from aluminium so it's fine

The rear trackbar mounts are in place. Need to redo the motor mount and wait for the diff bearings to arrive. My plan is to complete and mount an axle before moving to the next one